Houston’s pipeline company Kinder Morgan says its $180 million net loss for the second quarter was driven by a drop in the value of its pipeline and gathering facilities in Oklahoma.
The company said the writedown in the Oklahoma value was $600 million. Total impairments came to $750 million and prevented the firm from making a profit in the second quarter 2018.
Despite the net loss, Kinder Morgan reported a 2 percent growth in quarterly revenues compared to the same time last year. Revenues went from $3.37 billion up to $3.43 billion in the second quarter. But last year, the company also saw a $337 million quarterly profit.
After agreeing in May to sell its controversial Trans Mountain oil pipeline and expansion to Canada for almost $3.5 billion, Kinder Morgan is back to focusing on Texas growth with multibillion-dollar natural gas pipelines systems that will traverse the state.
Despite the lack of profit, the company’s board of directors approved a 20-cent a share dividend for the quarter. It represented a 60 percent increase from last year’s fourth quarter dividend and drew support from Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder.
“The board is very pleased with the company’s progress during the quarter. We continue to aggressively de-lever even while maintaining our planned substantial dividend increase.”