Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) today announced the launch of a binding open season to solicit commitments for the proposed Palmetto Project, which offers shippers a new refined products service to move gasoline, diesel and ethanol from Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina to points in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The approximately $1 billion project has a design capacity of 167,000 barrels per day and would consist of a segment of expansion capacity that Palmetto would lease from Plantation Pipe Line Company between Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Belton, South Carolina. A new 360-mile pipeline from Belton, South Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, would also be constructed as part of the project.

“The Palmetto Project would provide access to new markets in the Southeast for pipeline shippers looking to move refined petroleum products from the Gulf Coast,” said Ron McClain, president of Products Pipelines for KMP. “Pending customer commitments from the open season and timely regulatory approvals, the project could be in service by July 2017.”

The binding open season begins today and ends Sept. 30, 2014, at 5 p.m. Central Time. Signed transportation service agreements by prospective shippers must be submitted on or before the end date to Meredith West at meredith_west@kindermorgan.com. For a project map and the open season notice, visit www.kindermorgan.com/business/products_pipelines/palmetto/.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company and one of the largest publicly traded pipeline limited partnerships in America. It owns an interest in or operates approximately 54,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. The general partner of KMP is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI). Kinder Morgan is the largest midstream and the fourth largest energy company in North America with a combined enterprise value of approximately $110 billion. It owns an interest in or operates approximately 80,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO2 and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals and handle such products as ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. KMI owns the general partner interests of KMP and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB), along with limited partner interests in KMP, Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (NYSE: KMR) and EPB. For more information please visit www.kindermorgan.com.

This news release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management, based on information currently available to them. Although Kinder Morgan believes that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that such assumptions will materialize. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements herein include those enumerated in Kinder Morgan’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they were made, and except to the extent required by law, Kinder Morgan undertakes no obligation to update or review any forward-looking statement because of new information, future events or other factors. Because of these uncertainties, readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.