Agreed

Coming into Tuesday’s session at Nymex traders agreed that oneof two things would happen-prices would either continue to spikelower in follow-though of Monday’s decline, or the market wouldtake a day to catch its breath. Those that cast their vote for thelatter were correct yesterday when the December contract slipped aslight 2.6 cents to settle at $2.279.

Duke Energy Field Services has agreed to purchase percentageinterests in several non-regulated natural gas gathering systemsand processing plants from subsidiaries of ONEOK Inc., and hascommitted to build a natural gas processing plant with ONEOK insouthern Oklahoma.

Shenandoah Gas Co., a subsidiary of Washington Gas Light (WGL),agreed last week to sell its natural gas utility assets in WestVirginia to Mountaineer Gas Co. for an undisclosed sum. To ensurecontinued gas service in the area, Shenandoah Gas will providetransportation services through its Virginia pipeline toMountaineer Gas’ newly acquired pipe in West Virginia for sevenyears.

Enron Capital & Trade Resources (ECT) agreed to acquireCogen Technologies’ interests in three power plants for $1.1billion and the assumption of about $350 million in non-recoursedebt. ECT will make the acquisition through a special purposeentity in which ECT will own a 50 percent interest. The entity willinvest up to $130 million in equity, with the balance of thepurchase price funded by non-recourse borrowings provided byfinancial institutions. The transaction is expected to close inearly 1999.

Nuevo Energy Co. agreed to sell its East Texas gas assets for$190.6 million to an affiliate of Samson Resources Co. The EastTexas assets accounted for about 275 Bcfe of Nuevo’s Jan. 1 provedreserves. The properties are long-lived reserves located mainly inthe Oak Hill Field and interests in the Carthage, SE Carthage andChapel Hill fields, as well as small interests and royaltyinterests in additional East Texas fields.

Qatargas Liquefied Gas Co. and Duke Energy LNG Sales , a unit ofDuke Energy International, agreed for Duke to buy one cargo ofliquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatargas.

In a move to build up the natural gas side of its business andbecome a Btu trading power, American Electric Power subsidiary AEPResources agreed to buy the midstream gas operations of EquitableResources, principally the Louisiana Intrastate Gas (LIG) system,for $320 million in cash. The addition will be AEP’s firstmidstream gas holdings.

Dynegy has agreed to manage all of Rochester Gas &Electric’s (RG&E) gas supply, transportation and storageassets, and help find ways to cut costs and optimize assets.

In a move to cut debt and costs by reducing its propertyinventory, Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources agreed to sellcertain oil and gas properties to Costilla Energy Inc. for $410million. The transaction will be effective Oct. 1 and is expectedto close by year-end. Despite the recent volatility in oil and gasprices, the company said the price falls within its expectations.