ConocoPhillips on Wednesday won an auction with a bid of nearly $2 billion for the Russian government’s 7.6% stake in Russia’s Lukoil — the world’s No. 2 oil company by reserves. ConocoPhillips offered $1.988 billion, only slightly above the $1.928 billion starting price. Immediately following its winning bid, the company announced that it planned to increase its stake in Lukoil to 20%. It also announced that it had offered to buy a 17.5% stake in a production sharing agreement allowing Lukoil to develop Iraq’s, four billion barrel West Qurna field, and would pay another $374 million to secure a 30% stake in a new joint venture to tap into rich Siberian oil reserves in the Timan Pechora region. The price tag of the Lukoil bid made it the single largest cash deal in the history of Russian privatization.

NUI Corp. said Wednesday that it and its wholly owned subsidiary, NUI Utilities, Inc., have obtained credit facilities aggregating $95 million. The facilities will be used to meet NUI Utilities’ gas purchase prepayment requirements, provide additional liquidity for working capital and for general corporate purposes to facilitate a smooth closing of the merger with AGL Resources Inc. The new credit facilities include a $75 million senior secured credit facility to be made available to NUI Utilities and secured by NUI Utilities’ receivables and related proceeds, and a $20 million senior unsecured credit facility to be made available to NUI by means of an amendment to NUI’s existing $255 million senior unsecured credit facility. The NUI Utilities facility matures on May 15, 2005, and the NUI facility matures on Nov. 21, 2005. As of September 29, 2004, both facilities are fully drawn.

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