Antitrust

The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice has approved Baker Hughes Inc.’s (BHI) plan to sell Superior Energy Services two stimulation vessels (the HR Hughes and the Blue Ray) and some other assets used to perform sand control services in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (see Daily GPI, July 7). The asset sale, expected to close by the end of August, is being conducted in connection with BHI’s acquisition of BJ Services Co. (see Daily GPI, April 29). Once the Superior sale is closed BHI would be free to fully integrate BJ Services into its operations.

Oilfied services firms Baker Hughes Inc. and BJ Services Co. said Tuesday they have reached a final agreement with the Department of Justice’s antitrust division on their proposed merger. The settlement requires the companies to divest assets before closing can occur, and must be approved by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (see Daily GPI, April 5).

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) granted early termination of the waiting period under antitrust law for Black Hills’ acquisition of Aquila’s electric generation and distribution properties in Colorado and its gas distribution properties in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. The FTC did the same for the proposed merger of Aquila’s Missouri-based electric utility with a subsidiary of Great Plains Energy Inc., the parent of Kansas City Power & Light.

Lawyers for the Western States Wholesale Natural Gas Antitrust Litigation published a legal notice last Monday seeking to swell their plaintiffs’ rolls with commercial/industrial customers who bought natural gas during 1999 through 2002 for electric generation or for resale. A proposed $11.3 million settlement is pending with at least six of the defendants, subject to a fairness hearing Sept. 5 before a federal judge in Las Vegas, NV.

Lawyers for the Western States Wholesale Natural Gas Antitrust Litigation published a legal notice Monday seeking to swell their plaintiffs’ rolls with commercial/industrial customers who bought natural gas during 1999 through 2002 for electric generation or for resale. A proposed $11.3 million settlement is pending with at least six of the defendants, subject to a fairness hearing Sept. 5 before a federal judge in Las Vegas, NV.

The Federal Trade Commission said last week that Tenaska Power Fund LP received antitrust approval to acquire six natural gas-fired power plants from Constellation Energy Group for $1.635 billion in cash.

A federal judge dealt a setback Monday to the Alaska Gasline Port Authority (AGPA) with dismissal of the consortium’s antitrust complaint against Exxon Mobil and BP. The AGPA complaint charged Exxon Mobil and BP with conspiring to refuse to sell natural gas from the resources they control on Alaska’s North Slope (see Daily GPI, Dec. 21, 2005).

National Grid and KeySpan Corp. have filed information in compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, a requirement of their proposed merger transaction, the companies said on Friday. In addition, National Grid and KeySpan have made voluntary notice to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that National Grid, a London-headquartered company, is acquiring a U.S. company. In both the HSR and CFIUS filings, the applicable federal authority has 30 days to determine if the filings require further review. On Feb. 27, National Grid and KeySpan announced an agreement for National Grid to acquire KeySpan, which will materially expand the size of National Grid’s US operations and create the third-largest gas delivery utility in the U.S. (see Daily GPI, Feb. 28). In May, National Grid and KeySpan submitted their merger plan to FERC, promising no adverse impacts on the wholesale energy market nor any cross subsidization from regulated to unregulated operations from the $7.3 billion combination (see Daily GPI, May 30).

U.S. antitrust regulators on Tuesday cleared the path for Penn Virginia Resource Partners LP’s (PVR) purchase of natural gas gathering and processing assets in Oklahoma and Texas from Cantera Resources Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, for $191 million in cash.