from Kinder Morgan press release May 24, 2012:

"As previously announced, KMI agreed to divest certain KMP assets to obtain Federal Trade Commission approval for the El Paso transaction. KMI has agreed to sell Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission, Trailblazer Pipeline Company, its Casper-Douglas natural gas processing and West Frenchie Draw treating facilities in Wyoming, and the company’s 50 percent interest in the Rockies Express Pipeline. The company has six months from the commission’s May 1, 2012, order to sell the assets.

Also as previously announced, KMI plans to offer assets to KMP to replace the divested assets. The company expects to drop down all of Tennessee Gas Pipeline and a portion of El Paso Natural Gas contemporaneously with the close of KMP’s divestitures, which are expected to occur in the third quarter this year."

 

 

Well, it has now been a week since the KMI-to-KMP dropdowns of Tennesse and EPNG closed.  So they went ahead and dropped the assets, even though there have been no divestiture announcements (and certainly no closing dates announced).  We are more than halfway through the 3rd quarter at this point, and nothing is announced.  And the deadline of Nov 1 is looming (although the release is unclear if the sales have to be closed by 11/1).

 

We have already documented REX writedowns here:

This process can't be going well.  There really aren't any logical buyers for REX at this point (although at the right price, anything will sell).  REX, with the emergence of the Marcellus and Utica, doesn't have much purpose.

 

The Wyoming assets might be of interest to a few partnerships.  WES, EPD, and OKS come to mind.  But given the paucity of news, I wonder if the assets might end up in the hands of private equity players willing to make a financial bet.

 

Thoughts?