Purchase

Houston-based El Paso Corp. signed a letter of intent last week to purchase liquefied natural gas from a new Australian LNG production facility to be built by Phillips Petroleum Co., which would provide up to 4.8 million tons of LNG beginning in 2005 for North American markets. El Paso and Phillips expect to complete a definitive agreement on the deal by mid-year.

Aquila Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of UtiliCorp United,announced yesterday that it has entered into an agreement topurchase an additional 10 natural gas-fired turbines from GeneralElectric (GE). Combined with previously announced agreements,Aquila has ordered a total of 21 turbines over the past 12 months.

Hunt Oil Co.’s unsolicited bid to purchase all of the issued andoutstanding shares of Berkley Petroleum Corp. for C$10 per sharewas received as expected by Berkley shareholders, with theDallas-based company extending an olive branch by saying it wouldlengthen the time period for its offer to be reviewed.

Hunt Oil Co.’s unsolicited bid to purchase all of the issued andoutstanding shares of Berkley Petroleum Corp. for C$10 per sharewas received as expected by Berkley shareholders this week, withthe Dallas-based company extending an olive branch by saying itwould lengthen the time period for its offer to be reviewed.

Independent Cross Timbers Oil Co. is punching up its explorationand production plans in East Texas, announcing an agreement topurchase some of Herd Producing Co.’s gas producing properties inEast Texas and Louisiana for $115 million. The deal includes 500potential drilling locations, with average gross reserve targets of3.5 (2.4 net) Bcf, holding a total resource potential of more than1.2 Tcf.

Independent Cross Timbers Oil Co. is punching up its explorationand production plans in East Texas, announcing an agreement topurchase some of Herd Producing Co.’s gas producing properties inEast Texas and Louisiana for $115 million. The deal includes 500potential drilling locations, with average gross reserve targets of3.5 (2.4 net) Bcf, holding a total resource potential of more than1.2 Tcf.

About four months after FPL Group announced its intentions topurchase Entergy Corp. for $13.9 billion, the companies reported thatthey have jointly filed an application with the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission for approval of the union which would create thelargest utility in the nation (see Daily GPI, Aug. 1).

The Bonneville Power Administration says that customer demandunder new 10-year wholesale power contracts is so strong that itwill have to purchase power on the open market to augment itssupply. To recover its costs, BPA also proposes to add a 15% chargeonto its wholesale rates going into effect Oct. 1, 2001.

The Bonneville Power Administration says that customer demandunder new 10-year wholesale power contracts is so strong that itwill have to purchase power on the open market to augment itssupply. To recover its costs, BPA also proposes to add a 15% chargeonto its wholesale rates going into effect Oct. 1, 2001.