Duke Energy Income Fund, which was spun off from Duke Energy Corp. to hold various Canadian midstream assets, said it is buying interests in four raw gas processing plants and related gas gathering system in northeastern British Columbia from Duke Energy Corp. subsidiary Westcoast Gas Services Inc. (WGSI) for $145 million. The acquisition will be accomplished through the purchase of all the issued and outstanding shares of WGSI from Westcoast Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corp. and the sponsor of the fund. Closing is conditioned on the approval of the fund’s unitholders and is expected to occur by Sept. 30. The fund also announced its intention, contingent on the closing of the acquisition, to increase its monthly cash distributions to $0.07 per unit from $0.067 per unit, or $0.84 per unit on an annualized basis. Doug Haughey, CEO of the fund’s manager, said the facilities “represent an excellent strategic fit for the fund and will serve to strengthen our platform for further growth. In addition, the transaction will be immediately accretive to unitholder distributions.”

Golden Pass LNG LLC awarded a $1 billion lump-sum turnkey contract to Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. (CB&I) for construction of the 2 Bcf/d Golden Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility near Sabine Pass, TX. The terminal, which will deliver regasified LNG to an ExxonMobil refinery and to the U.S. gas pipeline grid, is expected to be completed in 2009 when it will begin receiving LNG from Qatar. CB&I has complete responsibility for the project, which will have an import capacity to process 15.6 million tons per year of LNG. The terminal includes two ship unloading berths, five full-containment LNG storage tanks, each with a capacity of 155,000 cubic meters, a regasification and sendout system, and related ancillary facilities. Initial engineering, procurement and site preparation activities are under way. The project also will include a separate 75-mile pipeline system to Starks, LA, and a lateral to ExxonMobil’s Beaumont, TX, refinery. Golden Pass LNG LLC, the owner of the Golden Pass LNG terminal, is expected to be 70% owned by an affiliate of Qatar Petroleum, with affiliates of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips each owning a share in the balance of the interest in the terminal. It is also expected that LNG for the Golden Pass terminal will be supplied primarily from the Ras Laffan 3 and the Qatargas 3 projects in Qatar, which will produce and process natural gas from Qatar’s offshore North Field.

With its affiliated natural gas operations as the primary beneficiaries, Sempra Generation completed the sale of its exploration and production (E&P) subsidiary, Sempra Energy Production Co. (SEPCO), to PEC Minerals LP for $225 million in cash. The company said it expected to record an after-tax gain of about $110 million from the sale in the third-quarter as part of discontinued operations. Sempra said the cash proceeds from the sale will be used to help fund the other capital projects of the parent company, Sempra Energy, including its liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals, new interstate natural gas transmission pipelines and natural gas storage projects. SEPCO dates back to the pre-formation time of Sempra Energy coming together with the merger of San Diego-based Enova Corp. and Los Angeles-based Pacific Enterprises, parent to Southern California Gas Co. They began merged operations in June 1998. Pacific Enterprises’ Dallas-based SEPCO has been operating as a subsidiary of Sempra’s merchant generation unit, Sempra Generation. The new owner, PEC Minerals, is jointly owned by a three-company group — Jetta Operating Co., Trevor Rees-Jones, and Providence Energy Corp. — in the E&P sector. They assume ownership of SEPCO’s assets, which including mineral rights over 570,000 net acres and executive rights to more than 190,000 net acres in 31 states.

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