Says

Capstone Turbine Corp., developer and manufacturer ofmicroturbine power generators, says it has successfully tested a 30kW unit that can be used at the wellhead to generate power usingsour gas.

Capstone Turbine Corp., developer and manufacturer ofmicroturbine power generators, says it has successfully tested a 30kW unit that can be used at the wellhead to generate power usingsour gas.

Seeking increased growth opportunities, Citizens Utilities ofStamford, CT, is getting out of the business of distributing gas,electricity and water in order to invest in telecommunications. Thecompany is divesting its Public Services distribution businesses,as well as its wastewater treatment business. As previouslyannounced, Citizens plans to fund $2.3 billion of telephone accessline acquisitions with sale proceeds.

While natural gas has captured the lion’s share of the expandingcogeneration market in recent years, “the phenomenal growth of[cogeneration in] the past was a one-time event resulting from aunique combination of regulatory and market changes,” according tothe Gas Research Institute’s Marie Lihn.

Paris-based Elf Aquitaine submitted a counteroffer forTotalFina. Elf’s proposal would create two separate pure-play oiland gas and chemicals groups and annual pre-tax synergies of 2.5billion euros within three years of the combination. The dealoffers three Elf shares and 190 euros in cash for every five sharesin TotalFina, representing a premium of 10% to TotalFina’s closingprice on Friday July 16 (ex dividend). The transaction will beaccounted for under US GAAP using purchase accounting.

Pipeline-on-pipeline competition in the Colorado and Wyomingregion will have to wait at least another year, says KN WattenbergTransmission LLC. It has asked FERC for a one-year extension tobuild and put into operation its proposed 109-mile Front RunnerPipeline, which was supposed to begin service this month.

WICOR Inc., parent of Wisconsin Gas, says it intends to”vigorously defend” itself against a shareholder class-actionlawsuit that seeks to put the brakes to the company’s proposedacquisition by Wisconsin Energy Corp.

Two producers-Husky Oil Ltd. and Renaissance Energy Ltd.-havejumped into the ranks of top 10 Canadian suppliers of natural gasto the United States, says a scorecard kept by the U.S. Departmentof Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy.

As many analysts and observers expected, Columbia Energy Group’sboard swiftly rejected NiSource’s $5.7 billion, $68/share, purchaseoffer last week on the advice of management, legal counsel and afinancial team at Salomon Smith Barney. But NiSource officials saidthey were “undeterred” by the decision and would move forward ondiscussions with Columbia’s shareholders.