FTC Approves Kinder Morgans Application to Sell Pipeline Assets

The Federal Trade Commission has approved an application by energy company Kinder Morgan, Inc. requesting FTC approval for the company to sell certain natural gas pipeline and other assets to Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP.

The FTC required Kinder Morgan to sell Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission LLC, its interest in the Rockies Express Pipeline and Trailblazer Pipeline Company LLC, as well as other assets, in an order settling charges that Kinder Morgan’s recent acquisition of El Paso Corporation would otherwise have been anticompetitive.

The Commission vote approving the proposed divestiture was 4-0-1, with Commissioner Edith Ramirez recused.  (FTC File No 121-0014, Docket No. C-4355; the staff contact is Elizabeth A. Piotrowski, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2623; see press release dated May 5, 2012.)

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