Announcing

Two weeks after announcing its intentions to acquire the remaining shares of Pure Resources Inc., El Segundo, CA-based Unocal Corp. on Thursday said it has commenced the exchange offer to shareholders of Pure (see Daily GPI, Aug. 21). Under the offer, Unocal said it is seeking the 35% of outstanding common stock in the company that it does not already own.

Two weeks after announcing its intentions to acquire the remaining shares of Pure Resources Inc., El Segundo, CA-based Unocal Corp. last Thursday said it has commenced the exchange offer to the shareholders of Pure. Under the offer, Unocal said it is seeking the 35% of outstanding common stock in the company that it does not already own.

PG&E Corp. raised the specter of the Enron calamity by announcing that it may have to amend its financial statements potentially back to 1999 and place certain “leases” on its balance sheet that would increase its total assets and liabilities by $1 billion. PG&E said it discovered errors in the accounting treatment of several leases related to merchant power plant financings. Nevertheless, it said any financial revisions would have no material impact on its current income statement.

PG&E Corp. raised the specter of the Enron calamity by announcing that it may have to amend its financial statements potentially back to 1999 and place certain “leases” on its balance sheet that would increase its total assets and liabilities by $1 billion. PG&E said it discovered errors in the accounting treatment of several leases related to merchant power plant financings. Nevertheless, it said any financial revisions would have no material impact on its current income statement.

Enron Corp. on Thursday had good news, announcing that two of its banks, JPMorgan, the investment banking arm of JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Salomon Smith Barney Inc., the investment banking arm of Citicorp Inc., had agreed to provide incremental credit lines totaling $1 billion, secured by Enron’s Northern Natural Gas Co. and Transwestern Pipeline Co. assets. The funds will be used to supplement short-term liquidity and to refinance maturing obligations. However, analysts and credit rating services remained dubious about Enron’s long-term ability to secure cash to operate.

California’s fledgling Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority (power authority) last week continued its breakneck start-up, announcing its pursuit of various gas-fired and renewable power generation projects that are aimed at giving the state another 3,000 MW online by next summer. In addition, the power authority said it has posted on its web site (www.capowerauthority.ca.gov) a draft request for bids for microturbine, solar and fuel cell projects.

Drawing the ire of many marketers and traders, the American Gas Association (AGA) stunned the market for a second week in a row last week by announcing a revision to the extremely low 3 Bcf storage injection it reported for storage activity during the week ending Aug. 10. AGA said the number should have been 50 Bcf.

Just one week after announcing that he will step down as FERC chairman at the end of the month, Entergy Corp. is reporting that it has hired Curt Hebert Jr. to become executive vice president of external affairs, effective Sept. 1.

On the heels of the SCANA Corp. announcement made last week announcing the formation of its SCG Pipeline Inc. subsidiary, South Carolina Pipeline Corp., another SCANA subsidiary, reported on Tuesday that it intends to extend its existing facilities to interconnect with the proposed SCG Pipeline to gain access to additional supplies of natural gas.