Duke Energy Field Services has agreed to purchase percentageinterests in several non-regulated natural gas gathering systemsand processing plants from subsidiaries of ONEOK Inc., and hascommitted to build a natural gas processing plant with ONEOK insouthern Oklahoma.

Duke has purchased half of ONEOK’s interest in a partnershipthat owns and operates the Sycamore Gas Gathering system in CarterCounty, plus it has bought ONEOK’s Aledo gas treating plant andgathering system in Dewey County; the Minneola gas gathering systemand related facilities in Ford, Meade and Clark counties in Kansas;and about a 16% interest in the oil and gas reserves, gatheringsystem and processing plant in the Black Lake Unit located inNachitoches Parish, LA. The effective date for the transaction isSept. 1. No financial details were disclosed.

Duke Energy and ONEOK Gas Processing also have formed apartnership to build a new natural gas processing plant andgathering system in Carter County to process approximately 25MMcf/d of natural gas in an area that includes the Sycamore Field.

ONEOK spokesman Weldon Watson noted the “opportunities involvedin having someone of Duke’s size focusing on this area.”Questioned, he said that despite Duke’s announced sale of PanhandleEastern and Trunkline, he had seen no indication Duke is gettingout of the midstream business. He cited the deal with ONEOK andDuke’s Field Services announcement Wednesday of the purchase of agas processing plant in Texas.

“The purchase of these facilities and the construction of theprocessing plant will further our ability to meet our customers’needs by increasing capacity in strategic areas and enhancingoperating efficiencies through consolidation,” said Jim Mogg,president of Duke Energy Field Services.

“The Aledo plant, the Minneola plant, were plants that werepicked up in other acquisitions,” said ONEOK’s Watson said. “TheBlack Lake reserves we purchased back in the early ’90s. We’ve gotmore of an exploitation focus for reserves and owning reserveswhere we own other operations where we’re very active, and that wasnot the case with the Black Lake area in Louisiana.”

Joe Fisher, Houston

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