KINDER Morgan’s $21 billion take-over of El Paso, agreed in October, will create the largest oil and gas pipeline operator in the US. As well as being the fourth-largest energy firm in the country, the new entity will have an enterprise value of $94 billion, controlling almost 130,000 km of pipelines. Few were in any doubt, however, that such a huge tie-up would be subject to the most intense regulatory scrutiny.
A dominant new firm
"The deal would create a dominant new firm … controlling around thousands of kilometres of gas pipelines in every significant production region of the US," noted IHS Global Insight. Chairman and chief executive Richard Kinder has argued there is little overlap between the two companies’ pipeline networks, but admits there is some in the Rocky Mountains. Some analysts point to potential competition issues involving pipeline networks in eastern Colorado, western Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming....