Annum

Magnolia LNG LLC, a unit of Australia’s Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd., (LNG Ltd.) on Tuesday applied to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to export up to 4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefied U.S. natural gas to U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) countries, the company said.

Royal Dutch Shell plc plans to invest a minimum of $1 billion a year in unconventional natural gas exploration in China, the producer’s top China executive said this week.

Oregon’s largest natural gas utility and electric power utility have come together with the announcement last week that Northwest Natural Gas will buy Enron Corp.’s subsidiary Portland General Electric (PGE) for $1.875 billion. Under terms of the transaction, expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2002, Natural will pay $1.55 billion in cash, give up $200 billion in preferred stock, $50 million in Natural common stock, and assume Enron’s $75 million balance in customer benefits obligations, stipulated in its 1996 PGE purchase. Natural also will assume almost $1.1 billion in PGE debt and preferred stock.