General	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
General [Abstract]
General [Text Block]	1. General Organization Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America, and unless the context requires otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our," "KMP" or the "Partnership" are intended to mean Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. and its consolidated subsidiaries. We own an interest in or operate approximately 28,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals, and conduct our business through five reportable business segments (described further in Note 8). Our pipelines transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide and other products, and our terminals store petroleum products and chemicals, and handle such products as ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. We are also the leading provider of carbon dioxide, commonly called CO2, for enhanced oil recovery projects in North America. Our general partner is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc., as discussed below. Kinder Morgan, Inc., Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. and Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc. Kinder Morgan, Inc., a Delaware corporation and referred to as KMI in this report, indirectly owns all the common stock of Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. is a Kansas corporation and indirectly owns all the common stock of our general partner, Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc., a Delaware corporation. In July 2007, our general partner issued and sold 100,000 shares of Series A fixed-to-floating rate term cumulative preferred stock due 2057. The consent of holders of a majority of these preferred shares is required with respect to a commencement of or a filing of a voluntary bankruptcy proceeding with respect to us or two of our subsidiaries, SFPP, L.P. and Calnev Pipe Line LLC. As of September 30, 2011, KMI and its consolidated subsidiaries owned, through KMI's general and limited partner interests in us and its ownership of shares issued by its subsidiary Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (discussed following), an approximate 12.4% interest in us. KMI was formed August 23, 2006 as a Delaware limited liability company principally for the purpose of acquiring (through a wholly-owned subsidiary) all of the common stock of Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. The merger, referred to in this report as the going-private transaction, closed on May 30, 2007 with Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. continuing as the surviving legal entity. On February 10, 2011, KMI converted from a Delaware limited liability company named Kinder Morgan Holdco LLC to a Delaware corporation named Kinder Morgan, Inc., and its outstanding units were converted into classes of capital stock. On February 16, 2011, KMI completed the initial public offering of its common stock. All of the common stock that was sold in the offering was sold by existing investors, consisting of funds advised by or affiliated with Goldman, Sachs & Co., Highstar Capital LP, The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings LLC. No members of management sold shares in the offering and KMI did not receive any proceeds from the offering. KMI's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KMI." Subsequent Event On October 16, 2011, KMI and El Paso Corporation announced a definitive agreement whereby KMI will acquire all of the outstanding shares of El Paso in a transaction that will create an energy company having an enterprise value of approximately $94 billion and 80,000 miles of pipelines. The total purchase price, including the assumption of debt outstanding at both El Paso Corporation and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P., is approximately $38 billion. El Paso Corporation owns a 42% limited partner interest and the 2% general partner interest in El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012 and is subject to customary regulatory approvals. table of content 7 Kinder Morgan Management, LLC Kinder Morgan Management, LLC, referred to as KMR in this report, is a Delaware limited liability company. Our general partner owns all of KMR's voting securities and, pursuant to a delegation of control agreement, has delegated to KMR, to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law and our partnership agreement, all of its power and authority to manage and control our business and affairs, except that KMR cannot take certain specified actions without the approval of our general partner. KMR's shares represent limited liability company interests and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KMR." More information about the entities referred to above and the delegation of control agreement is contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. In this report, we refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 as our 2010 Form 10-K, and we refer to our Amended Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, as our 2010 Form 10-K/A. The sole purpose of our amended filing was to include the signature line of the Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm included in our original filing's Item 8 "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data." Basis of Presentation We have prepared our accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements under the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These rules and regulations conform to the accounting principles contained in the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Accounting Standards Codification, the single source of generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America and referred to in this report as the Codification. Under such rules and regulations, we have condensed or omitted certain information and notes normally included in financial statements prepared in conformity with the Codification. We believe, however, that our disclosures are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. In addition, our consolidated financial statements reflect normal adjustments, and also recurring adjustments that are, in the opinion of our management, necessary for a fair statement of our financial results for the interim periods, and certain amounts from prior periods have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for a full year; accordingly, you should read these consolidated financial statements in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in our 2010 Form 10-K/A. Our accounting records are maintained in United States dollars, and all references to dollars are United States dollars, except where stated otherwise. Canadian dollars are designated as C$. Our consolidated financial statements include our accounts and those of our operating partnerships and their majority-owned and controlled subsidiaries, and all significant intercompany items have been eliminated in consolidation. In addition, our financial statements are consolidated into the consolidated financial statements of KMI; however, except for the related party transactions described in Note 9 "Related Party Transactions-Asset Acquisitions," KMI is not liable for, and its assets are not available to satisfy, the obligations of us and/or our subsidiaries and vice versa. Responsibility for payments of obligations reflected in our or KMI's financial statements is a legal determination based on the entity that incurs the liability. Furthermore, the determination of responsibility for payment among entities in our consolidated group of subsidiaries is not impacted by the consolidation of our financial statements into the consolidated financial statements of KMI. Limited Partners' Net Income(Loss) per Unit We compute Limited Partners' Net Income (Loss) per Unit by dividing our limited partners' interest in net income (loss) by the weighted average number of units outstanding during the period. The overall computation, presentation, and disclosure requirements for our Limited Partners' Net Income (Loss) per Unit are made in accordance with the "Earnings per Share" Topic of the Codification.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America, and unless the context requires otherwise, references to "we," "us," "our," "KMP" or the "Partnership" are intended to mean Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. and its consolidated subsidiaries. We own an interest in or operate approximately 28,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals, and conduct our business through five reportable business segments (described further in Note 8). Our pipelines transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide and other products, and our terminals store petroleum products and chemicals, and handle such products as ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. We are also the leading provider of carbon dioxide, commonly called CO2, for enhanced oil recovery projects in North America. Our general partner is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc., as discussed below.

Kinder Morgan, Inc., a Delaware corporation and referred to as KMI in this report, indirectly owns all the common stock of Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. is a Kansas corporation and indirectly owns all the common stock of our general partner, Kinder Morgan G.P., Inc., a Delaware corporation. In July 2007, our general partner issued and sold 100,000 shares of Series A fixed-to-floating rate term cumulative preferred stock due 2057. The consent of holders of a majority of these preferred shares is required with respect to a commencement of or a filing of a voluntary bankruptcy proceeding with respect to us or two of our subsidiaries, SFPP, L.P. and Calnev Pipe Line LLC. As of September 30, 2011, KMI and its consolidated subsidiaries owned, through KMI's general and limited partner interests in us and its ownership of shares issued by its subsidiary Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (discussed following), an approximate 12.4% interest in us.

KMI was formed August 23, 2006 as a Delaware limited liability company principally for the purpose of acquiring (through a wholly-owned subsidiary) all of the common stock of Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. The merger, referred to in this report as the going-private transaction, closed on May 30, 2007 with Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc. continuing as the surviving legal entity.

On February 10, 2011, KMI converted from a Delaware limited liability company named Kinder Morgan Holdco LLC to a Delaware corporation named Kinder Morgan, Inc., and its outstanding units were converted into classes of capital stock. On February 16, 2011, KMI completed the initial public offering of its common stock. All of the common stock that was sold in the offering was sold by existing investors, consisting of funds advised by or affiliated with Goldman, Sachs & Co., Highstar Capital LP, The Carlyle Group and Riverstone Holdings LLC. No members of management sold shares in the offering and KMI did not receive any proceeds from the offering. KMI's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KMI."

On October 16, 2011, KMI and El Paso Corporation announced a definitive agreement whereby KMI will acquire all of the outstanding shares of El Paso in a transaction that will create an energy company having an enterprise value of approximately $94 billion and 80,000 miles of pipelines. The total purchase price, including the assumption of debt outstanding at both El Paso Corporation and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P., is approximately $38 billion. El Paso Corporation owns a 42% limited partner interest and the 2% general partner interest in El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012 and is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Kinder Morgan Management, LLC, referred to as KMR in this report, is a Delaware limited liability company. Our general partner owns all of KMR's voting securities and, pursuant to a delegation of control agreement, has delegated to KMR, to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law and our partnership agreement, all of its power and authority to manage and control our business and affairs, except that KMR cannot take certain specified actions without the approval of our general partner. KMR's shares represent limited liability company interests and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KMR."

More information about the entities referred to above and the delegation of control agreement is contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. In this report, we refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 as our 2010 Form 10-K, and we refer to our Amended Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, as our 2010 Form 10-K/A. The sole purpose of our amended filing was to include the signature line of the Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm included in our original filing's Item 8 "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data."

We have prepared our accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements under the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These rules and regulations conform to the accounting principles contained in the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Accounting Standards Codification, the single source of generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America and referred to in this report as the Codification. Under such rules and regulations, we have condensed or omitted certain information and notes normally included in financial statements prepared in conformity with the Codification. We believe, however, that our disclosures are adequate to make the information presented not misleading.

In addition, our consolidated financial statements reflect normal adjustments, and also recurring adjustments that are, in the opinion of our management, necessary for a fair statement of our financial results for the interim periods, and certain amounts from prior periods have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of results for a full year; accordingly, you should read these consolidated financial statements in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in our 2010 Form 10-K/A.

Our accounting records are maintained in United States dollars, and all references to dollars are United States dollars, except where stated otherwise. Canadian dollars are designated as C$. Our consolidated financial statements include our accounts and those of our operating partnerships and their majority-owned and controlled subsidiaries, and all significant intercompany items have been eliminated in consolidation.

In addition, our financial statements are consolidated into the consolidated financial statements of KMI; however, except for the related party transactions described in Note 9 "Related Party Transactions-Asset Acquisitions," KMI is not liable for, and its assets are not available to satisfy, the obligations of us and/or our subsidiaries and vice versa. Responsibility for payments of obligations reflected in our or KMI's financial statements is a legal determination based on the entity that incurs the liability. Furthermore, the determination of responsibility for payment among entities in our consolidated group of subsidiaries is not impacted by the consolidation of our financial statements into the consolidated financial statements of KMI.

We compute Limited Partners' Net Income (Loss) per Unit by dividing our limited partners' interest in net income (loss) by the weighted average number of units outstanding during the period. The overall computation, presentation, and disclosure requirements for our Limited Partners' Net Income (Loss) per Unit are made in accordance with the "Earnings per Share" Topic of the Codification.