Kinder Morgan Takes $637 Million Loss in Second Quarter

HOUSTON, TX – The Houston based pipeline operator Kinder Morgan saw it's second-quarter bottom line take a billion dollar hit from profit to loss as it previously wrote down roughly  $1 billion in total assets.

According to Kinder Morgan the company has lost approximately $637 million in a three month period that ended in June compared to a profit of $518 million that was recorded in the same period a year ago.

The company’s results have translated into a loss per share of roughly 28 cents, compared to the earnings per share of 23 cents recorded one year prior.

Facing a significant drop in energy demand during the company's second quarter, Kinder Morgan’s second quarter revenue has declined by approximately  20 percent to nearly $2.6 billion from $3.2 billion recorded in the same period a last year.

The company previously recorded a valuation of approximately $1 billion worth of intrastate and gathering pipelines that supplies natural gas to states such as North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas. Without the non-cash impairment, the company could have made roughly $363 million in profit for the second quarter.

This write down follows a first quarter move where the company marked down the value of equipment from it's carbon dioxide business and the company's oil production operations in the Permian Basin of West Texas by nearly $950 million.

Despite the company's second quarter loss, the company plans to keep it's dividend for stockholders at 26.5 cents per share.

As part of the plan to maintain the dividend, the company is cutting nearly $660 million of it's $2.4 billion budget that was marked for several expansion projects throughout the year.

Kinder Morgan CEO Steve Kean gave a statement stating, “Our business model, which secures much of our cash flows on a take-or-pay basis independent of underlying commodity prices, positions us well even in the current environment."