The European Commission has approved Chevron Corp.’s purchase ofTexaco Inc., clearing one hurdle on its road toward a successfulmerger by possibly this summer. Still to come is the lengthy U.S.approval process, including approval by the U.S. Federal TradeCommission. In a statement, the European Commission said that “thenumber of areas where the companies’ activities overlap in Europeis limited and where they do (overlap), the combined market sharesremain below 15%.” Chevron has sold most of its Europeanoperations: some in 1984 to Texaco, another group to RoyalDutch/Shell Group in 1997 and some to Petroplus in 1998. SanFrancisco-based Chevron agreed to buy Texaco, based in WhitePlains, NY, last October for $35.1 billion in stock and assumeddebt of $7.5 billion (see Daily GPI, Oct. 17, 2000).

In his blueprint for the federal budget, President Bush thisweek set in motion plans to possibly begin oil and gas leasing inthe coastal region of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) by2004. It authorizes the Interior Department to begin a study of theenvironmental impact of drilling in the Arctic region, and to haveit completed by 2004. The final decision on whether to open up thecoastal region to drilling will rest with Congress. The Bureau ofLand Management and several cooperating agencies, such as the Fishand Wildlife Service, will conduct the environmental review, adepartment aide said.

Responding to a counteroffer this week by a consortium topurchase the energy assets of Fletcher Challenge Ltd., ShellOverseas Holdings Ltd. and Apache Corp. have made a final offer,raising their bid 4.4%, which increases the cash portion to US$3.55per share from $3.34 per share. In response, New Zealand-basedFletcher’s board of directors said it would recommend thatshareholders approve the Shell-Apache offer at next Tuesday’sspecial shareholder meeting. The latest offer came after PeakPetroleum, a consortium led by Guinness Peat Group Plc, said itwould offer $3.70 a share and asked for a court-ordered delay tomake a formal bid (see Daily GPI, Feb. 28). In the deal,Houston-based Apache would pick up Fletcher’s Canadian andArgentina natural gas assets. Even though the Shell-Apache offer isless than Peak’s offer, Fletcher CEO Mike Andrews said that therewas a “reasonably high risk” that Peak could not deliver on itsproposal.

Westmoreland Power, subsidiary of Westmoreland Coal Co., hassubmitted a proposal to the North Dakota Industrial Commission todevelop, own and operate, either independently or in partnership, anew state-of-the-art 500 MW lignite-fired power plant nearGascoyne, ND in connection with Lignite Vision 21. LV-21 is apartnership between the State of North Dakota and the LigniteEnergy Council designed to encourage construction of a new baseloadpower plant. It includes up to $10 million in matching funds forsuch development. Westmoreland Coal is acquiring the coaloperations of Knife River Corp., including active coal mines inNorth Dakota and Montana, and rights to develop the Gascoyne coalreserves.

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