Independent

Industry Briefs

Enron Oil & Gas (EOG) closed the share exchange to establishEOG as an independent company yesterday. Under the exchange, which wasannounced last month, Enron Corp. exchanged 62.27 million of its 82.27million shares of EOG common stock for EOG’s China and Indiaoperations (see story July 21). EOG alsocontributed $600 million to an India subsidiary that has beentransferred to Enron. In addition, EOG issued 27 million shares at$22.25 per share and received net proceeds of $578.3 million. Pendingcompletion of another convertible stock offering, Enron’s remaininginterest in the company will be less than 3%. EOG will soon adopt anew name EOG Resources Inc. Forrest E. Hoglund, EOG chairman, whoannounced his planned retirement in Sept. 1998, retired effectiveAug. 15. Mark G. Papa, formerly president and CEO, was electedchairman and CEO. Edmund P. Segner III, formerly vice chairman andchief of staff, was elected president and chief of staff.

August 17, 1999

CMS-MST Bolsters Canadian Energy Services

CMS Marketing, Services and Trading (CMS-MST) expanded its Canadian presence last week as affiliate PremStar Energy Canada acquired ECNG Inc., an independent energy consulting firm, from El Paso Energy Marketing Canada Inc. for an undisclosed sum. PremStar worked together with a group of former executives from ECNG to acquire the firm.

August 9, 1999

CMS-MST Bolsters Canadian Energy Services

CMS Marketing, Services and Trading (CMS-MST) expanded itsCanadian presence yesterday as PremStar Energy, Canada, a CMS-MSTaffiliate, acquired ECNG Inc., an independent energy consultingfirm, from El Paso Energy Marketing Canada Inc. Terms were notdisclosed. PremStar worked together with a group of formerexecutives from ECNG to acquire the firm.

August 4, 1999

Statoil Hedging for Producers, End-Users

Resistance to hedging has declined significantly amongindependent producers. But now that they’re hedging, some companiesare doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, according toexecutives at Statoil Energy.

July 14, 1999

Pioneer Natural Finds New Buyer for Properties

Pioneer Natural Resources, a Dallas-based independent producer,announced an agreement last week to sell $245 million in oil andgas properties to Prize Energy Co., a Tulsa, OK-based producer.Last month, Pioneer had planned to sell most of these same assetsto Costilla Energy, but Costilla was unable to close the deal (seerelated story this issue). The Prize acquisition is expected toclose June 29 with an effective date of July 1.

May 24, 1999

Pioneer Natural Finds New Buyer for Properties

Pioneer Natural Resources, a Dallas-based independent producer,announced an agreement Monday to sell $245 million worth of oil andgas fields to Prize Energy Co., a Tulsa, OK-based producer. Lastmonth, Pioneer had planned to sell most of these same properties toCostilla Energy, but Costilla was unable to close the deal. ThePrize acquisition is expected to close June 29 with an effectivedate of July 1.

May 18, 1999

Germany’s STEAG AG Joins Avista in U.S. Power Market

Avista Corp. affiliate Avista Power and STEAG AG, Germany’slargest independent power producer agreed to form a joint ventureto develop, build and/or buy electric generation assets throughoutNorth America. Initial regions of interest include the Northwest,the Southwest and the Southeast. Projects of interest include thosepowered by natural gas, coal and hydro.

May 10, 1999

Avista Join Germans in Power Pact

Avista Corp. affiliate Avista Power and STEAG AG, Germany’slargest independent power producer agreed to form a joint ventureto develop, build and/or buy electric generation assets throughoutNorth America. Initial regions of interest include the Northwest,the Southwest and the Southeast. Projects of interest include thosepowered by natural gas, coal and hydro.

May 7, 1999

Trading Boosts Barrett’s 1Q99 Results

Barrett Resources was one of the few independent producers ableto emerge from the first quarter with an increase in earningscompared to last year and it achieved the growth through gastrading operations. Revenues from Barrett’s trading division soared136% to $176 million in 1Q99 from 1Q98 and the division reported agross profit of $15.1 million compared to $4.9 million for theprior year first quarter. First quarter trading volumes increased156% to 96 Bcf, or about 1.07 Bcf/d. Barrett reported net income of$7.7 million, or 24 cents per diluted share, compared to $6.2million, or 19 cents per diluted share, for 1Q98.

May 6, 1999

Titan Exits Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana

Independent producer Titan Exploration Inc. announced Monday ithas agreed to sell all of its Gulf of Mexico assets to Coastal Oil& Gas for $71.3 million in cash plus overriding royaltyinterests in certain properties. The deal, which is expected toclose May 18th, comes on the heels of the completion of the sale ofits Louisiana onshore properties to Phoenix Oil and Gas Ltd. for$5.4 million in cash.

May 4, 1999