Deal to Create Pipeline Giant

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The big money is on natural gas blasted from shale rocks.


Shale-Gas Frenzy Drives Kinder Morgan's $21.1 Billion Offer for El Paso Corp.

HOUSTON—One of the nation's largest operators of natural-gas pipelines is buying a rival for $21.1 billion in cash and stock, making a big bet that natural gas blasted from shale rocks around the country will become a huge force in America's energy future.

Pipeline giant Kinder Morgan Inc. says that by buying rival El Paso Corp. it will become the largest operator of natural-gas pipelines in the country, and the fourth-largest energy company in the U.S.... cont'd

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204346104576635282137320162.html?mod=business_newsreel

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1. El Paso shareholders sue Goldman over Kinder deal

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N) was sued by shareholders of El Paso Corp (EP.N) for advising the company's board to abandon a spin-off and instead sell itself cheaply to Kinder Morgan Inc (KMI.N), a deal that benefited Goldman Sachs.

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Goldman Sachs was sued in Delaware's Chancery Court for its conflict of advising the board to accept a "low-premium" deal with Kinder Morgan, in which Goldman Sachs owns nearly 20 percent.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/21/us-goldmansachs-elpaso-lawsuit-idUSTRE79K6O020111021

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2. Gas Pipelines: Big Business But Lightly Regulated?

The gas pipeline industry is hardly glamorous. But it is lucrative and loosely regulated.
Last weekend, two oil and gas pipeline companies announced they would combine to create the biggest such firm in the U.S. when Kinder Morgan offered more than $20 billion to buy El Paso. If the deal goes through, the companies say, the behemoth would become the continent's fourth largest energy corporation.

While the pipeline business has operated largely, well, underground, several recent accidents have drawn attention to safety and the web of regulations that governs the nation's 2.3 million miles of gas pipelines. A growing controversy over a plan to build a major oil pipelline from Canada's Tar Sands to Texas has also spotlighted industry practices...cont'd


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/22/underground-industry-gas-_n_1026422.htm