Kansas

The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District in Kansas City has sent back to the Missouri Public Service Commission Aquila Inc.’s $270 million two-year-old purchase of St. Joseph Light & Power Co. After an appeal by St. Joseph’s customer AG Processing, the court found that the PSC failed to decide whether the $92 million premium paid for the utility should be recovered from its customers as approved.

Because of inclement weather hampering maintenance near ANR’s Alden Compressor Station in Kansas, the end date has been extended through April 17. The work, which is reducing Southwest Mainline capacity by 53 MMcf/d (leaving 634 MMcf/d available), previously had been scheduled to end Wednesday (see Daily GPI, March 25). Based on current nominations, the reduction may result in curtailment of IT and Firm Secondary nominations, ANR said.

Oneok Inc. announced Friday the Kansas Corporation Commission has approved its previously announced agreement with Westar Energy, Inc. for Oneok to repurchase some of its preferred shares held by subsidiary Westar Industries, unwinding Westar’s 45% ownership interest in Oneok.

Kansas City, MO-based Aquila Inc. responded to last Thursday’s 52% drop in its share price by restating its confidence in its liquidity position, credit standing and its preparedness for any sudden collateral requirements in the event of a credit ratings downgrade to junk status. Aquila currently is rated only one notch above junk status by Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings and two notches above junk by Standard and Poor’s.

Kansas City, MO-based Aquila Inc. responded to Thursday’s 52% drop in its share price by restating its confidence in its liquidity position, credit standing and its preparedness for any sudden collateral requirements in the event of a credit ratings downgrade to junk status.

Kansas-based Infinity Inc. said Thursday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the deep oil and natural gas mineral rights on approximately 56,000 net acres at its Sand Wash Basin property in Colorado and Wyoming. The company did not disclose the value of the deal or the seller.

Kansas-based Infinity Inc. said Thursday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the deep oil and natural gas mineral rights on approximately 56,000 net acres at its Sand Wash Basin property in Colorado and Wyoming. The company did not disclose the value of the deal or the seller.

Kansas City-based Aquila Inc. late last month completed a stock offering and debt placement considered crucial to completing its acquisition of Cogentrix Energy Inc., and last week agreed to sell its 16.58% stake in the Lockport Energy facility north of Buffalo, NY to Fortistar Capital Inc. LLC for $37.5 million in cash. The sale and stock offerings are part of Aquila’s plan to shed about $1 billion in assets and build up its liquidity in the face of credit downgrades and market turmoil.

Kansas City, MO-based UtiliCorp United Inc. last week asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for authorization “as soon as practicable” to re-acquire the nearly 20% interest in its natural gas and power marketer, Aquila Inc., that it sold to the public earlier in the year. Upon the completion of the transaction, the company plans to adopt Aquila as its corporate name possibly as early as the first quarter of 2002.