Priced

Southern Union Co. announced Monday that it has priced an offering of approximately 14.9 million shares of common stock at $23.00 per share to pay down debt incurred with its investment in CCE Holdings, LLC, a joint venture with GE Energy Financial Services which purchased CrossCountry Energy LLC from Enron Corp. (see Daily GPI, Nov. 18, 2004). CCE paid Enron $2.45 billion in cash and assumed the debt for 7,400 miles of natural gas pipelines with 4.2 Bcf/d of transportation capacity. CrossCountry owns 100% of Transwestern Pipeline and 50% of Citrus Corp., which owns 100% of Florida Gas Transmission Co. The offering was underwritten by the joint book-running managers, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. A limited number of institutional investors have agreed to purchase the shares from the underwriters. In addition, Southern Union announced Monday it has launched an offering of $100 million of equity units at $50 per unit, also to pay off debt incurred in the pipeline purchase.

To fulfill the terms of El Paso Corp.’s western energy settlement, the company on Tuesday priced an offering of 8.8 million shares of common stock at a public offering price of $8.35 per share — 50 cents higher than the company had announced last month (see Daily GPI, Dec. 24, 2003).

The high average price paid for the gas that now sits in storage facilities across the country will put storage capacity holders in a real tight spot this winter if prices average less than $4.65 at the Henry Hub, according to Scott DePasquale, natural gas analyst at Energy Security Analysis Inc. (ESAI). DePasquale expects storage operators would suffer significant losses at such lower than expected price levels.

The high average price paid for the gas that now sits in storage facilities across the country will put storage capacity holders in a real tight spot this winter if prices average less than $4.65 at the Henry Hub, according to Scott DePasquale, natural gas analyst at Energy Security Analysis Inc. (ESAI). DePasquale expects storage operators would suffer significant losses at such lower than expected price levels.

With an added 100,000 MW of wind power in the next decade could supplant the need for higher-priced natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, wind advocates contend.

Dynegy Inc. on Friday priced $1.45 billion of second priority senior secured notes as part of its credit refinancing plan, and has scheduled the offering to close August 11. The offering is part of the company’s refinancing overhaul that it announced in July, which would, among other things, begin to repay ChevronTexaco Corp. for a $1.5 billion loan it gave Dynegy to attempt its merger with Enron Corp. in November 2001.

Oneok Inc. said Wednesday that Westar Energy Inc. and its subsidiary have priced a secondary offering of 9.5 million shares of Oneok common stock at a public offering price of $19 per share, which will result in gross offering proceeds to Westar of approximately $180.5 million. Oneok noted that it will not receive any proceeds from the offering.

Dynegy Inc. on Friday priced $1.45 billion of second priority senior secured notes as part of its credit refinancing plan, and has scheduled the offering to close August 11. The offering is part of the company’s refinancing overhaul that it announced in July, which would, among other things, begin to repay ChevronTexaco Corp. for a $1.5 billion loan it gave Dynegy to attempt its merger with Enron Corp. in November 2001.

A combination of above-market priced, long-term contracts and demand-side programs is the best formula for avoiding a return of high prices and power blackouts, the California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority concluded at a recent board meeting in Sacramento. It is pointing the state toward achieving reserve levels of more than 20%, with ideally half coming from the demandside.