The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the merger ofDominion Resources Inc. and Consolidated Natural Gas Co. Stillpending are approvals by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissionand the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are expected byyear end. The merger is expected to close in the first quarter of2000.

PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. of Calgary more than doubled its netland holdings and has become a leading oil and gas exploreroffshore Nova Scotia following the Nova Scotia sale of offshorepetroleum lands. PanCanadian and partners bought six parcelscovering more than 670,000 gross hectares of exploration rights. Intotal, PanCanadian holds interest on more than 1.6 million grosshectares across both the shelf and deep waters offshore NovaScotia. Over the past two and a half years PanCanadian has acquiredclose to 890,000 net hectares in 15 offshore exploration parcels.”We see offshore Nova Scotia as one of the most promisingexploration regions in North America. By adding six parcels today,covering more than 446,000 net hectares, we have clearlyestablished a core exploration area for PanCanadian,” David Tuer,PanCanadian CEO, said last week. In the land sale, conducted by theCanada Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, PanCanadian and itspartners pledged to spend more than $48 million on exploration overthe next five years.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) last weekunanimously approved the merger of American Electric Power Co.Inc. of Columbus, OH, and Central and South West Corp. of DallasThe action by the commissioners also approved an integratedstipulation and agreement that will cut combined rates by more than$221 million over a six-year period for Texas retail customers ofthe three CSW Texas electric operating companies after the mergeris completed. The agreement, which was announced in May, alsoprovides for divestiture of 1,604 megawatts of generating capacitywithin Texas.

CSW is the parent company to Central Power and Light Company(CPL), West Texas Utilities Company (WTU) and Southwestern ElectricPower Co. (SWEPCO). CSW’s electric operating companies serve acombined total of 988,300 customers in Texas. AEP and CSW announcedtheir intention to merge on Dec. 22, 1997. Various regulatory nodsare pending.

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