Oil and gas producer El Paso Corp. (EP) on Monday announced that it formed a strategic 50:50 joint venture with infrastructure private equity fund, Global Infrastructure Partners or GIP, to construct, own and operate the Ruby interstate natural gas pipeline.
The Ruby pipeline project, from Wyoming to Oregon, is estimated to require an investment of up to $3.0 billion and is expected to be placed into service in March 2011.
In a statement, managing partner of GIP, Adebayo Ogunlesi said, "We are pleased to be working with our partners at El Paso to help meet the growing national demand for cleaner energy sources by efficiently transporting natural gas to customers in California, the Pacific Northwest and Nevada. Ruby is an attractive investment that will benefit from the combined financial, operational and energy industry expertise of this GIP/El Paso partnership."
"We are pleased to have Global Infrastructure Partners join us in the Ruby project. We continue to make excellent progress on Ruby, and we look forward to it being one of the key assets in our pipeline franchise," president of El Paso's Western Pipelines, Jim Cleary added.
GIP is an independent $5.64 billion fund that invests in infrastructure assets worldwide. GIP works in partnership with the public sector and other stakeholders to improve infrastructure for the community by drawing on its global capability and applying industrial best practice to enhance operating efficiency. GIP is a long-term investor and aims to achieve fully transparent superior returns. Credit Suisse and General Electric are joint founding investors in GIP with each committing $500 million of investment capital.
Houston, Texas-based El Paso, parent company of Ruby Pipeline, L.L.C., provides natural gas and related energy products in a safe, efficient, and dependable manner. The company owns and operates North America's largest interstate natural gas pipeline system and is one of North America's top 10 domestic independent natural gas producers.
The Ruby Pipeline is a win-win project for natural gas consumers and producers. It represents an about $3 billion investment in a new interstate pipeline infrastructure that will transport natural gas from the Rocky Mountains to meet the rising demand for clean-burning, environmentally friendly energy along its proposed route in the western U.S. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC approval for the project is expected in the first quarter of 2010, and construction would begin in the second quarter of 2010.
The project is expected to include about 675 miles of 42-inch natural gas transmission pipeline, beginning at the Opal Hub in Wyoming and terminating at interconnects near Malin, Oregon. Contracts for the pipe have been signed and pipeline construction companies have been selected. The Project will have an initial design capacity of 1.3 billion and 1.5 billion cubic feet per day or Bcf/d of natural gas. Ruby Pipeline has also received more than 1 billion Bcf/d of long-term binding commitments from customers under 10-year to 15-year contracts.
Under the terms of the joint venture, GIP has committed up to $700 million of funding in three tranches during the construction. GIP will first provide Ruby with up to $555 million in the form of a 7% senior secured loan and/or 13% convertible preferred equity in two tranches of $405 million and $150 million. Further, GIP would indirectly provide Ruby with a further $145 million through an investment in convertible preferred equity of Cheyenne Plains Pipeline which is an existing natural gas pipeline wholly owned by El Paso.
Further, as a security for GIP's investment, El Paso would provide GIP until the completion of the project, a portion of its 55 million El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. common units and a portion of its equity in the Cheyenne Plains Pipeline.
El Paso will assume all construction and development obligations in connection with the construction of Ruby. Upon completion of construction, GIP and El Paso will own the common equity of Ruby on a 50/50 basis.
Separately, natural gas transportation company El Paso Pipeline Partners LP (EPB) said Monday it has completed the acquisition of an additional 18% interest in Colorado Interstate Gas Co. from El Paso Corp. for about $215 million. The acquisition increases El Paso Pipeline Partners' interest in Colorado Interstate to 58%. The acquisition was funded by a recent issuance of 12.65 million units of El Paso Pipeline Partners, which raised cash proceeds of about $217 million.
In Monday's regular trading session, EP is currently trading at $10.42, up $0.29 or 2.86% on a volume of 2.17 million shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a broad range of $5.22 to $18.44.
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