Headquartered

Apache Corp., headquartered in Houston, said Friday it hascompleted its acquisition of Phillips Petroleum Corp.’s Canadianassets for nearly US$490 million. The properties, which areapproximately 59% natural gas, have proved reserves ofapproximately 71.6 MMboe and are located in the Zama area ofNorthwest Alberta. The assets include producing and undevelopedacreage, extensive infrastructure and 3-D and 2-D seismic data.There are approximately 212,000 net developed acres and 275,000 netundeveloped acres, and current production is about 70 MMcf and6,000 bbl of liquid hydrocarbons a day. Average working interest inthe properties is 88%, and Apache will operate 90% of theproduction. It also expects the acquisition to immediately add toearnings per share and cash flow per share. Apache also hascontracted to sell slightly more than half of the Zama properties’gas production, about 60.6 MMcf/d to protect from downside risk andpreserve the upside potential. The price will be set at theCanadian Gas Price Reporter monthly spot index price within acollar with a weighted average floor price of US$4.60/Mcf, and aweighted ceiling of US$6.60 Mcf during 2001 at current exchangerates.

Enerplus Resources Fund, headquartered in Vancouver, paid C$104million for 100% of the outstanding shares of an undisclosedprivate Canadian pension resource corporation that owns producingoil and natural gas properties in Western Canada. The propertiesproduced approximately 2,650 boe/d in a three-month period endingSept. 30. The production included 1,740 bbl/d of crude oil andnatural gas liquids and 9,100 Mcf/d. Average third quarterproduction represents a 22% increase over Enerplus’ third quarteraverage of 12,014 boe/d. Total established reserves are 12,248 Mbblof crude oil and natural gas liquids and 70.7 Bcf, for a total of19,312 Mboe. The deal was funded through a combination of cash fromexisting credit facilities and the assumption of debt, whichtotaled 75% of the purchase price. The rest was financed withEnerplus Trust Units.

NiSource Inc., the gas and electric power distributor headquarteredin Merrillville, IN, reported that its earnings were up 25% for thethird quarter, with a per common share of $1.27 compared with $1.02 inthe third quarter of 1999. The results were “favorably impacted” bythe sale of Market Hub Partners (see Daily GPI, Aug. 31), which resulted in a $23.8 millionafter-tax gain, or approximately 19 cents per common share. NiSourcesaid that continued customer growth from the company’s natural gas,electric and water distribution businesses contributed to improvedearnings, offset by decreased electricity sales in the cool summer,increased interest charges of $28.4 million related to the Bay StateGas and EnergyUSA-TPC acquisitions, and expenditures of $5 millionrelated to the NiSource Columbia Energy Group merger (see Daily GPI,June 2). Net income was $1.55 million,an increase of $27.6 million from the third quarter of 1999. Gasoperations EBIT increased $83 million to $144.7 million from lastyear, mostly because of its Market Hub Partners sale. Electricoperation earnings EBIT increased $8.9 million to $292 million becauseof decreased operating expenses, which were partially offset bydecreased sales to residential customers during the cooler summercompared to the same period in 1999. NiSource said its cooling degreedays were down 23% from a year ago, which also decreased bulk powersales to other utilities. As part of its merger with Columbia EnergyGroup, which is slated to close Wednesday (Nov. 1), NiSource completedexchanging Columbia common shares for those electing to receive stockunder an exchange ratio of 3.04414. Under the merger terms, theexchange ratio was determined by dividing $74 by the average closingprice of NiSource common stock beginning Sept. 18 and endingOct. 27. The average for the period was $24.3090. Columbiashareholders who wanted to receive NiSource stock in the merger weresupposed to submit their completed election forms and stockcertificates by 5 p.m. Monday (Oct. 30). Contact ChaseMellonShareholder Services at (800) 685-4258 for information.

To help its clients reduce the costs of doing business,DukeSolutions Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, NC, began usingonline energy auctions last week to lower the cost of natural gas,reduce procurement charges and speed up contract executions for its20 client facilities in the Midwest.

Caminus Corp., headquartered in New York City, has completed itsacquisition of Houston-based Nucleus Corp. of Texas for $19.6million, consisting of $13.7 million in cash, 261,334 newly issuedshare of common stock of Caminus and stock options. Caminussupplies software systems for trading and risk management innatural gas and electric power throughout North America and Europe.Nucleus supplies software systems for energy trading in NorthAmerica.

To help its clients reduce the costs of doing business,DukeSolutions Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, NC, has begun usingonline energy auctions to lower the cost of natural gas, reduceprocurement charges and speed up contract executions for its 20client facilities in the Midwest.

Archie W. Dunham, chairman and CEO of Conoco Inc., is thehighest paid executive of all the energy companies eitherheadquartered in Houston, TX, or with a significant local presencethere, according an annual ranking by the Houston Chronicle thatwas released last week.

Archie W. Dunham, chairman and CEO of Conoco Inc., is thehighest paid executive of all the energy companies eitherheadquartered in Houston, TX, or with a significant local presencethere, according an annual ranking by the Houston Chronicle thatwas released yesterday.