Midstream energy company Kinder Morgan announced it spent roughly $3 billion to acquire a rival pipeline company operating in the Bakken play in North Dakota.

Kinder said under the terms of the deal that, through the acquisition of Hiland Partners, it's positioned itself as one of the premier companies of its kind. Those with transit agreements with Hiland include Continental Resources and Whiting Petroleum, among the largest stakeholders in the Bakken shale oil reserve area.

"We are delighted to establish a substantial midstream footprint in one of the most prolific oil producing basins in the United States," Kinder Morgan Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Kinder said in a Wednesday statement.

Hiland was founded by oil billionaire Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources. Hiland's assets in the region include more than 1,200 miles of pipelines, including the Double H pipeline, which will bring as much as 80,000 barrels of oil per day from North Dakota to Cushing, Okla., once it enters into service at the end of January.

Kinder last year combined all of its subsidiaries under the Kinder Morgan Inc. banner. At the time, the company said it was the largest energy infrastructure company in North America and the third largest energy company overall.

Before acquiring Hiland, the Kinder Morgan entities shared stakes in or operated around 80,000 miles of oil and natural gas pipelines.

Hiland as recently as December was vetting industry interest in pipeline expansions from some of its assets in North Dakota and Montana. There was no statement from the company or Hamm about the Kinder acquisition.