Kinder Morgan and Copano Energy have reached a $5 billion agreement whereby KMP will acquire Copano. The transaction prices Copano at a 23.5% premium to its closing prices on January 29, 2013. The combined company has over 80,000 miles of pipelines and more than 180 terminals. The deal is expected to close by the third quarter of 2012

Richard Kinder, CEO stated, "The footprint we now control has never been paralleled........I'm absolutely convinced US natural gas is the future of energy......everything points to infrastructure being the biggest hurdle to continued growth.....We're seeing increased use of US hydrocarbons in every portion of the economy."

Copano's assets are centered around the South Texas Eagle Ford, Fort Worth Basin Barnett Shale, Oklahoma's Woodford Shale & Mississippi Lime plays, and the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. The company has more than $1 billion in identified growth projects and Rich Kinder expects that number will grow once the assets are under KMP control. Copano operates:

• 6,900 miles of pipelines with 2.7 Bcf/d of throughput capacity
• 9 processing plants with 1 Bcf/d of capacity
• 315 mmcfd of treating capacity

Kinder Morgan will now own 100% of the two companies' Eagle Ford Gathering JV. Eagle Ford Gathering comprises approximately 400 miles of pipelines (including its capacity rights in certain KMP pipelines) with capacity to gather and process over 700,000 mmbtu/d.

Kinder plans to retain the "vast majority" of Copano's 415 employees and the company's Tulsa office.

KMP's Analyst day call will be streaming at kindermorgan.com until 2 pm CST.