Aquila and NiSource have formed an alliance to leverage their capabilities to provide comprehensive energy solutions, better manage the risk associated with operating NiSource’s sprawling pipeline and storage assets, and to capitalize on market opportunities presumably created in the void left by Enron Corp. The details of the alliance are being developed and will be provided as they are available.

“The NiSource-Aquila alliance will be a powerful partnership to address the dynamic requirements of the energy marketplace,” said Aquila CEO Robert K Green. “It will bring together a world-class owner and operator of energy assets with a world-class risk merchant, enabling both companies to optimize NiSource’s assets and manage risk for the benefit of shareholders and customers alike.”

NiSource CEO Gary L. Neale said the deal will allow the two companies to “focus on their individual core businesses and combine their complementary expertise to leverage the value of NiSource’s uniquely positioned asset base and Aquila’s extensive merchant capabilities to create greater value, with less associated risk, than either company could achieve on its own.”

NiSource’s operations are focused in the high-demand energy corridor that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to New England. Having bought out the Columbia Gas Group several years ago, it is the third-largest natural gas distributor in North America, the second-largest holder of gas storage and the largest gas producer in the Appalachian basin. The company also owns and operates 16,500 of interstate pipeline and electric generation assets in northern Indiana.

Kansas City-based Aquila is a leading wholesaler of natural gas and power in North America and a provider of risk management services.

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