New Century Energies and Northern States Power said they havefiled, or are expected to file later this week, merger applicationswith state regulators in Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, Texas, NewMexico, Kansas and North Dakota and with FERC. Other filings withadditional state and federal regulators will follow. NCE and NSPshareholders approved the merger on June 28. The proposedcombination, to be called Xcel Energy, will serve three millionelectricity customers and 1.5 million natural gas customers in 12states.

ARCO and Syntroleum announced completion and the successfulstart up of their Natural Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) pilot plant. Locatedat ARCO’s Cherry Point Refinery near Bellingham, WA, the 70-barrelper day pilot plant has achieved initial operating targets and isproceeding with the evaluation program. The pilot plant is testingnew reactor designs and high performance Fischer-Tropsch catalystfor the Syntroleum Process, a proprietary process for convertingnatural gas into synthetic fuels and hydrocarbon-based specialtychemicals. Tulsa-based Syntroleum Corp. licenses its proprietaryprocess for converting natural gas into synthetic crude oil andtransportation fuels. The process is designed to apply in plantsizes ranging from 2,000 barrels per day to more than 100,000barrels per day. Besides ARCO, current licensees include Enron,Kerr-McGee, Marathon, Texaco and YPF.

The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energyapproved a rate plan associated with the merger of BECEnergy andComEnergy Systems, and their subsidiaries, Cambridge Electric andCommonwealth Gas. The rate plan includes a four-year distributionrate freeze and a schedule for recovery of all merger-relatedcosts, including an acquisition premium. The DTE found that thecompanies demonstrated sufficient savings to offset the mergercosts. “This is another in a series of mergers that is reshapingthe industry,” said DTE Chair Janet Gail Besser. “Having sold theirpower plants, it makes sense for these utilities to combine theirdistribution resources. [It] will allow these utilities to operatemore efficiently and, in turn, improve rates and service quality inthe region.” The merger will create a new holding company calledNstar, though Boston Edison, Commonwealth Electric, CambridgeElectric Light and Commonwealth Gas will continue to be theoperational entities.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. has agreed to sell its 25%interest in a 210,000 barrel/d natural gas liquids (NGL)fractionation facility in Mont Belvieu, TX to Enterprise ProductsPartners LP for $45 million. “Our interest in the fractionationfacility was passive, and since Kinder Morgan does not trade NGLsand seeks to avoid commodity risk, the facility was not a good fitfor our asset portfolio,” said CEO Richard Kinder. “We plan toredeploy the proceeds of this sale into our core fee-based pipelineand terminal businesses. The results of this transaction will beaccretive in earnings and cash flow to Kinder Morgan and itsunitholders.”

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