Purchase

Castle Energy Corp. of Radnor, PA, will pick up about 27.5 Bcfeof proved reserves, about 55% gas, when it completes the purchaseof essentially all of AmBrit’s oil and gas properties for about $22million.

UtiliCorp United wants to buy the rest of Aquila Gas PipelineCorp. it doesn’t already own, but the companies cannot agree on adeal. UtiliCorp currently owns about 82% of Aquila Gas Pipeline’soutstanding common shares.

El Paso Field Services entered the energy project financingarena with last week’s purchase of En Cap Investment Co. for $52million in cash and stock. Robert Phillips, El Paso Field Services’president, said all regulatory issues have been settled and thedeal will be accretive to El Paso’s earnings beginning April 1.

El Paso Field Services entered the energy project financingarena with Wednesday’s purchase of En Cap Investment Co. for $52million in cash and stock. Robert Phillips, El Paso Field Services’president, said all regulatory issues have been settled and thedeal will be accretive to El Paso’s earnings beginning April 1.

Ocean Energy announced Tuesday it has signed purchase and salesagreements with various companies to divest certain U.S. onshoreassets in an effort to reduce its debt before merging with SeagullEnergy Corp. The sales total $42 million and are located primarilyin the Midcontinent, Permian Basin and Rocky Mountain regions.

Samson Investment Co. of Tulsa, OK, completed its acquisitionfrom Nuevo Energy Co. of gas properties in East Texas. The totalpurchase price was $192 million. In addition to existingproduction, the properties contain more than 135 drillinglocations. The closing follows Samson Resources’ December closings,which included the acquisition of properties in six states fromDuer Wagner & Co. for $41 million and the acquisition ofcertain properties in the Homeglen-Rimbey and Westerose areas ofAlberta, Canada from Chevron Canada Resources for $9 million bySamson Canada Ltd.

Coast Energy Canada Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary ofCornerstone Propane Partners L.P., finalized the purchase of thegas trading assets of ERI (Equitable Resources) Canada Ltd.,effective Dec. 31. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Washington Water Power is asking state regulators to approve anew natural gas purchasing plan which will turn the purchasefunction for its residential customers over to Avista Energy, itsunregulated affiliate.

An ambitious plan to prepay for large volumes of gas under amulti-year contract is under consideration by the California agencyresponsible for procuring natural gas for state facilities.Staffers of Natural Gas Services, a unit of the state’s Departmentof General Services, would like to hear ideas about implementingsuch a program from potential suppliers.