(Reuters) -Pipeline and terminal operator Kinder Morgan on Wednesday reaffirmed its annual profit outlook and said it expects demand for natural gas to grow substantially between now and 2030.
The Houston, Texas-based company had said in January it continues to have a bullish outlook for natural gas demand due to demand from LNG export facilities and increased exports from Mexico.
This comes at a time when natural gas prices declined 20.4% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a year earlier.
Although natural gas prices are expected to be significantly below budget for the full year, given that we have modest direct commodity price exposure and have seen strong execution across our businesses, there’s no change to our full-year budget guidance,” said Chief Executive Officer Kim Dang.
Dang also said the company is expecting new natural gas demand for electric generation associated with artificial intelligence operations, cryptocurrency mining and data centers.
The company reaffirmed its 2024 profit forecast at $1.22 per share, which it had raised in January to reflect the acquisition of NextEra Energy Partners’ STX Midstream assets.
Kinder Morgan also met the first-quarter profit estimates, helped by higher volumes in its natural gas pipelines segment.
The natural gas pipeline segment saw a boost from higher margins realized on the company’s storage assets and higher volumes on its gathering systems, with additional boost from the STX Midstream acquisition, it said.
Adjusted core profit from the company’s natural gas pipeline segment was $1.52 billion, versus $1.43 billion a year ago.
Its adjusted profit was 34 cents per share for the three months ended March 31, in line with the LSEG estimates.
The company also approved a 2% increase to its quarterly dividend.
(Reporting by Saikeerthi and Roshia Sabu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
