Chicago

Exelon’s two utility subsidiaries, Commonwealth Edison in Chicago and Philadelphia-based PECO, reported record winter peak power demand last Monday because of extremely cold temperatures and customer growth, and KeySpan said its New York and Long Island utility operations both set new gas demand records when it averaged about 14 degrees in the KeySpan service territory.

Green Bay, WI-based WPS Resources Corp.’s $1.52 billion acquisition of Chicago-based Peoples Energy Corp. cleared its final hurdle last Thursday as the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) gave its verbal approval to the proposed merger of the companies, which was first announced on July 10, 2006 (see NGI, July 10, 2006; July 17, 2006). The companies said the transaction will close following the commission’s written order, which is expected to be issued Feb. 16. Upon closing, the new company will be known as Integrys Energy Group Inc., and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TEG. The combined company will have assets of about $10.3 billion and its market capitalization is expected to exceed $4 billion. On the regulated side, the company will have more than 1.6 million natural gas customers and nearly half a million electric customers, with operations in four states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.

Green Bay, WI-based WPS Resources Corp.’s $1.52 billion acquisition of Chicago-based Peoples Energy Corp. cleared its final hurdle Thursday as the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) gave its verbal approval to the proposed merger of the companies, which was first announced on July 10, 2006 (see Daily GPI, July 7, 2006; July 11, 2006). The companies said the transaction will close following the commission’s written order, which is expected to be issued Feb. 16.

Hunt Oil said it awarded a $1.5 billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I) for the Peru LNG project (PLNG) in Pampa Melchorita, Peru. The project, which is expected to provide about 4.4 million metric tons of LNG per year to the West Coast of Mexico and possibly the United States, has been given a green light to proceed by the international consortium of Hunt Oil, Spain’s Repsol and SK Corp. of Korea.

Hunt Oil said it awarded a $1.5 billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I) for the Peru LNG project (PLNG) in Pampa Melchorita, Peru. The project, which is expected to provide about 4.4 million metric tons of LNG per year to the West Coast of Mexico and possibly the United States, has been given a green light to proceed by the international consortium of Hunt Oil, Spain’s Repsol and SK Corp. of Korea.

Showing that increased trading activity of Nymex contracts through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) electronic Globex platform is not denting the volumes on its own exchange (see NGI, Nov. 6), rival electronic energy marketplace IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) reported Monday that volume and commissions during the month of November more than doubled from levels in November 2005.

Showing that increased trading activity of Nymex contracts through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) electronic Globex platform is not denting the volumes on its exchange in the least (see Daily GPI, Nov. 1), rival electronic energy marketplace IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) reported Monday that volume and commissions during the month of November more than doubled the figures from November 2005. In addition, ICE Futures, ICE’s London-based regulated futures subsidiary, boasted that for the month of November it averaged approximately 50% market share in global crude futures as measured by volume of light sweet crude oil.

Green Bay, WI-based WPS Resources Corp. and Chicago-based Peoples Energy Corp. said Monday that upon regulatory approval their combined company will be named Integrys. “In Integrys, we have a name that reflects our commitment to open and honest business practices, prudent decision-making and a strong financial foundation,” said WPS CEO Larry L. Weyers, who will be CEO of the new company. “These values will support the integration of the two companies and help us achieve our vision of becoming a stronger and more competitive, diversified energy company. Integrys also conveys the core values of our combined company.” The new parent company will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TEG. The energy marketing subsidiary will be called Integrys Energy Services Inc. The names of the operating subsidiaries will not change: Wisconsin Public Service Corp., Upper Peninsula Power Co., Michigan Gas Utilities, Minnesota Energy Resources, Peoples Gas, and North Shore Gas. The merger is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007. The companies announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement on July 10. The pairing of WPS and Peoples will bring together 1.6 million gas customers and 477,000 electric customers.

Just a day after the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) set record daily volumes in its contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) Globex trading platform, all Nymex contracts listed on the system went dark for an hour Thursday due to a “software issue” in the Globex system, the CME told NGI.