CMS Energy Corp. will be using natural gas in storage as part of a collateral package to raise $200-$250 million in financing for its main subsidiary, Consumers Energy, to eliminate the need for Consumers Energy to go to the capital markets for the remainder of 2002. Consumers Energy currently has about 95 Bcf of working gas in its underground storage fields.

The company said it has received bank commitments to use the storage gas and expects to close the financing this month. Further cost-cutting steps and sales of non- strategic assets are expected to eliminate the need for CMS Energy to access the capital markets this year. Asset sale proceeds are expected to repay the balance of a CMS Energy $296 million credit facility due March 2003.

CMS Energy is seeking indications of interest to purchase its interstate natural gas pipeline business, the CMS Panhandle Companies, and its natural gas gathering and processing business, CMS Field Services, as part of its overall restructuring effort.

CMS Panhandle’s major assets include 10,300 miles of gas pipeline, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, and the largest operating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the United States. CMS Field Services, the midstream unit of CMS Energy, gathers, treats, processes, and delivers natural gas and natural gas liquids to market hubs throughout the supply regions of Louisiana, West Texas, Central Texas, the Midcontinent, and Rocky Mountains. CMS Field Services owns approximately 3,700 miles of gathering pipeline and through its subsidiary, Bighorn Gas Gathering, LLC, is one of the largest gatherers of coal bed methane in northern Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.

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