Fitch affirms Kinder Morgan

Fitch Ratings said it affirmed Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, LP's issuer default rating at BBB, senior unsecured debt at BBB, short term issuer default rating at F2 and short-term commercial paper debt at F2.

The agency also affirmed Kinder Morgan Kansas, Inc.'s issuer default rating at BB+, secured notes and debentures at BB+ and secured revolving credit facility at BB+.

The agency also said it affirmed the ratings of Kinder Morgan Finance Co., LLC's secured notes at BB+ and KN Capital Trust I's and KN Capital Trust III's trust preferreds at BB-.

The outlook is stable.

The ratings reflect the significant scale and scope of operations, geographic and functional diversity of assets, successful track record in acquiring, expanding, financing and operating energy assets and the predictable earnings and cash flow generated from natural gas and refined products pipelines, Fitch said.

The ratings also consider expectations for modestly improving credit metrics in 2011 with adjusted debt-to-EBITDA of about 4x or below for the year, the agency said.

Concerns include the company's exposure to interest rates on about $5.4 billion of variable-rate debt and modestly negative effects from weak economies on asset utilization, Fitch added.

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