Kinder Morgan eyes participating in condensate exports

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP expects to participate in export facilities for condensate from the Eagle Ford shale oil play in Texas, Chief Executive Richard Kinder told analysts on Wednesday.

"We are working with expanding our reach into the Eagle Ford and the ability to handle more and more condensate," Kinder said. "I think there will be additional export of products."

Kinder Morgan is building a splitter at its Galena Park terminal along the Houston Ship Channel to process the extra-light condensate that is produced with crude oil from the Texas play.

Those very light hydrocarbons can be sold as crude oil, a diluent to blend with heavy crude oil such as that produced in Canada, or they can be processed and exported like refined products.

Last year Kinder Morgan started up a 300,000 barrel per day crude and condensate pipeline that moves Eagle Ford to the ship channel facilities, and is expanding it to hook into output from a ConocoPhillips operation. The splitter project also has been expanded to add a second unit for a total capacity of 100,000 bpd.

In addition, the company's joint-venture 100,000 bpd Double Eagle Pipeline LLC with Magellan Midstream Partners LP started up in May and moves Eagle Ford condensate from Three Rivers to Corpus Christi, Texas.

He said as condensate output increases, exports will help relieve expected bottlenecks.

Kinder Morgan is looking at export facilities partly in conjunction with its joint-venture Battleground Oil Specialty Terminal Company LLC (BOSTCO) project. The $485 million diesel, residual fuel and black oil terminal project is under construction along the ship channel.

"That's not the original purpose of it," he said of that project and condensate exports, "but we certainly have land down there and we will be able to participate in export facilities," Kinder said.

(Reporting By Kristen Hays; editing by Andrew Hay)