Cash

Vastar Resources Inc.’s board of directors yesterday unanimouslyrecommended approval of a $83-per-share cash merger offer from BPAmoco. London-based BP Amoco already owns 81.9% of Vastar’s commonstock, acquired through last month’s completed merger with AtlanticRichfield Co. BP Amoco would acquire 18.1%, or approximately 17.7million shares, of Vastar common stock that is now publicly held.

Energy powerhouse Enron decided to test its mettle once againMonday, offering British metals trader MG Plc $4.46 per share cashoffer in its bid to enter a new marketplace. The bid values MG at$445 million (300 million pounds sterling).

The cash market decided to calm down Friday following the heatwave and futures excitement from earlier in the week. Having littlein new guidance from weather or a static screen, prices ranged fromflat to down about a nickel in most cases, with larger declines oneither side of a dime occurring in the cooled-off Northeast.

AGL Resources Inc. announced last week it has signed adefinitive agreement to acquire Virginia Natural Gas (VNG), awholly owned subsidiary of Dominion Resources, for $500 million incash. Dominion was required by regulatory authorities to sell theproperty as part of its merger completed earlier this year withConsolidated Natural Gas.

AGL Resources Inc. announced late yesterday it has signed adefinitive agreement to acquire Virginia Natural Gas (VNG), awholly owned subsidiary of Dominion Resources, for $500 million incash. Dominion was required by regulatory authorities to sell theproperty as part of its merger completed earlier this year withConsolidated Natural Gas.

As sources had predicted a day earlier, the downturn in cashprices got even steeper Thursday, primarily due to the big futuresdrop on the previous afternoon and what was considered by many tobe a rather bearish storage report. A gradual warming trend inseveral regions was not strong enough to prompt significant newcooling load for gas.

Responding to regulatory and industry warnings of potentialpower outages this summer, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., SanFrancisco, has begun offering its largest customers payments forvoluntarily curtailing at least 20% of their loads during peaksummer days. The large combination utility covering the northernhalf of California is targeting its 450 largest customers and arelatively few small businesses to obtain up to 500 MW of savingsin a given peak hour.

Weekend cash prices hit a plateau Friday in theMidcontinent/Midwest, Gulf Coast and Appalachia, but softened inthe Northeast and at most western points.

Except for a lackluster, slightly lower performance at severalNortheast citygates, the cash market was flexing its muscles like avain pro wrestler Thursday. Price hikes that generally rangedbetween a nickel and a dime dominated the landscape, althoughCalifornia firming was milder except at capacity-constrained Malin.