Agreed

El Paso Power Services Co., a subsidiary of Houston-based ElPaso Energy, agreed to buy the interests of PSEG Global and ENPEXCorp. in the Newark Bay Cogeneration Partnership in a deal worthmore than $100 million and expected to close as early as July thismonth.

Shareholders for Commonwealth Energy Systems and BEC Energy votedto approve their companies’ previously announced merger plans lastweek. The merger was first agreed to last December (See Daily GPI, Dec. 8, 1998). The new companywill be named NSTAR.

Consolidated Natural Gas Co. E&P subsidiary CNG ProducingCo. agreed to buy interests in Lopeno and two adjacent South Texasgas fields. Earlier in the year, CNG Producing bought about a 50%interest in the Lopeno field, and together with the most recentpurchase, CNG Producing will own nearly 100%. On a combined basis,the company will pay $125 million for the two transactions.

MCN Energy Group said it has agreed to sell the second of itsfour exploration and production (E&P) packages to an unnamedbuyer(s). The second package is made up of 150 Bcfe of provedreserves in the Midcontinent and Gulf Coast regions and drew atotal of $115 million. The assets sold represent about 13% of thetotal assets MCN put up for sale last year. About 80% of thereserves sold in the second package were gas. Not included wereMCN’s seismic data and exploratory leasehold interests in theCotton Valley Pinnacle Reef play in east Texas, the company said.Those assets apparently will be included in a later sale.

Shell Oil affiliate Tejas Energy agreed to sell its Transokaffiliate to Enogex Inc. for about $700 million, which includesEnogex’s assumption of $173 million of long-term debt. Transok isheadquartered in Tulsa and operates more than 5,000 miles ofpipelines with capacity of about 2.5 Bcf/d and nine gas processingand treating plants.

Avista Corp. affiliate Avista Power and STEAG AG, Germany’slargest independent power producer agreed to form a joint ventureto develop, build and/or buy electric generation assets throughoutNorth America. Initial regions of interest include the Northwest,the Southwest and the Southeast. Projects of interest include thosepowered by natural gas, coal and hydro.

Avista Corp. affiliate Avista Power and STEAG AG, Germany’slargest independent power producer agreed to form a joint ventureto develop, build and/or buy electric generation assets throughoutNorth America. Initial regions of interest include the Northwest,the Southwest and the Southeast. Projects of interest include thosepowered by natural gas, coal and hydro.

Independent producer Titan Exploration Inc. announced Monday ithas agreed to sell all of its Gulf of Mexico assets to Coastal Oil& Gas for $71.3 million in cash plus overriding royaltyinterests in certain properties. The deal, which is expected toclose May 18th, comes on the heels of the completion of the sale ofits Louisiana onshore properties to Phoenix Oil and Gas Ltd. for$5.4 million in cash.

Unocal Corp.’s Spirit Energy 76 agreed to sell substantially allof its oil and gas assets in Michigan to Quicksilver Resources Inc.for $27 million cash and about $3 million in unregistered commonstock of Quicksilver.