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Our History
 Following the discovery of oil in the Permian Basin in the 1920s, Houston attorney, Paul Kayser, determined that El Paso, Texas provided a promising market for more cost-effective natural gas. He firmed up supply from several gas wells near Jal, New Mexico, convinced El Paso’s industrial facilities to convert to natural gas, and El Paso Natural Gas Company was born.
In the three-quarters of a century since its founding, El Paso has grown from a regional natural gas company to the largest natural gas transmission system in North America.
We invite you to take a few minutes to view an online scrapbook, dedicated to each and every employee—past and present—whose contributions made our company what it is today. The first four decades of our history are now available. We will continue to build upon the scrapbook throughout the year, so check back monthly for updates. And if you have a special memory, an amusing anecdote, or were part of a key event in the development of Team El Paso, please submit your story to history@elpaso.com. Launch our scrapbook.
| Year |
Summary |
| 1928 |
Paul Kayser incorporates the pipeline company in Delaware as El Paso Natural Gas Company. |
| 1929 |
El Paso Natural Gas Company begins construction of its first natural gas pipeline. |
| 1931 |
El Paso Natural Gas Company expands westward into southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and Cananea, Mexico. |
| 1936 |
The New York Stock Exchange lists El Paso Natural Gas’ common stock. |
| 1947 |
El Paso begins construction of its
natural gas pipeline to California. The
project involves laying more than 700
miles of pipe and building the
compressor stations necessary
to keep the gas moving. |
| 1955 |
El Paso Natural Gas celebrates the opening of its downtown El Paso home office building. |
| 1983 |
El Paso Natural Gas becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Burlington Northern, Inc. Burlington Northern subsequently spins off El Paso Natural Gas as part of Burlington Resources Inc. in 1988. |
| 1992 |
El Paso Natural Gas is spun off by Burlington Resources and announces an initial public offering of its stock. |
| 1996 |
The company acquires the energy business of Tenneco Energy, which was founded in 1940. The acquisition extends El Paso’s interstate pipeline system from coast to coast. El Paso moves its corporate headquarters to Houston, Texas and changes its name to El Paso Energy Corporation to reflect the company’s expanding role in the energy industry. |
| 1999 |
El Paso merges with Sonat Inc., which founded its pipeline operations in 1929 as Southern Natural Gas. This merger expands El Paso’s pipeline operations into the southeast United States and initiates the company’s entrance into the exploration and production business. |
| 2001 |
The company changes its name to El Paso Corporation and completes its merger with The Coastal Corporation, which was founded in 1955. The merger brings Colorado Interstate Gas Company and ANR Pipeline Company to the company’s pipeline operations. The merger also significantly increases the size of the company’s exploration and production business. El Paso Natural Gas moves its headquarters to Colorado Springs, Colorado, joining with Colorado Interstate Gas to form El Paso’s Western Pipeline Group. Tennessee Gas Pipeline and ANR Pipeline consolidate their operations in Houston to form El Paso’s Eastern Pipeline Group. |
| 2003 |
El Paso Corporation hires Doug Foshee as president and chief executive officer. |
| 2004 |
El Paso’s 6,000 employees dedicated themselves to working as one team focused on making El Paso Corporation a great turnaround story by meeting challenges and seizing opportunities. |
| 2005 |
Every employee from the top down is committed to upholding our values of Stewardship, Integrity, Safety, Accountability, and Excellence in all we do. We are building upon our legacy of success by returning to our roots, and we will prevail over the industry-changing events that have altered the face of the company. |
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