MEMO: KINDER MORGAN SETTLE DEAL

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP has agreed to buy the U.S. Pipeline and Terminal business of GATX Corp., for $1 billion in cash and $100 million in assumed debt.

The deal should make Kinder Morgan Partners one of the largest independent petroleum-storage operators in the nation, and top independent chemical terminal operations.

The GATX assets include pipelines that move gasoline and jet fuel in high-growth markets in Nevada and Florida, said Richard D. Kinder, partnership chairman and chief executive.

In addition to two big pipelines, the partnership is buying 12 terminals in seven states from GATX, a holding company based in Chicago, said Kinder, formerly of Cape Girardeau.

Since being acquired in early 1997 by Kinder, a former president of Enron Corp., the Kinder Morgan partnership has seen its earnings grow tenfold, to more than 15 pipelines and terminals totaling more than $4.7 billion.