Assets

Adding to its long list of utility, marketing and transportationassets, Aquila Energy parent Utilicorp United entered into astrategic partnership with Quanta Services Wednesday for $400million. Utilicorp hopes to increase its profit potential in thederegulating electric and telecommunications markets by teamingwith the Houston-based Quanta, a provider of specialized servicesfor companies in those industries.

Complementing its integrated operations in Northeast Utah andwestern Colorado, Coastal Field Services, Coastal’s midstreamdivision, bought the Bluebell and Altonah gathering systems andprocessing plants located in the Duchesne and Uintah counties ofUtah. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Quicksilver Resources Inc. of Fort Worth, TX, closed on theacquisition of substantially all of Unocal Corp.’s Spirit Energy 76unit’s gas and oil assets in Michigan. Total consideration was $27million in cash and 404,381 shares of Quicksilver common stock. Thetransaction is effective January 1, 1999.

Independent producer Titan Exploration Inc. announced Monday ithas agreed to sell all of its Gulf of Mexico assets to Coastal Oil& Gas for $71.3 million in cash plus overriding royaltyinterests in certain properties. The deal, which is expected toclose May 18th, comes on the heels of the completion of the sale ofits Louisiana onshore properties to Phoenix Oil and Gas Ltd. for$5.4 million in cash.

Consolidated Edison Co. of New York said NRG Energy Inc. andKeySpan Energy are the winning bidders for two of its electricgenerating plants and 36 gas turbines.

Marking the start of a five-year, $400 million Gulf of Mexico(GOM) exploration and production (E&ampP) assault, Conoco announcedthe exchange of interest in several deep-water blocks with Exxonand the debut of the Deepwater Pathfinder, a drillship capable ofreaching 10,000-foot depths. In the exchange, Conoco acquired 50%of 29 Exxon-owned blocks and Exxon acquired 50% of 30 Conoco-ownedblocks. The undeveloped acreage is in Green Canyon, Garden Banks,Walker Ridge and Keathley Canyon. Terms of the transaction were notdisclosed. With this addition, Conoco holds interest in 295 blocksin the GOM, amounting to 1.2 million net acres.

Low oil prices prompted Texaco to cut about 1,000 out of 8,000upstream employee and contractor jobs worldwide as part of areorganization designed to increase emphasis on long-termproduction and reserve growth and streamline costs and improvecompetitiveness. Cost savings are projected to be $200 million peryear, and the reorganization is expected to be completed by the endof the first quarter of next year.

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.

Dynegy opened a new $57 million gas liquids fractionationfacility near Lake Charles, LA, that can separate up to 55,000barrels/d of gas liquids into ethane, propane and a butane andnatural gasoline mix. The facility is fed primarily from offshoreproduction in the Gulf of Mexico via pipeline and truck throughDynegy’s Hackberry terminal. Its products are primarily shippedthrough pipeline to customers in the petrochemical/refiningindustry in Lake Charles.