Kinder Morgan has approved approximately $4.7 billion of investment in two major U.S. natural gas pipeline projects as rising electricity demand, data-center development and LNG exports push the company's gas infrastructure backlog to a record level.
Published October 22, 2026
What Readers Should Know
MONTREAL (Oil Monster): Kinder Morgan is accelerating its U.S. natural gas infrastructure buildout after reaching final investment decisions on two of the largest pipeline projects added to its portfolio in years.
The Houston-based pipeline operator expects its share of investment in the Southeast Connector and Permian Link projects to total approximately $4.7 billion.
The approvals helped lift Kinder Morgan's expansion backlog to $14.4 billion at the end of the third quarter, including a record $13.2 billion of natural gas projects.
Expansion by the Numbers
$14.4 billion — total Kinder Morgan expansion backlog
$13.2 billion — natural gas projects in the backlog
$5.4 billion — projects added during the third quarter
$4.7 billion — Kinder Morgan's combined investment share in Southeast Connector and Permian Link
More than 75% — share of the total backlog associated with power generation and local distribution company demand
Southern Natural Gas has reached a final investment decision on the Southeast Connector after securing sufficient long-term, take-or-pay transportation agreements from customers.
The project is designed to move up to approximately 2.6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas through about 470 miles of new pipeline and new or expanded compression infrastructure.
Kinder Morgan expects its share of the project's cost to be approximately $3.1 billion.
The company said final capacity and capital requirements could change depending on the project's ultimate scope.
Subject to permits and regulatory approvals, Southeast Connector is expected to enter service in phases beginning in the fourth quarter of 2030.
Southeast Connector is designed to move additional Marcellus and Utica natural gas into growing markets in the southeastern United States.
Kinder Morgan Chief Executive Kim Dang described the project as particularly important because it connects abundant Appalachian gas supply with one of the country's fastest-growing demand regions.
The project can also be expanded if Kinder Morgan secures additional customer commitments.
OilMonster Market Lens
The significance is not simply another large pipeline.
Southeast Connector creates additional physical capacity between one of North America's largest gas-producing regions and a part of the country where electricity demand, industrial development and population growth are increasing.
That makes the project a direct link between Appalachian gas supply and the emerging U.S. power-demand buildout.
Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, or NGPL, has separately reached a final investment decision on the Permian Link project.
The approximately $4.2 billion development will include about 434 miles of new pipeline along with compression, metering and interconnection facilities.
The system is designed to provide approximately 2.8 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas transportation capacity from the Permian Basin near Pecos County, Texas, into NGPL's Midcontinent network.
Kinder Morgan's share of the investment is expected to be approximately $1.6 billion.
Subject to required permits and approvals, Permian Link is targeted to enter service in the third quarter of 2030.
Two Pipelines, 5.4 Bcf/d of Designed Capacity
Southeast Connector: Up to 2.6 Bcf/d
Permian Link: Approximately 2.8 Bcf/d
Combined: Up to approximately 5.4 Bcf/d of designed transportation capacity
Permian Link will serve new electricity generation supporting an investment-grade hyperscale data-center customer.
The project is backed by long-term, take-or-pay transportation contracts, which require customers to pay for contracted capacity even when they do not use the full amount.
Kinder Morgan executives said the pipeline has also attracted interest from customers beyond its anchor hyperscale customer.
The development provides another sign that data-center electricity demand is moving beyond forecasts and beginning to translate into long-lived natural gas infrastructure commitments.
Why Data Centers Matter to Gas Pipelines
Kinder Morgan added approximately $5.4 billion of projects to its expansion backlog during the third quarter.
At the same time, approximately $700 million of projects were completed and placed into service.
As a result, the company's total backlog increased by a net $4.7 billion from the second quarter, rising from $9.6 billion to $14.4 billion.
The distinction is important because the $5.4 billion represents gross additions during the quarter, while the $4.7 billion figure represents the net quarter-to-quarter increase after completed projects were removed.
Natural gas projects account for approximately $13.2 billion of Kinder Morgan's $14.4 billion expansion backlog.
That means more than 90% of the company's current backlog is concentrated in natural gas infrastructure.
More than 75% of the overall backlog is associated with projects supporting power-generation or local-distribution company demand.
Kinder Morgan says its natural gas business is benefiting from rising electricity consumption, growing LNG exports and industrial expansion across its pipeline footprint.
OilMonster Market Lens
The backlog tells a broader U.S. energy story.
Kinder Morgan is not committing billions of dollars based only on higher near-term natural gas prices. Much of the new capacity is supported by long-term contracts tied to power demand, utilities, LNG facilities and industrial customers.
That suggests pipeline developers increasingly see the current increase in U.S. gas demand as structural rather than temporary.
Kinder Morgan also sanctioned second and third phases of its Creekside Lateral project in Central Texas after securing additional long-term agreements with data-center and industrial customers.
The company approved a $95 million second phase and a $55 million third phase, taking total investment in Creekside to approximately $235 million.
When all phases are completed, the project is expected to provide more than 750 million cubic feet per day of contracted transportation capacity.
The pipeline itself is designed for approximately 1.3 Bcf/d and could ultimately be expanded beyond 2 Bcf/d.
Kinder Morgan expects the project to enter service in phases, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2026 and continuing through the fourth quarter of 2027.
The investment decisions were announced alongside record third-quarter financial results.
Kinder Morgan reported net income attributable to the company of $764 million, up 22% from $628 million during the same quarter of 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 9% to approximately $2.18 billion.
Adjusted earnings were 35 cents per share, compared with 29 cents per share a year earlier and above the 32-cent analyst consensus compiled by LSEG.
The company now expects 2026 adjusted EBITDA to finish more than 6% above its original $8.6 billion budget and adjusted earnings per share to exceed its initial $1.36 target by more than 13%.
Q3 2026 Snapshot
Net income: $764 million, up 22%
Adjusted EBITDA: $2.18 billion, up 9%
Adjusted EPS: $0.35, up 21%
Total expansion backlog: $14.4 billion
Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates approximately 65,000 miles of natural gas pipelines across North America.
The company says its systems transport about 40% of the natural gas consumed in the United States and connect with every major U.S. natural gas-producing region.
The Southeast Connector and Permian Link projects will add major new corridors to that existing network rather than operate as isolated pipelines.
The scale of the projects also highlights a constraint facing the U.S. gas market: major pipeline infrastructure takes years to permit and build.
Permian Link is not expected to enter service until the third quarter of 2030.
Southeast Connector is scheduled to begin phased operations in the fourth quarter of 2030.
Both schedules remain dependent on obtaining required regulatory approvals and permits.
That means customers anticipating major new electricity or industrial demand near the end of the decade are committing to infrastructure several years in advance.
The Bottom Line
Kinder Morgan's latest investment decisions are less about today's natural gas market than the amount of gas the U.S. expects to need at the end of the decade.
Two pipelines alone are designed for a combined 5.4 Bcf/d of capacity, while the company's natural gas backlog has reached a record $13.2 billion.
Data centers, power plants, LNG exports and industrial demand are increasingly moving from projected gas demand into contracted pipeline infrastructure.
