(Reuters) – Kinder Morgan Inc reported a nearly 53% plunge in quarterly profit on Wednesday as the U.S. pipeline operator transported lower volumes of crude and condensate.
Crude prices have this year rallied to their highest levels in more than a decade, but oil output remains far from the levels seen before the pandemic as many companies prioritize shareholder returns over production ramp-ups.
Kinder Morgan said quarterly crude and condensate pipeline volumes were down 4% compared with a year earlier.
Net income attributable to the company fell to $667 million, or 29 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $1.41 billion, or 62 cents per share, a year earlier.
“First quarter 2021 results were favorably impacted by earnings during the February 2021 Winter Storm Uri. Excluding those nonrecurring earnings, our current quarter earnings would be above the prior-year period,” Kinder Morgan said in a statement.
On an adjusted basis, profit fell 46.7% to $732 million.
(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)
