Becomes

With arctic cold finally blanketing most of the Midwest and Northeast, the question now becomes whether this cold blast from Canada will be too little and too late to stem the fall of natural gas futures prices.

Atmos Energy (ATO) last week became the country’s largest gas-only utility company by completing its $1.9 billion purchase of the natural gas distribution and pipeline operations of TXU Gas Co.

Atmos Energy (ATO) on Friday became the country’s largest gas-only utility company by completing its $1.9 billion purchase of the natural gas distribution and pipeline operations of TXU Gas Co.

KeySpan Corp., through its KeySpan Energy Development Corp. unit, last week picked up a 21% equity interest in the stalled Millennium Pipeline project, which hopes to deliver new natural gas supplies to New York and the Northeast by the winter of 2006-2007.

KeySpan Corp., through its KeySpan Energy Development Corp., said Wednesday it has picked up a 21% equity interest in the stalled Millennium Pipeline project, which hopes to deliver new natural gas supplies to New York and the Northeast by the winter of 2006-2007.

Shareholders have approved Devon Energy’s $5.3 billion purchase of Ocean Energy, which makes Devon one of the largest North American independent producers of oil and gas with an enterprise value of more than $20 billion and 2.2 billion boe of proved reserves.

Range Resources said it will become the Appalachian Basin’s third largest producer by acquiring the remaining 50% of Great Lakes Energy Partners LLC that it does not currently own from Akron, OH-based FirstEnergy Corp. It will pay $200 million in cash plus the assumption of $68 million in debt and will retire $22 million of oil and gas commodity hedges.

Range Resources said it will become the Appalachian Basin’s third largest producer by acquiring the remaining 50% of Great Lakes Energy Partners LLC that it does not currently own from Akron, OH-based FirstEnergy Corp. It will pay $200 million in cash plus the assumption of $68 million in debt and will retire $22 million of oil and gas commodity hedges.

Shrugging off a 9.1-cent loss Thursday related to profit-taking, the June natural gas futures contract climbed right back into things Friday, closing up 7.5 cents on the day to settle at $6.294. Friday capped a wild week that saw a 36.9-cent breakout gain on Monday, vaulting the prompt month well over the psychological $6 mark.