Kinder Morgan, Motiva Refinery, Permian Pipeline Sale: Your Daily Energy News

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News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) dealing with the energy markets.

PIPELINES
Kinder Morgan Throws Trans Mountain Pipeline into Doubt - Canada's oil sands industry suffered a major blow as Kinder Morgan Incorporated (NYSE:KMI) halted most work on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, throwing into doubt a project that could have helped alleviate shipping bottlenecks plaguing the nation's energy producers. The pipeline company is suspending all non-essential activities and ceasing to commit more resources to the project, which has faced opposition from the coastal province of British Columbia, whose land it traverses. (Bloomberg)

Pipeline Cyberattacks May Lead to Tighter Regulations - The Bloomberg article discusses how a cyberattack that U.S. natural gas pipeline owners weren't required to report has lawmakers taking a closer look at how the industry is handling such threats, raising the prospect of tighter regulation. In website notices to customers, at least seven pipeline operators from Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE:ETP) to TransCanada Corporation (NYSE:TRP) said their third-party electronic communications systems were shut down, with five confirming the service disruptions were caused by hacking. (Bloomberg)

Morgan Stanley Buys Big into Permian Pipelines - A private equity fund managed by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is paying $1.75 billion in cash to buy big into Permian Basin pipeline assets. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners is acquiring Fort Worth-based Brazos Midstream and its pipeline network from Boston-based private equity outfit Old Ironsides Energy. Brazos owns a network of pipeline, processing and storage assets in the Permian's Delaware Basin in West Texas, specifically in Reeves, Ward and Pecos counties. (Fuel Fix)

REFINING
Motiva Considers Doubling Size of Port Arthur Refinery - Saudi Aramco's Motiva Enterprises LLC unit said it is considering doubling the size of its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. The announcement comes less than a year after Aramco paid $2.2 billion to Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS-A) to gain sole control of the Port Arthur plant and some other Motiva assets the two companies controlled as part of a joint venture. (Bloomberg)

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About IIR Energy
Energy asset information on power plants, oil refineries and natural gas infrastructure is now more important than ever. A unit of Industrial Info Resources, IIR Energy provides infrastructure information on these assets, as well as real-time tracking of planned and unplanned interruptions affecting the trading, logistics and marketing communities. We are the number one source for information about electricity outages, refinery turnarounds and midstream natural gas disruptions.

About Industrial Info
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.