Southern Union Company was a

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

utility and energy resources company based in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. In 2012, the company was acquired by

Energy Transfer Partners Energy Transfer LP is an American company engaged in natural gas and propane pipeline transport. It is organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It was founded in 1995 by Ray Davis and Kelcy Warren, who remains Cha ...

. The company owned and operated more than of gathering and transportation pipelines that transported natural gas from major producing areas to major markets in the Southeast, Midwest, and Great Lakes regions. It also owned a large

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

import terminal. Southern Union Gas Services, with approximately 5,500 miles of pipelines, was engaged in the gathering, transmission, treating, processing and re-delivery of natural gas and natural gas liquids in Texas and New Mexico.

History

The company was founded in 1929 by Clint Murchison Sr. as Wink Gas Co., a pipeline and utility company. In February 1990, Metro Mobile CTS, controlled by billionaire

George Lindemann George Lyle Lindemann (March 26, 1936 – June 21, 2018) was an American billionaire businessman known for being the chairman and chief executive officer of Southern Union, a fossil fuel infrastructure and pipeline company.Robert Trigaux"F ...

, acquired the company for $175 million. In 1991, the Arizona operations were sold to Citizens Utilities. The company acquired pipeline assets from nron and a large natural gas business from the Bass family. In 2003, the Texas utility operations were sold to ONEOK. In 2012, the company sued the government in the case of '' Southern Union Co. v. United States'', which was decided upon by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, after the company was convicted of storing hazardous liquid mercury without a permit. In March 2012, the company was acquired by

. In September 2013, Missouri Gas Energy was sold to

Laclede Group Spire Inc. () is a public utility holding company based in St. Louis, Missouri, providing natural gas service through its regulated core utility operations while engaging in non-regulated activities that provide business opportunities. Its primar ...

for $975 million.

References

{{Reflist, 1 Energy companies established in 1929 American companies established in 1929 Defunct energy companies of the United States