Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas Corp. Wednesday warned its customers in the northern half of Nevada about potentially high retail gas rates this winter. The gas-only distribution utility attributed the higher gas costs principally to the fact that wholesale gas demand is growing faster than new supplies, keeping the prices at historically high levels. The utility, which also has gas utility operations in California and Arizona, said it expects bills for the average residential customer using 96 therms to climb from $86 last December 2003 to $122 this December. The figures include a pending increase now before the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada.

The shareholders of NUI Corp. overwhelmingly approved the sale of the company to AGL Resources for $13.70 per share. Completion of the sale is now pending receipt of state regulatory approvals in New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. State regulatory reviews are expected to be completed by mid-November and will be followed by the Securities and Exchange Commission review under the Public Utility Holding Company Act. NUI and AGL Resources expect the sale to close between December 2004 and March 2005. John Kean, NUI’s former chairman, retired from the company’s board at Thursday’s meeting. Shareholders also approved the election of the following individuals to the NUI board: Robert P. Kenney, retired president of Elizabethtown Gas; Bernard S. Lee, retired president and CEO of the Institute of Gas Technology; Craig G. Matthews, NUI president and CEO; and Steven D. Overly, NUI vice president, CFO, general counsel, treasurer and secretary.

El Paso Corp. closed the sale of a 46.2% ownership interest in the MASSPOWER power plant. A 33.7% ownership interest was sold to Northern Star Generation, LLC for $34 million, and a 12.5% ownership interest was sold to United States Power Fund LP, a private equity fund managed by Energy Investors Funds, for $13 million. El Paso will retain a 4.1% ownership interest in MASSPOWER, a 270 MW power plant located in Springfield, MA.

Following up on announced plans to search for strategic alternatives, Magnum Hunter Resources Inc. has hired Deutsche Bank Securities and Merrill Lynch & Co. as financial advisers. Founding CEO Gary Evans announced his retirement earlier this month, and said the next management team would take the company to a new level (see NGI, Oct. 11). Evans said in a conference call that the company is not locked into one particular plan or transaction. The ultimate fate of the company could be in a “different form than an outright sale.” Evans, who will retire in April 2005 but continue to hold a position on the board, said he had been considering alternatives for the company for more than a year to enhance shareholder value. Box was elected interim chairman last week when Evans announced his retirement. Box, 66, a board member and former president of Oryx Energy, is leading a special board committee to investigate the company’s future plans.

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