(Reuters) – Kinder Morgan Inc reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as demand for transporting natural gas picked up after a coronavirus-induced slump hurt volumes earlier in 2020.
Pipeline companies are seeing a recovery in transport volumes after the pandemic wreaked havoc on demand, hurting production and forcing operators to slash fees to ensure customers keep using their networks to move oil, gas and refined products.
Kinder Morgan, which transports nearly 40% of the natural gas consumed in the United States, said natgas shipment volumes rose more than 6% sequentially.
Excluding items, Kinder Morgan earned 27 cents per share, versus estimates for profit of 24 cents per share, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Revenue rose to $3.12 billion, above analysts’ estimates of $3.05 billion.
(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Devika Syamnath)
