Income

Duke Energy Income Fund, which was spun off from Duke Energy Corp. to hold various Canadian midstream assets, said it is buying interests in four raw gas processing plants and related gas gathering system in northeastern British Columbia from Duke Energy Corp. subsidiary Westcoast Gas Services Inc. (WGSI) for $145 million. The acquisition will be accomplished through the purchase of all the issued and outstanding shares of WGSI from Westcoast Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Duke Energy Corp. and the sponsor of the fund. Closing is conditioned on the approval of the fund’s unitholders and is expected to occur by Sept. 30. The fund also announced its intention, contingent on the closing of the acquisition, to increase its monthly cash distributions to $0.07 per unit from $0.067 per unit, or $0.84 per unit on an annualized basis. Doug Haughey, CEO of the fund’s manager, said the facilities “represent an excellent strategic fit for the fund and will serve to strengthen our platform for further growth. In addition, the transaction will be immediately accretive to unitholder distributions.”

Calgary-based independent Nexen Inc. Thursday reported net income doubled in the second quarter to C$406 million ($360 million), or C$1.55 a share, on strong commodity prices. Revenue rose 6% to C$1.04 billion ($919 million), and cash flow was C$729 million ($644 million). However, Nexen’s oil and gas production was down from a year ago, partly because of continued shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) following last summer’s hurricanes.

In a friendly deal, Canadian natural gas producer Shiningbank Energy Income Fund has agreed to buy Calgary-based Find Energy Ltd. for C$381 million ($338 million). The deal will boost Shiningbank’s weighted-to-gas output by 22%, pumping up production to 27,000 boe/d from its current 4,900 boe/d.

Calgary-based independent Nexen Inc. Thursday reported net income doubled in the second quarter to C$406 million ($360 million), or C$1.55 a share, on strong commodity prices. Revenue rose 6% to C$1.04 billion ($919 million), and cash flow was C$729 million ($644 million). However, Nexen’s oil and gas production fell, partly because of continuing shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) following last summer’s hurricanes.

One of the bit players in the Enron Corp. melodrama was sentenced to two years probation last week for filing false income tax returns. Lawrence Lawyer, 38, who had once worked for Enron Broadband Services, faced up to three years in prison for failing to report $79,469 to the Internal Revenue Service. Lawyer reportedly received the money over four years beginning in 1997 from ex-Enron executive Michael Kopper in what the prosecutors had called a kickback scheme related to RADR, one of Enron’s dubious special purpose entities.

One of the bit players in the Enron Corp. melodrama was sentenced to two years probation on Monday for filing false income tax returns. Lawrence Lawyer, 38, who had once worked for Enron Broadband Services, faced up to three years in prison for failing to report $79,469 to the Internal Revenue Service.

Houston-based El Paso Corp.’s share price jumped on Friday with the news that its quarterly net income tripled to $356 million (49 cents/share) from $106 million (17 cents) for the same period a year ago. For the remainder of 2006, “the only real negative,” said CEO Doug Foshee, is the recovery cost from last year’s twin hurricanes, which will be about $160 million more than initially forecast.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. reported its oil and natural gas production jumped 27.4% and net income more than doubled in the final quarter of 2005, as higher U.S.-based production boosted revenue. The Oklahoma City-based independent posted earnings of $452.5 million ($1.11/), compared with $208.5 million (52 cents), for the same period a year ago. Excluding mark-to-market gains on hedging programs and other items, earnings were 84 cents/share, well ahead of Wall Street’s expectations of 79 cents.

Higher commodity prices and the acquisition of Unocal Corp. pushed Chevron Corp.’s 4Q2005 net income 21% higher and the company’s reported earnings to $4.1 billion ($1.86/share) from $3.4 billion ($1.63) in 4Q2004. However, with new projects still under development, the San Ramon, CA-based major booked almost no additional organic reserves in 2005.