UtiliCorp subsidiary Aquila Energy renamed its gas assetdevelopment group Merchant Energy Partners. It previously was knownas Natural Gas Partners. The change follows a recent reorganizationin which Aquila realigned its asset development activities, placingboth gas and power asset development under one executive. Thecompany will use Merchant Energy Partners for both its gas andpower asset development groups. V.J. Horgan is president of MEP andan Aquila Energy senior vice president.

The gas asset development group is responsible for enhancing thevalue of already acquired gas assets and is planning to buildadditional storage facilities and pipelines. Aquila recently boughta storage facility in Katy, TX, that has interconnections to 11pipelines and can hold 27.2 Bcf of gas.

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