Clears

Vectren Corp. has cleared the final regulatory hurdle andexpects to close its acquisition of The Dayton Power & LightCo. by the end of this month, adding nearly 305,000 residential,commercial, industrial and government customers to its established650,000 customer base.

Three-month-old Vectren Corp., the Indiana-based energy holdingcompany formed when Indiana Energy Inc.and Sigcorp Inc. joinedforces, now only awaits approval from various federal and statecommissions before it completes its acquisition of the natural gasdistribution assets of The Dayton Power and Light Co. (DPL).Vectren officials were notified last week that the U.S. Departmentof Justice has completed its investigation of the proposedacquisition, clearing a major roadblock for the company.

Three-month-old Vectren Corp., the Indiana-based energy holdingcompany formed when Indiana Energy Inc. and Sigcorp Inc. joinedforces, now only awaits approval from various federal and statecommissions before it completes its acquisition of the natural gasdistribution assets of The Dayton Power and Light Co. (DPL).Vectren officials were notified yesterday that the U.S. Departmentof Justice has completed its investigation of the proposedacquisition, clearing a major roadblock for the company.

In its third auction for bidders both onsite and online, The Oil& Gas Asset Clearinghouse broke its previous one-day auctionrecord, selling $30.9 million of U.S. oil and gas properties in arecent sale.

Following a consent order from the Federal Trade Commission(FTC) late Friday, Duke Energy announced yesterday that it andPhillips Petroleum closed the deal merging their natural gasgathering and processing businesses under one roof. The agencyconditioned its acceptance of the consent order on Duke agreeing todivest nearly 3,000 miles of gathering lines in the Midcontinent.

Amid the “uncertainty” over its interconnection policy, FERClast week clarified its procedures to give all types of electricgenerators, especially new market entrants, a “fair shake” athooking up to the interstate transmission grid.

Amid the “uncertainty” over its interconnection policy, FERCearlier this week clarified its procedures to give all types ofelectric generators, especially new market entrants, a “fair shake”at hooking up to the interstate transmission grid.

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline has begun clearing theHalifax Lateral pipeline route. The clearing contractor began workon Feb. 29 in various locations along the lateral route that havereceived National Energy Board approval. Clearing is scheduled tobe complete in April.

Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles and BP Amoco signed a major agreementlast week that clears the way in the state for the oil giant’sproposed acquisition of Atlantic Richfield Co. But still awaitingBP Amoco is its biggest nemesis — the Federal Trade Commission(FTC), where the merger reportedly has run into a serious snag overantitrust concerns. BP Amoco is hoping the Alaska deal, which callsfor the largest divestiture of production assets in the state’shistory, will help it score some points with the agency.