El Paso Corporate Headquarters, Texas

The El Paso Company once owned the largest gas pipeline in the country, a 42,000 mile network that carried more than a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the United States. In addition, the company explored and produced gas wells, on shore and in the Gulf of Mexico. The company started in 1928 by building small pipelines from El Paso to the west, reaching California in the late 1940s. In 1996, the company moved its headquarters to Houston after acquiring the eastern USA pipeline company Tenneco, and thereby operated a system that spaned the continent. In 2001, the company acquired the Coastal Corporation, a major natural gas production and distribution company. In 2012, Kinder Morgan acquired El Paso Corporation for $38 billion, and subsequently moved its headquarters to the former El Paso Corporation building.