Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan misses first-quarter profit estimates

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

(Reuters) – U.S. pipeline and terminal operator Kinder Morgan narrowly missed Wall Street expectations for first-quarter profit on Wednesday, hurt by weakness in its products pipelines segment and higher costs.

The results come as the energy industry braces for the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on most Canadian and Mexican imports, including levies on steel imports, “reciprocal” tariffs on other nations, as well as falling crude prices.

However, Kinder Morgan left its annual profit forecast unchanged as it continues to bank on an increase in natural gas demand. The terminal operator added that it does not expect tariffs to have a significant impact on project economics.

“We began efforts to mitigate the potential impact early in the quarter by preordering critical project components, negotiating caps on cost increases, and securing domestic steel and mill capacity for our larger projects, which total two-thirds of our project backlog,” said CEO Kim Dang.

At its products pipelines segment, adjusted earnings fell 5.8% to $274 million in the first quarter, due to a planned ten-year turnaround at a petroleum condensate processing facility in the Houston Ship Channel as well as lower oil prices.

Kinder Morgan’s total operating costs rose to $3.1 billion in the first quarter, from $2.62 billion last year.

The Houston, Texas-based firm posted an adjusted profit of 34 cents per share for the three months ended March 31, compared with analysts’ estimate of 35 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)