Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' corporate credit rating on Birmingham, Ala.-based Southern Natural Gas Co. (SNG) is linked to our rating on its parent, El Paso Pipeline Partners L.P. (EPB; BBB-/Stable/--), which in turn is a subsidiary of El Paso Corp. (BB/Stable/--). On May 25, 2012, Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI; BB/Stable/--) closed its purchase of El Paso for $38 billion. Our ratings on EPB take into account its improved stand-alone credit profile due to its larger size following the merger; a diverse set of assets that provides stable, fee-based cash flows under long-term contracts; higher outside limited partnership unit ownership; and our expectation that it will be managed more as a stand-alone master limited partner (MLP). As with Kinder Morgan
