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64 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 5 Kinder Morgan, Inc. [KMI-NYSE] has announced its preliminary 2015 financial projections. The Houston, Texas-based company, the largest energy infrastruc- ture company in North America, expects to declare dividends of $2.00 per share for 2015, an approximate 16% increase over the 2014 dividend budget of $1.72 per share. Chairman and CEO, Richard D. Kinder, stated, "We believe the recently closed transaction merging the Kinder Morgan companies paves the way for superior growth at KMI for years to come. We antic- ipate strong growth in 2015 across our pipeline and storage businesses and cur- rently have a backlog of approximately $18 billion in expansion projects and joint ven- ture investments that have a high certainty of completion. We are generating strong growth even though we have revised our projected West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price to US $70 per barrel. As our track record demonstrates, we own and operate a large, diversified portfolio of stable, primarily fee-based energy assets across North America that produce sub- stantial cash flow in virtually all types of market conditions, regardless of commod- ity prices." Kinder Morgan's growth in 2015 is expected to be driven by continued high demand for North American energy infra- structure, including the transportation and storage of natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products. Additionally, growth is expected to be fostered by contributions from expansion projects across Kinder Morgan's business units. For 2015, KMI expects to: • Generate approximately $8.2 billion in business segment earnings before depreci- ation, depletion and amortization (DD&A) (adding back KMI's share of joint venture DD&A) • Declare over $4.4 billion in dividends to its shareholders • Generate additional cash of over $500 million in excess of its dividend • Invest approximately $4.4 billion in expansions (including contributions to joint ventures) and small acquisitions • Finish the year with a Debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, deprecia- tion, and amortization) ratio of 5.6 times As noted above, KMI's expectations assume an average WTI crude oil price of approximately US $70 per barrel in 2015. The overwhelming majority of cash gen- erated by KMI's assets is fee based and is not sensitive to commodity prices. In its CO 2 segment, the company hedges the majority of its oil production, but does have exposure to unhedged volumes, a sig- nificant portion of which are natural gas liquids. For 2015, the company expects that every $1 change in the average WTI crude oil price per barrel will impact the CO 2 segment by approximately $7 million pre- tax, or approximately 0.086% of Kinder Morgan's combined business segments' anticipated segment earnings before depreciation, depletion and amortization. KMI's board of directors will review and approve the 2015 budget at the January board meeting and the budgets will be discussed in detail during the company's annual analyst meeting on January 28, 2015 in Houston. Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates about 80,000 miles of pipe- lines and 180 terminals that transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO 2 and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals, and handle bulk materials such as coal and petroleum coke. n OIL & g A s kinDer morgan announces 2015 financial expectations