On Wednesday, pipeline operator Kinder Morgan announced a deal to acquire $3 billion worth of Bakken shale assets from Harold Hamm's Hiland Partners.

Kinder Morgan said it expects to retain "nearly all" of Hiland's 430 employees.

Hamm has been in the news recently as terms of his public and expensive divorce have surfaced, including a situation earlier this month in which Hamm wrote out a $975 million check to his ex-wife Sue Ann Arnall, who initially rejected the check.

Later, reports said that Arnall did cash the check, though Arnall vowed to press on with her appeal of the case.

Arnall has been seeking a larger portion of Hamm's estate, which was worth upward of $18 billion earlier this year, though Hamm has seen his fortune decline by more than half as the value of Continental Resources, the oil-and-gas company in which he has a 68% stake, has plummeted along with the price of oil.