Kinder Morgan Raises Dividend

Kinder Morgan Inc on Wednesday reported a 39 percent year-on-year increase to $1.06 billion in adjusted net profit for the first quarter (Q1) and declared $0.2975 in dividend per share, up 2 percent from the same three-month period last year.

Net income before adjustment for nonrecurring or extraordinary items increased to $976 million for Q1 2026 from $717 million for Q1 2025.

The midstream energy company's adjusted earnings per share of $0.48 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, which averages projections by brokerage analysts, of $0.38.

Houston, Texas-based Kinder Morgan's financial performance improved year-over-year on higher gas transport volumes, the impact of higher commodity prices on the products pipelines business and higher terminal rates, offsetting a decrease in transported liquids.

"The Natural Gas Pipelines business segment’s financial performance was up in the first quarter of 2026 relative to the first quarter of 2025, on higher contributions from our Texas Intrastate system, largely due to cold winter weather", Kinder Morgan president Dax Sanders said in an online statement.

"Natural gas transport volumes were up 8 percent compared to the first quarter of 2025, primarily due to LNG deliveries on Tennessee Gas Pipeline.

"Natural gas gathering volumes were up 15 percent from the first quarter of 2025 across our assets, with our KinderHawk system seeing the largest growth.

"Contributions from the Products Pipelines business segment were up compared to the first quarter of 2025 due to higher commodity prices benefiting our transmix business, the recovery of retroactive rate increases following a favorable court decision, and the impact in the first quarter of 2025 of a turnaround at our condensate processing facility.

"Total refined products volumes were down 2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2025. Crude and condensate volumes were down 12 percent compared to the first quarter of 2025, due to the conversion of our Double H pipeline to natural gas liquids service, partially offset by higher volumes on Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate Pipeline".

"Terminals business segment earnings were up compared to the first quarter of 2025. The increase was led by our liquids terminals business, which benefited from higher rates and ancillary fees at our Houston Ship Channel hub facilities, as well as the recognition of payments to be received in connection with the early termination of certain storage agreements in 2026. Earnings from our bulk terminals and Jones Act tanker fleet, which remains fully contracted under term charter agreements, were also up versus the prior year period.

"CO2 business segment earnings, which include Energy Transition Ventures, were up compared to the first quarter of 2025, excluding Certain Items, due primarily to contributions from the renewable natural gas business and lower power costs in our CO2 operations. These were partially offset by lower realized crude oil and NGL [natural gas liquids] prices compared to the prior year period".

Gas transport volumes totaled 49.48 trillion British thermal units (TBtu). Kinder Morgan sold 3.89 TBtu of gas. Its gas gathering volumes totaled 4.32 TBtu. Transported NGLs totaled 44,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Kinder Morgan delivered 1.55 million bpd of refined products and 420,000 bpd of crude and condensate.

Revenue totaled $4.83 billion, up from $4.24 billion for Q1 2025. Operating income increased to $1.44 billion from $1.15 billion. Income before income taxes was $1.29 billion, up from $929 million for Q1 2025.

Free cash flow after dividend payments was $687 million, compared to $396 million for Q1 2025. Kinder Morgan paid $654 million in dividends in Q1 2026.

It exited the quarter with $72 million in cash and cash equivalents and $2.64 billion in other current assets.

Short-term debt stood at $2.19 billion. Kinder Morgan owed $3 billion in other current liabilities.

For the whole year Kinder Morgan expects $3.1 billion in net profit, flat against 2025. It expects adjusted net profit to increase 5 percent from 2025. Adjusted EBITDA is also projected to increase 2 percent against 2025 to $8.6 billion.

“The geopolitical landscape became even more turbulent this quarter, with conflict in the Middle East joining the ongoing war in Ukraine as a source of significant commodity price volatility. As a fee-based midstream energy company with highly creditworthy shippers, we are largely insulated from that volatility", said executive chair Richard D. Kinder.

Chief executive Kim Dang added, "With more than 65,000 miles of natural gas pipelines connected to all major basins and demand centers, along with more than 700 billion cubic feet of working gas storage capacity, we are well poised to support demand growth across the country. Indeed, the growth in utilization of our five major natural gas pipeline systems has been astounding. In 2016, the annual average utilization of those systems was 74 percent. In 2025, utilization reached 90 percent".

"Reflecting that high utilization and the robust demand we see coming, our project backlog at the end of the first quarter of 2026 was $10.1 billion, up $145 million from the fourth quarter of 2025, as we added $375 million of projects while placing $230 million of projects in service", Dang said.

"Natural gas projects account for approximately 92 percent of our project backlog and nearly 60 percent of the backlog is associated with projects supporting power generation and local distribution company demand".

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