Kinder Morgan Inc. reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue as its pipelines moved lower volumes of oil and gas.
Pipeline companies, once seen as more insulated from commodity price swings due to fixed-fee contracts, were hit hard by a drop in oil prices of more than 60% since mid-2014 as cash-strapped oil and gas companies renegotiated their contracts.
Houston-based Kinder Morgan has tried to shore up finances by selling interest in its projects. In July, Southern Co. agreed to take a 50% stake in the Kinder Morgan-operated Southern Natural Gas (SNG) pipeline system, which supplies gas to the southeast U.S. Kinder Morgan agreed in June to sell half its stake in an Ohio pipeline project to private-equity firm Riverstone Investment Group LLC.
The company said on Oct. 19 that it does not expect a need to access the capital markets to fund its growth projects for the foreseeable future beyond 2016.
Kinder Morgan reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of $227 million, or 10 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of $186 million, or 8 cents per share, one year earlier.
The company took $405 million more in charges than it did one year earlier, including a partial writedown of the company's equity investment in the Midcontinent Express Pipeline and a non-cash book tax expense associated with the SNG deal.
Analysts, on average, estimated a profit of 15 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue fell to $3.33 billion from $3.71 billion, below analysts' average estimate of $3.45 billion.
The company's shares were down about 0.8% in extended trading.
Up to Oct. 19's close of $20.71, Kinder Morgan's shares had risen nearly 39% during 2016.
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