Kinder Morgan Canada sees continued risk on oil pipeline expansion

Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd saidon Wednesday that its Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansionproject was facing "unquantifiable risk" due to the BritishColumbia government's continued opposition and reported a 5.1percent drop in first-quarter earnings.

British Columbia said on Wednesday that it would file alegal challenge in the province to determine whether it has thejurisdiction to stop the C$7.4 billion ($5.9 billion) expansion,which was approved by the federal government in 2016.

Kinder Morgan Canada, which was spun off from parent KinderMorgan Inc in May last year, reported a net income ofC$44.4 million ($35.17 million) for the first quarter endedMarch 31, down from C$46.8 million for the same period lastyear.

The company, which earlier this month suspended work on itsexpansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, moved 289,000 barrelsper day (bbl/d) of crude and refined products through thepipeline down from 307,000 (bbl/d) a year earlier.

Texas-based Kinder Morgan separately reported net incomeavailable to common stockholders of $485 million, or 22 centsper share, in the quarter to the end of March, compared with$401 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier.

Shares of Kinder Morgan were up 2 percent at $16.60 inafter-hours trading. Shares of Kinder Morgan Canada were nottrading as Canadian shares do not trade after regular hours.

(Reporting by Anirban Paul in Bengaluru and Julie Gordon inVancouverEditing by Lisa Shumaker)