Gas pipelines

United States
On May 1, 2012, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved the merger of Houston-based pipeline companies El Paso Corp. and Kinder Morgan Inc. The merger will create the largest pipeline company and fourth-biggest energy company in North America: a $94 billion enterprise with 80,000 miles of pipeline.

Tax breaks
In March 2012, E&E reported that private equity firms and pension funds are channeling investor cash to companies building pipelines out of oil and gas fields, spurred by steady returns and tax breaks. Under a business structure Congress created in the 1980s known as the master limited partnership, or the energy MLP, pipeline companies are able to pass profits to investors in the form of dividendlike distributions without paying a corporate tax. The value of energy MLPs has doubled since 2006 to more than $200 billion -- most interstate pipelines crisscrossing the United States are part of companies organized as MLPs. Many of them trade like a stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

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