Announcement

Dominion Exploration and Production said about 200 members of its offshore business unit will begin returning to New Orleans in March. The company’s announcement follows Shell Exploration & Production Co.’s news last week that it will move 1,000 employees back to the Big Easy beginning in January (see Daily GPI, Dec. 16).

Following up on their announcement of the deal in September, Nymex Holdings Inc. and General Atlantic LLC said Tuesday they have signed a definitive agreement by which General Atlantic will invest $135 million for a 10% equity stake in Nymex. Following completion of the transaction, which includes open outcry trading protection provisions, General Atlantic will help Nymex prepare for a potential initial public offering (IPO) planned for 2006.

In the wake of the New York Mercantile Exchange’s (Nymex) announcement that it will sell a 10% stake to General Atlantic for $135 million, questions surfaced about the future of open-outcry trading. The New York Post reported Thursday that exchange members are concerned that Goldman Sachs, which has ties to General Atlantic, would push electronic trading.

The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) announcement last week that it will revise the methodology used to produce its weekly natural gas storage report had brokers and energy industry insiders wondering what exactly they are going to see Thursday morning.

The price of Kinder Morgan and Terasen shares soared on Tuesday following the announcement late Monday that Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) would buy the British Columbia gas utility and pipeline company for $3.1 billion in cash with $2.5 billion in assumed debt (see Daily GPI, Aug. 2).

Although no public announcement has ever been issued by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), two Republican congressmen from California are calling on the Bush administration to review a possible counterbid if the Chinese major attempts to acquire Unocal Corp.

The two major credit ratings agencies Friday placed the debt ratings of Kerr-McGee Corp., under review for possible downgrade following the announcement that financier Carl Icahn has filed to purchase up to $1 billion of the company’s stock, is jockeying for a seat on the board of directors and wants the company to make some major strategic changes (see Daily GPI, March 4).

The two major credit ratings agencies Friday placed the debt ratings of Kerr-McGee Corp., under review for possible downgrade following the announcement that financier Carl Icahn has filed to purchase up to $1 billion of the company’s stock, is jockeying for a seat on the board of directors and wants the company to make some major strategic changes.

Following its announcement to buy two Texas properties on Monday (see Daily GPI, Feb. 1), Moody’s Investors Service analysts affirmed the stable rating outlook of El Paso Corp.’s production holding unit, pending a review of the company’s 4Q2004 and year-end 2004 results.