Hiland Partners no longer exists as an independent company. In February 2015, Kinder Morgan acquired the Bakken midstream business from founder Harold Hamm and certain Hamm family trusts for approximately $3bn, folding 1,225 miles of North Dakota and Montana crude gathering pipeline into one of North America’s largest energy infrastructure networks.
What Hiland Partners Was
Hiland Partners was built by Harold Hamm, the Oklahoma-based oilman best known as chairman and CEO of Continental Resources, the shale driller he founded in 1967. Hamm established Hiland to handle the midstream logistics of the Bakken and Three Forks formations — gathering, transporting, and processing the crude and natural gas that Continental and neighbouring operators were pulling from North Dakota’s oil patch.
The company operated as a publicly traded master limited partnership before Hamm took it private in 2009. At the time of the Kinder Morgan deal, Hiland Partners was privately held by Hamm and family trusts, with Continental Resources serving as its anchor customer under long-term, fee-based gathering agreements covering more than 1.8 million dedicated acres.
Other customers included Oasis Petroleum, XTO Energy, Whiting Petroleum, and Hess Corporation — a who’s who of Bakken producers active in the formation at the height of the shale boom.
The Asset Base at Sale
Hiland Partners operated 1,225 miles of crude oil gathering and transportation pipelines across North Dakota and Montana. Its gas gathering and processing systems served the Bakken Formation, capturing associated gas that would otherwise have been flared.
The centrepiece of the portfolio at deal close was the Double H Pipeline — a 485-mile crude oil line running from Hiland’s Dore terminal in North Dakota south to Guernsey, Wyoming, where it connected to Tallgrass Energy’s Pony Express Pipeline. Double H had an initial capacity of 84,000 barrels per day, expandable to 108,000 bpd, and was still in final construction stages when the deal was announced in January 2015. It entered service in the first quarter of that year.
The combination of long-term fee-based contracts, dedicated acreage commitments, and a major new pipeline positioned Hiland as exactly the kind of stable cash-flow infrastructure that midstream acquirers target — even against a backdrop of collapsing crude prices.
Why Hamm Sold in 2015
The timing was driven by two converging pressures. Oil prices had fallen sharply in the second half of 2014 — WTI dropped from above $100 per barrel in June to below $50 by January 2015 — compressing margins across the Bakken and reducing the outlook for near-term drilling activity. Kinder Morgan’s own announcement acknowledged the likelihood of lower Bakken volumes in the short term.
Hamm was also navigating a costly divorce settlement, finalised in late 2014 and reported at the time as one of the largest in US history. Selling Hiland Partners freed up capital and allowed Hamm to concentrate Continental Resources purely on exploration and production — the core business he had built over five decades.
Kinder Morgan CEO Richard Kinder described Hiland at announcement as “a premier midstream platform in the Bakken.” The deal, announced 21 January 2015 and closed 13 February 2015, carried an equity value of approximately $2bn and included assumption of around $1bn of debt, plus roughly $850m in committed capital investment obligations tied to contracts already in place.
What Became of the Hiland Assets
The Hiland Partners brand was retired after the acquisition closed. The crude gathering pipelines, gas processing systems, and the Double H Pipeline were absorbed into Kinder Morgan’s Bakken and Rockies midstream operations — one division within a network that today spans approximately 79,000 miles of pipelines and 139 terminals across North America.
Kinder Morgan remains among the largest midstream companies on the continent by infrastructure scale, with the former Hiland assets continuing to serve Bakken producers under the contracts Hamm’s business originated. For context on how those assets fit within the broader US midstream landscape, Kinder Morgan’s network dwarfs most peers by pipeline mileage, though it faces competition from ONEOK, Williams, and Enterprise Products Partners across the major shale basins.
Readers searching for Hiland Partners today will find no active company. The gathering systems, the Double H Pipeline, and the dedicated acreage agreements are Kinder Morgan assets. The Hiland name is a chapter in the Bakken’s build-out story — a midstream platform created by a shale pioneer, scaled during the boom, and sold at the moment the oil price made letting go of it rational.
Hiland Partners — Key Facts
| Detail | Data |
|---|---|
| Founded by | Harold Hamm (Continental Resources) |
| Taken private | 2009 |
| Pipeline network | 1,225 miles (North Dakota & Montana) |
| Dedicated acreage | 1.8 million+ acres under long-term agreements |
| Key asset | Double H Pipeline — 485 miles, 84,000 bpd initial capacity |
| Acquirer | Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) |
| Deal announced | 21 January 2015 |
| Deal closed | 13 February 2015 |
| Total deal value | ~$3bn (including ~$1bn debt assumed) |
| Current status | Retired brand — assets within Kinder Morgan |
For further detail on the acquirer, see the full Kinder Morgan profile on Oil & Gas Storage News. The acquisition close is confirmed in Kinder Morgan’s investor relations filings.
What was Hiland Partners?
Hiland Partners was a Bakken midstream company founded by Harold Hamm, the chairman and CEO of Continental Resources. It operated crude oil gathering and transportation pipelines across North Dakota and Montana, along with gas gathering and processing systems serving Bakken Formation producers.
Who bought Hiland Partners?
Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) acquired Hiland Partners from Harold Hamm and certain Hamm family trusts in February 2015 for approximately $3bn, including assumption of around $1bn in debt.
What assets did Hiland Partners operate?
At the time of sale, Hiland Partners operated 1,225 miles of crude oil pipelines, gas gathering and processing systems in the Bakken Formation, and the Double H Pipeline — a 485-mile crude oil line from North Dakota to Guernsey, Wyoming, with an initial capacity of 84,000 barrels per day.
Why did Harold Hamm sell Hiland Partners?
The sale coincided with the oil price collapse of late 2014 and Hamm’s high-profile divorce settlement. Selling the midstream business freed capital and allowed Continental Resources to focus purely on exploration and production.
Does Hiland Partners still exist?
No. The Hiland Partners brand was retired after the Kinder Morgan acquisition closed in February 2015. The former Hiland assets — pipelines, gathering systems, and the Double H Pipeline — are now part of Kinder Morgan’s Bakken and Rockies midstream operations.