Prized

A joint venture of Southern Union Co. and a General Electric Co. unit won the bidding war last week to acquire Enron Corp.’s prized domestic natural gas pipeline unit, CrossCountry Energy, in a transaction valued at $2.45 billion.

Debt-laden and cash-poor energy merchants with few prized assets left to sell should consider selling stock — if they have access to the capital markets. The equity sales would only have a “neutral to mildly negative” effect for many companies, according to a new study.

Debt-laden and cash-poor energy merchants with few prized assets left to sell should consider selling stock — if they have access to the capital markets. The equity sales would only have a “neutral to mildly negative” effect for many companies, according to a new study.

The battle over who will get to build new pipeline capacity tothe prized Northeast gas market has reached a feverish pitch, withsponsors dreaming up ways to knock out their competitors’ projects.ANR Pipeline and National Fuel Gas Supply Corp., sponsors of theproposed Independence Pipeline, recently suggested a plan thatwould wipe out a large part of Columbia Gas Transmission’sMillennium Pipeline project. And Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco)has joined the ranks, devising a proposal that could obviate theneed for the controversial Independence line altogether and part ofan associated project.

The battle over who will get to build new pipeline capacity tothe prized Northeast gas market has reached a feverish pitch, withsponsors dreaming up ways to knock out their competitors’ projects.ANR Pipeline and National Fuel Gas Supply Corp., sponsors of theproposed Independence Pipeline, recently proposed a plan that couldwipe out a large part of Columbia Gas Transmission’s MillenniumPipeline project. And Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) has joinedthe ranks, devising a proposal that could obviate the need forIndependence altogether and part of an associated project.

After an assault on its prized Wisconsin markets earlier thismonth by a formidable new rival pipeline project proposed by Wicor,Viking Gas and CMS Energy, ANR Pipeline came out shooting last weekwith a pledge to continue its annual expansions into the state. TheCoastal Corp. subsidiary said its “10-Cent Solution” program, whichhas yielded two expansion projects in the last eighteen months willcontinue to be the best option for gas shippers in the region. Thisyear’s open season started last week and will continue throughApril 30 for new firm transportation service starting Nov. 1, 2001.

A big shift in strategy led Equitable Resources to put some ofits most prized Gulf Coast midstream assets on the auction blocklast week. The company announced it is selling the 1,900-mileLouisiana Interstate Gas pipeline (including a 500 MMcf/dDepartment of Energy oil line it converted to transport naturalgas), the 3.6 Bcf capacity Jefferson Island salt dome storageproject and its gas and power marketing operation. The gasmarketing operation sold 500 Bcf of gas in 1997.