April 17 (Reuters) - Pipeline and terminal operator

Kinder Morgan ( KMI ) on Wednesday reaffirmed its annual profit

outlook and said it expects demand for natural gas to grow

substantially between now and 2030.

The company had said in January that it continues to have a

bullish outlook for natural gas demand due to demand from LNG

export facilities and increased exports from Mexico.

This comes at a time when prices of natural gas

declined 20.4% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a year

earlier.

"Although natural gas prices are expected to be

significantly below budget for the full year, given that we have

modest direct commodity price exposure and have seen strong

execution across our businesses, there's no change to our

full-year budget guidance," said Chief Executive Officer Kim

Dang.

The company also met the first-quarter profit estimates,

helped by higher volumes in its natural gas pipelines segment.

The natural gas pipeline segment saw a boost from higher

margins realized on the company's storage assets and higher

volumes on its gathering systems, with additional boost from the

STX Midstream acquisition, it said.

Adjusted core profit from the company's natural gas pipeline

segment was $1.52 billion, versus $1.43 billion a year ago.

Its adjusted profit was 34 cents per share for the three

months ended March 31, in line with the LSEG estimates.

The Houston, Texas-based company also approved a 2% increase

to its quarterly dividend.