Kinder Morgan to build an extension to Eagle Ford pipeline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kinder Morgan Energy Partners on Wednesday said it has agreed with an unnamed Eagle Ford oil producer to extend its 300,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Kinder Morgan Crude Condensate (KMCC) pipeline farther into the southern Texas shale field. Houston, Texas-based Kinder Morgan said it will build an 18-mile, 24-inch (0.45 meter) diameter, 300,000 bpd lateral that will connect to the KMCC line at a station in DeWitt, Texas and extend to a facility in Gonzales county. Kinder Morgan will build 300,000 barrels of storage capacity, complete with trucking offloading capability, at the new facility, the company said in a press release. The project is expected to cost nearly $74 million. A company spokeswoman declined to say which Eagle Ford producer was involved in the deal. Kinder Morgan began construction on another lateral connected to the KMCC pipeline in July, which will extend 31 miles to a ConocoPhillips central delivery facility. That lateral is supported by a long-term contract with Conoco. Another extension on this line will carry Eagle Ford crude oil and condensate to Phillips 66's 247,000 bpd refinery in Sweeney, Texas. That line will soon be completed, the company said. Oil companies produced just below 600,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) of oil in the Eagle Ford shale in July, 36 percent more than during the same month a year ago, preliminary data from the Railroad Commission of Texas shows. (Reporting by Selam Gebrekidan; Editing by Marguerita Choy)