Auction

Duke Energy officials said last week that 6,200 MW, or about 63% of the company’s remaining merchant generation, will go on the auction block and will be sold separately from Duke Energy North America’s (DENA) energy trading book. CEO Paul Anderson said the company intends to focus only on the Midwest merchant energy market and the sale of these assets will better prepare Duke for its $9 billion merger with Cinergy.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) said it sold 485,400 MMBtu/d of gas through its Gulf of Mexico royalty-in-kind (RIK) program in a competitive auction. The gas was produced from federal leases in the Gulf and was sold to 13 companies during the spring RIK gas sale that was concluded March 10.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) said it sold 485,400 MMBtu/d of gas through its Gulf of Mexico royalty-in-kind (RIK) program in a competitive auction. The gas was produced from federal leases in the Gulf and was sold to 13 companies during the spring RIK gas sale that was concluded March 10.

EnCana Corp. said it is drawing strong interest in the conventional oil and gas producing assets and the gathering and processing assets that it plans to auction to the highest bidder over the next few months. Among the assets on the block are about 15 properties in central and southern Alberta, 1.4 million acres offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, five production blocks in Ecuador, and some gathering and processing facilities in the Rocky Mountain region.

EnCana Corp. said it is drawing strong interest in the conventional oil and gas producing assets and the gathering and processing assets that it plans to auction to the highest bidder over the next few months. Among the assets on the block are about 15 properties in central and southern Alberta, 1.4 million acres offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, five production blocks in Ecuador, and some gathering and processing facilities in the Rocky Mountain region.

ConocoPhillips last week won an auction with a bid of nearly $2 billion for the Russian government’s 7.6% stake in Russia’s Lukoil — the world’s No. 2 oil company by reserves. ConocoPhillips offered $1.988 billion, only slightly above the $1.928 billion starting price. Immediately following its winning bid, the company announced that it planned to increase its stake in Lukoil to 20%. It also announced that it had offered to buy a 17.5% stake in a production sharing agreement allowing Lukoil to develop Iraq’s, four billion barrel West Qurna field, and would pay another $374 million to secure a 30% stake in a new joint venture to tap into rich Siberian oil reserves in the Timan Pechora region. The price tag of the Lukoil bid made it the single largest cash deal in the history of Russian privatization.

ConocoPhillips on Wednesday won an auction with a bid of nearly $2 billion for the Russian government’s 7.6% stake in Russia’s Lukoil — the world’s No. 2 oil company by reserves. ConocoPhillips offered $1.988 billion, only slightly above the $1.928 billion starting price. Immediately following its winning bid, the company announced that it planned to increase its stake in Lukoil to 20%. It also announced that it had offered to buy a 17.5% stake in a production sharing agreement allowing Lukoil to develop Iraq’s, four billion barrel West Qurna field, and would pay another $374 million to secure a 30% stake in a new joint venture to tap into rich Siberian oil reserves in the Timan Pechora region. The price tag of the Lukoil bid made it the single largest cash deal in the history of Russian privatization.

With a bid of $55.5 million, a group led by a Houston cardiologist won an auction to buy Enron Corp.’s headquarters. The 50-story tower in downtown Houston had been owned by a syndicate of banks that included J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which bought it in the 1990s for $285 million and leased it back to Enron. The company had moved into the building in 1986, according to a spokesman. The building is carried on Houston’s tax rolls for $93 million. The transaction is scheduled to become final Dec. 16, pending approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Proceeds from the sale will go to the bank syndicate. An adjoining 40-story skyscraper, which was built for Enron and nearly new when the company declared bankruptcy in Dec. 2001,sold for $105 million about a year ago.

Bedminster, New Jersey-based NUI Corp., which is on the auction block, reported a 62-cent loss per share from continuing operations for the quarter compared to a loss of 16 cents/share in the same quarter last year and analysts’ expectations of a 40 cents/share quarterly loss. The company also announced that it is considering cutting its dividend.