Corporate

Avista Corp.’s board of directors will ask company shareholders to approve a change to Avista’s corporate structure, resulting in the formation of a holding company whose name is yet to be finalized. The holding company would be the parent of Avista Utilities and all other Avista subsidiaries, Avista said last week.

El Paso Corp.’s two-year corporate turnaround is now complete, and 2006 “will cap our return as one of North America’s premier natural gas companies,” CEO Doug Foshee said Wednesday. The company, whose Gulf of Mexico pipelines and platforms were hard hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, also expects to have nearly all of its operated production restored in the second quarter.

Independent investment research firm Morningstar Inc. named Kinder Morgan CEO Richard Kinder its 2005 CEO of the Year for his “exemplary corporate stewardship” and track record of increasing shareholder value.

Dominion Resources criticized the decision Monday by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) to lower the company’s long-term corporate credit rating to “BBB” from “BBB+.” S&P said the downgrade was necessary given the impact of the hurricanes this year on Dominion’s exploration and production (E&P) operations and because of the impact of high commodity prices on Virginia Power’s fuel costs for power generation.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) has lowered the corporate credit rating on Cheniere Energy Inc. one notch, to “B” from “B+” to reflect a ring-fencing structure around Cheniere LNG Holdings LLC, a newly formed, indirect subsidiary that will own 100% of the interests in the Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in southwest Louisiana and 30% interest in the Freeport, TX LNG terminal.

TXU Corp. announced the formation of a new corporate structure with separate retail and wholesale divisions on Wednesday and named two new executives to lead the new units. James A. Burke, formerly with Gexa Energy, Reliant and Coca-Cola, was named chairman and CEO of TXU Energy, the retail business, and Michael T. McCall, former president of TXU Gas, was named chairman and CEO of TXU Wholesale, which will optimize the wholesale energy purchases for the company’s power generation and retail operations.

The $6 billion debt reduction achieved by The Williams Companies led Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services to affirm the company’s B+ corporate credit rating and that of its subsidiaries, Northwest Pipeline Corp., Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp., and Williams Production RMT Co. and to revise its outlook on the companies to positive from stable.

In a review of its corporate strategy, Western Gas Resources said its board has decided not to spin off its midstream assets into a master limited partnership. After consulting with independent financial advisors, Western determined that a spin-off or sale would not benefit stockholders at this time. The company also announced significant progress in its Powder River Basin drilling program and said it plans to bring its expertise in unconventional gas exploration and production to the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB).

With shareholder approval, Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Trading & Transport officially merged on Tuesday, ending a dual corporate structure that had lasted more than 100 years.