The name El Paso sounds more like a Mexican delicacy, in reality its a Delaware limited partnership formed by El Paso Corporation, more of a subsidiary. It owns and operates natural gas transportation pipelines, storage and other midstream assets. Wyoming Interstate Company, Ltd., or WIC, a wholly-owned interstate pipeline transportation business primarily located in Wyoming and Colorado and 10% general partner interests in two interstate pipeline transportation businesses: Colorado Interstate Gas Company, or CIG, which is located in the U.S. Rocky Mountains, and Southern Natural Gas Company, or SNG, which is located in the southeastern United States form its assets. 12,300 miles of pipeline and associated storage facilities form the interstate pipeline businesses. It owns underground working natural gas storage capacity is 89 Bcf. El Paso is the largest operator of interstate natural gas pipelines in North America. As of June 30, 2007, El Paso owned 43,000 miles of interstate pipeline and 233 Bcf of working natural gas storage capacity that connect many of the major domestic natural gas producing basins to the major domestic consuming markets. BCF is abbreviation for billion cubic feet. This is how quantity of gas is measured. El Paso Pipeline Partners' customers include local distribution companies, industrial users, electricity generators, and natural gas marketing and trading companies. El Paso Corporation will retain about 70% of the company post-IPO.

Gas pipeline is a tricky business to be in. If money is spent to build pipeline first and then wait for the gas to be transported, it will turn out be a losing proposition. But El Paso Pipeline Partners has an answer to this through the 3 major assets it has.

1. For WIC, Gas comes from Piceance, Uinta, Powder River and Green River Basins to the Cheyenne Hub. WIC will deliver this natural gas to downstream market areas through interconnections with other pipeline systems. Full recovery of cost of project is estimated.

2. CIG owns and operates 4000 miles of pipeline. Gas is delivered from U.S. Rocky Mountains and the Anadarko Basin. It delivers gas directly to utilities serving residential and commercial users along the Front Range market of Colorado, which includes Denver, and Wyoming and indirectly to users through multiple interconnections. El Paso Pipeline Partners owns 10% of this company.

3. SNG consists of 7,600 miles of pipeline. Gas comes from basins in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico to market areas in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, including the metropolitan areas of Atlanta and Birmingham. The SNG system is also connected to El Paso's Elba Island LNG terminal near Savannah, Georgia, which supplies approximately 17% of the natural gas transported on the SNG system.

The other factors influencing the trickiness of the business are listed below.

1. If Bin Laden's Talibs set fire to the pipelines in an act of terrorism then the damage caused is immeasurable. Talib in afghan means student and Taliban is plural.

2. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires

3. Pipeline blockages

4. Leakage of natural gas

5. Operator error

6. Risks related to underwater pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, which are susceptible to damage from shifting as a result of water currents and mudslides as well as damage from vessels

7. Changes in natural gas prices.

and the list goes on. But the money that this business generates is mouthwatering mitigating the risks to a certain extent.

El Paso Pipeline Partners proposes to sell 25,000,000 of its common stock with a price band in the range of $19- $21. It hopes to raise an estimated amount of $500,000,000. Major part of the money raised will be used to reimburse the El Paso Corporation's investment before the listing. For the time being the company is headed in the right direction and in the foreseeable future will make lots of money for all its shareholders unless as newton says, some external factor stops it. El Paso Corporation will always have its friendly hand around the company's shoulder. So investors need not think twice to remain invested in the company for decades to come.