Kinder Morgan to Increase Storage Capacity on Its Texas Intrastate System

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (“KMI”) has announced its plan to expand the working gas storage capacity at its Markham Storage facility (“Markham”) in Matagorda County along the Texas Gulf Coast. KMI has reached an agreement with Underground Services Markham, LLC, a subsidiary of Texas Brine Company LLC, to lease an additional cavern at Markham.

The additional cavern will provide more than 6 billion cubic feet (“Bcf”) of incremental working gas storage capacity and 650 million cubic feet per day (“MMcf/d”) of incremental withdrawal capacity on KMI’s extensive Texas intrastate pipeline system. Anchor shippers have subscribed to approximately half of the available capacity under long-term agreements, and commercial in-service for the project is expected in January 2024.

“During Winter Storm Uri, KMI’s storage portfolio was critical to supplying human needs customers in Texas while also providing much needed supply to numerous electric generation facilities during the storm. We are pleased to increase our natural gas storage solutions to further support Texas customers, particularly during severe weather events,” said KMI Natural Gas Midstream President Tom Dender.

“Storage capabilities on highly utilized assets are critical to support Texas’ ability to respond to an energy crisis and ensure energy reliability as renewables become a greater portion of the state’s energy mix. This expansion will provide much needed capacity that could supply gas-fired electric generation facilities within ERCOT and provide electric service to well in excess of one million homes in Texas.”

Prior to the expansion, Markham had 21.8 Bcf of working gas storage capacity with peak delivery of 1.1 Bcf/day of natural gas with multiple receipt and delivery points on KMI’s nearly 7,000-mile Texas intrastate system.