Closing

The Wyoming Natural Gas Pipeline Authority is closing in on deals to utilize some of its $1 billion bonding authority for three projects that will either directly or indirectly promote the sale and transportation of more Wyoming natural gas.

El Paso Corp. said Friday that it eliminated about $815 million of non-recource debt on its balance sheet by closing the sale of Utility Contract Funding (UCF) to Bear Stearns’ Houston Energy Group for $21 million. UCF assets include a power contract that was restructured as part of the company’s previous power restructuring activities. El Paso said it will take a pre-tax charge of $100 million on the sale based on the company’s investment in the equity of this entity.

The June natural gas futures contract took the EIA’s 85 Bcf injection report as bullish news for about a half-an-hour in Thursday morning action before trading lower for the remainder of the afternoon to settle at $6.324, down 13.1 cents on the day.

Following its test of the $6 resistance on Monday, May natural gas futures finished the week on a four-day slide lower, closing 12.4 cents down on Friday at $5.610. Some analysts looked to the country’s current weather pattern, as well as the storage situation, for answers, taking into account Thursday’s slightly bearish EIA storage report.

After closing down 16.8 cents at $5.765 on Thursday, the natural gas futures May contract went for a run Friday morning, notching a high of $5.920 in morning trading, before settling down to close at $5.812, up 4.7 cents on the day.

Closing on its previously announced divestiture, Kansas City, MO-based Aquila Inc. announced that it has completed the sale of its interests in 12 power plants to Teton Power Funding LLC, an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners LLC. Aquila received total proceeds from the sale of approximately $257 million, after adjustments for working capital related to two of its consolidated projects.

Closing on its previously announced acquisition, Evansville, IN-based Imperial Petroleum Inc. said Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of approximately 63.3% of the capital stock of Powder River Basin Gas Corp. in exchange for 2.65 million shares of Imperial common stock and a note payable for $200,000.

After closing below the $5.00 mark last Thursday for the first time since early January, natural gas futures traded quickly sideways Friday as neither bull nor bear could muster the buying or selling required to budge the market.

Closing down what was once the crown jewel and future of the company, Aquila Inc. said Tuesday that it is officially exiting the wholesale energy marketing and trading business operated by its Aquila Merchant Services subsidiary by the end of the third quarter. The company targeted “late September” for a complete exit from the segment.