Pipeline giant Kinder Morgan Inc. said it was cutting its 2020 capital budget by 30 per cent and slowing a previously announced dividend increase amid an unprecedented collapse in oil prices.

Kinder Morgan hiked its dividend by five per cent to an annualized rate of US$1.05 a share, lower than a previous plan to increase payouts to US$1.25. The company will reduce its expenses and sustaining capital expenditures by more than US$100 million compared with its budget, according to its first-quarter earnings statement Wednesday.

“While we have the financial wherewithal to pay our previously planned dividend increase, with significant coverage, in unprecedented times such as these, the wise choice is to preserve flexibility and balance sheet capacity,” Chairman Rich Kinder said in the statement.

The company is also slashing its growth capital budget for the year by about US$700 million, a nearly 30 per cent reduction. “Market conditions also result in a number of planned expansion projects no longer meeting our internal return thresholds,” Kinder Morgan said.