Houston-area residents served by Reliant Energy Entex will see a 22% reduction in natural gas bills beginning in February, saving customers about $90 million on an annual basis. The reduction follows one last August when the company announced a 19% reduction to save about $100 million on an annual basis. A typical bill for 100 cubic feet that was $83.27 now will be $65.17, reflecting fluctuations in fuel prices. “The price we pay to purchase natural gas has continued to drop in the last several months, and these lower wholesale prices reduce the cost of delivering natural gas,” said Tom Standish, president of Reliant Energy HL&P/Entex.

Devon Energy Corp. said it has completed it purchase of Mitchell Energy & Development . Shareholders approved the transaction at special meetings Thursday. Each Mitchell common share was converted into 0.585 shares of Devon stock and the right to receive $31 cash. Conversion requires issuance of approximately 29.7 million additional Devon common shares, resulting in total shares outstanding of approximately 156 million. The transaction will be accounted for as a purchase of Mitchell by Devon. Devon CEO J. Larry Nichols said, “The addition of Mitchell’s fast-growing Barnett Shale gas production and powerful midstream operations firmly establishes Devon as a premier independent with an outstanding complement of oil and gas assets in North America.” The combined company has proved oil and natural gas reserves of 2 billion boe. Proved reserves are 60% natural gas and 40% liquids. Production is 68% gas and 32% liquids, with 95% coming from North America. The combined company also holds more than 25 million net undeveloped acres worldwide.

A partnership formed by ATCO Power Ltd. and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has signed an energy conversion agreement with Coral Energy Canada Inc. for the proposed Brighton Beach power station in Windsor, ON. Under the arrangement, Coral will deliver natural gas to the plant and will own, market and trade all the electricity produced. The ATCO Power-OPG partnership — Brighton Beach Power L.P. — plans to construct a 580 MW combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant in west Windsor. Coral expects to sell power from the plant into the Ontario electricity market, which is scheduled to open May 1, 2002. The project will be built on the site of the former J.C. Keith generating station, providing ready access to existing electricity transmission lines. The project is currently in the process of obtaining the necessary environmental approvals. Construction is slated to begin early in 2002 and the plant is scheduled to be in-service in the spring of 2004.

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