CMS Marketing, Services and Trading’s (CMS-MST) purchase of a50% interest in North Carolina-based energy marketer Enline EnergySolutions is the latest in a number of recent purchases of smalllocal energy marketing firms intended to help build a larger, morenational marketing presence. The deal gives CMS a firm foothold inthe Southeast region and soon the company plans to do the same inthe Mid-Atlantic, New England and possibly the Midwest regions ifthe right company comes along.

“This acquisition immediately puts us on the map in thesoutheastern U.S., which is an important expansion of our marketarea,” said William W. Schivley, CMS-MST chief operating officer.”Adding Enline to the CMS team is a strategic expansion into thesoutheast that brings Enline’s strong customer service reputationtogether with the resources of CMS.”

Based in Charlotte, NC, Enline was established to provide gassupply, storage, energy management services and risk management toindustrial, commercial and municipal customers in Florida, Georgia,Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.Enline was formed by Brian Heath, Scott Gaddis and Doug Morgan, thefounding officers of Heath Petra Resources, which began gasmarketing and municipal management services business activities inthe southeast in 1988. Heath Petra was sold to Eastex Energy in1993 and Eastex was bought by El Paso Energy in 1995. The foundersleft El Paso last year.

“Our volumes are just getting started,” Heath, president ofEnline, said of the new company. “We’ve been selling some gas sinceJanuary and picked up some steam in February. I think we wereselling about 15 to 20 Mcf/d in February. We are also managingmunicipal accounts that are probably in the neighborhood of 40 to50 Mcf/d as well.” In addition to Charlotte, Enline has offices inHouston, Atlanta and Owensboro, KY. Enline provides energy supplyservices for gas, electricity, residual oil and propane as well asin-plant energy management services.

The deal with Enline continues a series of similar transactionsby CMS. In February, CMS-MST acquired 50% of Canadian gas marketerPremStar Energy Canada. Another similar deal was CMS-MST’s Julyacquisition of 50% of Texon Corp. and Texon Terminals, a privatelyheld oil and gas liquids marketing and gathering business based inHouston.

“We’re only doing these [deals] when we find the right company,the right mix and the right skills,” Schivley told NGI last week.He said the company is interested in doing a similar deal in theMid-Atlantic region, New England, Pennsylvania, New York orMassachusetts. “One strategic location in that area would be good.I think if we could find something else in the Rocky Mountains, wemight have an interest in that.” An enhanced Midwest presence alsocould be in the cards, he said. “Maybe eventually we’d go out toCalifornia, but right now that’s a market we’re just going to holdback a little on.”

CMS Marketing, Services and Trading marketed 243 Bcf for end usein 1997, while wholesale electric trading totaled 900,000 MWh. Theoperation is currently marketing about 1.3 Bcf/d of physical gasvolumes, up from 1 Bcf/d at year-end 1997. Notional gas volumes areabout 2.5 Bcf/d currently. On the power side the marketingoperation is up to about 600,000 MWh for 1998 so far. “This yearwe’ll start having some retail volumes because we’re playing in thePennsylvania pilot currently,” Schivley said.

Joe Fisher, Houston

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