Richard Kinder the Enron CEO - Apres moi le deluge ?

The Kinder Morgan family of companies includes three separate, publicly-traded entities on the New York Stock Exchange - Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI), Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP), and Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (KMR).

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI) is one of the largest energy transportation, storage and distribution companies in North America. It owns an interest in or operates approximately 43,000 miles of pipelines that transport primarily natural gas, crude oil, petroleum products and CO2; more than 150 terminals that store, transfer and handle products like gasoline and coal; and provides natural gas distribution service to over 1.1 million customers. KMI owns the general partner interest of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP), one of the largest publicly traded pipeline limited partnerships in the United States.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: KMP) is one of the largest publicly traded pipeline limited partnerships in America and owns or operates more than 27,000 miles of pipelines and approximately 145 terminals. Its pipelines transport more than 2 million barrels/day of gasoline and other petroleum products and up to 9 billion cubic feet/day of natural gas; and, its terminals handle over 80 million tons of coal and other bulk materials annually and have a liquids storage capacity of about 70 million barrels for petroleum products and chemicals. KMP is also the leading provider of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery projects in the United States.

The company website says : -Mr.Richard D Kinder is one of the founders of Kinder Morgan, which was formed in February 1997. Through his leadership, Kinder Morgan has grown from a small company with 150 employees into an enterprise with 9,000 employees and operations throughout North America. Kinder Morgan’s strategy is to own and operate stable, fee-based, mid-stream energy assets, with little exposure to commodity prices. ...what it interestingly misses to mention is that until 1997 Mr Kinder worked with "Kenny Boy" at Enron ....... indeed he was President and CEO president and chief operating officer from 1990 through 1996. A tough boss, he demanded managers meet projections. He left the company when Lay decided not to retire......perhaps there was more ?

Now accordng to Forbes he has a net worth of US$1.5 Bn.

The downfall of Enron can be traced from the time Anders left. A leader of the so-called New Economy, Enron expanded beyond its core business interests in natural gas pipelines, (at which it excelled and ran a damn good company) branching out into complex commodity trading, which included electricity, broadband capacity and other ethereal items, such as weather futures.

Enron's financial crisis can be traced back to 2000 when the long-running stock market boom ended. During the boom, Enron had risen through the ranks of Fortune 500 companies to no 7. and the stock price was riding high on bullshit and financial PR that novbody checked carefully.

After that the lies, the deceit, the manipulation of Californian energy prices, the stupid investment in India, all brought the house down.

First they tried to bluff their way out, then they tried to buy their way out with political influence with the money they had swindled ... then the inevitable .... and now ...

Skilling was found guilty today on 19 of the 28 counts he faced - with the "not guilty" verdicts coming on some of the charges of insider trading.He could receive as much as 185 years in jail.

Lay was found guilty of all six fraud and conspiracy charges that he faced.He could get as much as 45 years behind bars.

"I firmly believe I'm innocent of the charges against me"

"Kenny Boy" said as he came out of court after having posted US$5Mn bonds to stay out of jail until sentencing in September. The sad delusion continues.

Kinder Morgan’s strategy is to own and operate stable, fee-based, mid-stream energy assets, with little exposure to commodity prices...Kinder Morgan doesn't have corporate jets (its executives all fly economy). It doesn't pay for sports tickets (never mind luxury boxes). And there are no special retirement or benefit packages for senior officers (their base salaries are all capped at $200,000).......... lessons learned ? (Pic is Richard D Kinder and his wife) Fill ya boots...