Renamed

The merger between The National Grid Group and New EnglandElectric System (NEES) of Westborough, MA, is complete, and NEESofficially has been renamed National Grid USA. The deal wasannounced Dec. 14, 1998. The final sale price for the merger was$3.2 billion, and the final price of NEES shares was $54.207.

UtiliCorp subsidiary Aquila Energy renamed its gas assetdevelopment group Merchant Energy Partners. It previously was knownas Natural Gas Partners. The change follows a recent reorganizationin which Aquila realigned its asset development activities, placingboth gas and power asset development under one executive. Thecompany will use Merchant Energy Partners for both its gas andpower asset development groups. V.J. Horgan is president of MEP andan Aquila Energy senior vice president.

Although FERC staff shot down the Atlantic Alliance projecttwice as an alternative to both Independence and Millennium, it didnot deter project planners from moving forward with an open season.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a business unit of El Paso EnergyCorp., and CNG Transmission Corp., a subsidiary of ConsolidatedNatural Gas Co. said the Atlantic Alliance Project open seasonclosed Nov. 30. Tennessee and CNG are evaluating results and willannounce plans at a later date. To avoid confusion with theAlliance Pipeline, which is not affiliated with Tennessee’s andCNG’s project, the name of this phase of the project, and anyfuture phases, has been changed to the Atlantic Advantage Project.Atlantic Advantage Project proposes to move up to 750,000 Dth/dfrom Chicago and the Niagara Import Point to developing markets inthe Northeast. An El Paso spokesman said the company didn’t knowwhen it would be prepared to release open season results.

Kinder Morgan and KN Energy announced the completion of theirmerger. The company has been renamed Kinder Morgan, Inc. and willtrade under the New York Stock Exchange symbol “KMI.” The $900million merger was announced last July.

Houston skyline watchers should note Transco Tower will berenamed Williams Tower. “The tower is a Houston landmark thatsymbolizes stability and innovation, two qualities that accuratelydefine our business at Williams,” said Cuba Wadlington Jr., generalmanager of Williams’ Transco pipeline system. Williams merged withTransco Energy Co. in 1995 and moved to the tower. Then, WilliamsCommunications Solutions, formerly known as WilTel, moved itsheadquarters there in August 1995. Today, Williams houses itsnational technical resource center at the tower and occupies 39floors. The tower is 64 stories tall and was built in 1982. It isthe tallest building in the United States located outside of adowntown area.