Deal of the Week: Kinder Morgan to Buy El Paso for $21.1 Billion

Kinder Morgan agreed on Sunday to buy the El Paso Corporation for about $21.1 billion in cash and stock, striking one of the biggest energy deals in history, to tap into a boom in natural gas drilling and production, according to the NY Times’ Dealbook

Through the deal, Kinder Morgan will become the biggest of North America’s midstream energy companies, which are entities that process oil and gas products before transporting them to production facilities. Kinder Morgan will own or operate about 67,000 miles of pipelines stretching across the continent.

The combined company, which will keep the Kinder Morgan name, is expected to move more than 1.9 million barrels of fuels a day. It will also operate the only oil sands pipeline that services the West Coast.

“This makes Kinder Morgan the dominant pipeline company in the country,” Chip Johnson, the chief executive of Carrizo Oil and Gas, a midsize driller in the shale fields, said. “They are everywhere now. They can deliver gas all over the country.”

Find out more at http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/kinder-morgan-to-buy-el-paso/