Richard Kinder, KMI/CEO -- Forbes Interview -- August 2, 2015

A reader sent me this link a few days ago; I posted the link but didn't have time to write much more than that. Now I have a bit of time. From Forbes, an interview with Richard Kinder, who is stepping down as CEO of KMI after 18 years. It's a very interesting interview. I do these summaries to ensure that I really do read the articles, and don't simply skim through them.

Question/Answer: relevancy of the bust of Winston Churchill. [Comment: my hunch is reading these books helps put the CEO's challenges into perspective. It also provides insight on how to approach problems.]

Q/A: prolific reader. Best book on leadership: Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals. [I think he would do well to read bios of Steve Jobs, Apple.]

Q/A: Kinder will remain active with the company, but will turn over day-to-day management to Steve Kean. Game plan: increase the dividend by 15% this year, and probably by 10% per year off that new base through 2020. Plenty of excess cash flow. Share appreciation will reflect growth in dividends and earnings, a 14.5% return. "Beats the hell out of anything I can think of." KMI has provided a 24% compound annual return over 18 years, "which is pretty good."

Q/A: by stepping away, Kinder can look at some huge projects; KMI has an $18-billion backlog right now on projects. Most frustrating: more opposition to new infrastructure than Kinder has seen in 35 years in the business [doesn't mention Obama, Steyer, Buffett, Nebraska, faux environmentalists]. Pipelines have become the choke point in America's oil and gas industry. "If you want, we can come back to the alternatives to fossil fuel later -- and the prospects for alternatives are not good -- at least not for the next 30 or 40 years." Environmentalists can't picket each and every oil well from Alberta to Texas, but they can shut down a single pipeline -- that's why pipelines are the choke point. [It may be easier to buy established pipelines; upgrade pumps, replace old pipe with new pipe, and while we're at it, larger-diameter pipe.]

Q/A: blocking pipelines is so short-sighted; the fossil fuel will be shipped by rail.

Q/A: mentions KMI's Northeast Direct, a $5 billion project to more additional natural gas into New England.

Q/A: New England has the highest cost of natural gas because of supply/demand imbalance. New England would rather go for intermittent energy projects. Put this in perspective. Today, intermittent energy provides 5% of New England energy. Wind? One would have to cover the entire state of Massachusetts with windmills and then a bit more with solar. It's not practical.

Q/A: can't even build a small wind farm off Cape Cod. "I can tell you what's going on, they're just nuts."

Q/A: by 2040, fossil fuels will still be 85% of the mix; intermittent energy will grow, but the percentage will remain the same. The irony in New England: those who want to defeat natural gas infrastructure are forcing the generators to burn oil and coal in the winter because they can't get enough natural gas. [KMI used the word "renewable"; I use the more appropriate word, "intermittent"]

Q/A: KMI is excited about the Trans-Mountain Pipeline (western Canada to the Pacific). Also excited about the Palmetto Pipeline. If you live in the Jacksonville-Savannah area, about the only way to get jet fuel and diesel is by truck.

Q/A: KMI has also just finished a project with Imperial Oil (Exxon in Canada), which may be the biggest rail terminal in North America -- can load about 250,000 tons / day, just went operationsl in April.

Q/A: that's the Kearl project in Edmonton. Pipeline is safer but KMI has invested close to a billion dollars in rail terminals. KMI has also bought "a bunch" of Jones Act tankers.

Q/A: rail offers flexibility and options, given the volatility between Brent and WTI. KMI thinks 10 - 20% of oil will continue to be moved by rail.

Q/A: KMI hates to think how badly the tepid recovery would have been without the oil and gas revolution.

Q/A: KMI mentions Russia's stranglehold on European natural gas; KMI said they could solve Europe's problem in ten years. [GE has the jump on this one, buying Alstom.]

Q/A: importance of maintaining access to energy -- softball question.

Q/A: the pipeline map of North America (excluding Mexico)

Q/A: KMI has 84,000 miles of pipeline (70,000 of that for natural gas). Currently, 75 bcf per day; pundits consistently say we're going from 75 to 110 bcf per day within ten years.

Q/A: huge natural gas production in the US due to fracking; long soliloquy.

Q/A: back to books.

Q/A: when KMI started, it had an enterprise value of $300 million; KMI laughed at when said they were going to strive for $1 billion enterprise value; today, $140 billion enterprise value. 175 employees when they started; now 11,000+ employees.

The big takeaway from the article: Currently, natural gas in the US, 75 bcf per day; pundits consistently say we're going from 75 to 110 bcf per day within ten years. 

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Meanwhile, For The Deniers

From CNN:

The scientists say their findings could mean a deep freeze like the one Great Britain experienced around 1900, when the Thames River froze over.

CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller says the study looks intriguing, but it has not been peer reviewed, or subjected to the scrutiny of the larger scientific community.

"This isn't published research yet," he said. "Our ability to forecast the specifics of a solar cycle is incredibly poor. It's worse than forecasting in a hurricane season." [But we can tell you that the earth will be 0.1 degree hotter 100 years from now.]

Doug Biesecker, who works at the Space Weather Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, agrees with Miller.

He said the research shouldn't give anyone the idea that because the weather may cool, climate change is not something to be worried about. [Because the earth will be 0.1 degree hotter 100 years from now.]

"It's a very complicated issue," Biesecker, an expert in solar physics, told CNN. "Does the sun have a role in our variable climate? Yes. Is the dominant role? No. Even the concept of the sun being responsible for Europe's mini ice age -- it's not hard-and-fast true." [It's a very complicated issue, but we can tell you that the earth will be 0.1 degree hotter 100 years from now. And North Dakota farmers will be laughing all the way to the bank.]

It's complicated, I know. But we do know that the earth will be 0.1 degree hotter in 100 years due to global warming. I can't make this stuff up.

However, for those paying attention, there is a trend developing. As the end of Obama's tenure comes to an end, the number of stories questioning Algore global warming are increasing ... almost exponentially. And they will feed on themselves, with more research, and more studies.