Sheet

Continuing on towards the goal of restoring its balance sheet to health, the Williams Companies (TWC) said Wednesday that it is finalizing a new $800 million credit facility primarily for the purpose of issuing letters of credit. The Tulsa-based company said it expects to complete the credit agreement by mid-June.

El Paso Corp. continued to work on its balance sheet Friday with a $240 million sale of El Paso Merchant Energy’s 50% stake in CE Generation to Calgary-based independent power producer TransAlta Corp. The sale includes a half share in 13 power plants with 820 MW of capacity and the right to a 50% interest in a geothermal development project.

In an effort to strengthen its balance sheet, Tulsa, OK-based Oneok Inc. said last week it has agreed to sell certain natural gas and oil-producing properties for $300 million in cash to an undisclosed producer.

In an effort to strengthen its balance sheet, Tulsa, OK-based Oneok Inc. said Monday it has agreed to sell certain natural gas and oil-producing properties for $300 million in cash to an undisclosed producer.

As part of its broad asset divestiture program to strengthen its balance sheet, El Paso Corp. agreed to sell 600 Bcfe of natural gas reserves in the Uintah Basin, with current output of about 80 MMcf/d, and a Utah natural gas gathering system to Denver-based independent producer, Westport Resources Corp., for $502 million. The transaction is expected to close next month.

Despite a relatively strong balance sheet compared to the energy sector’s many fallen giants, San Diego-based Sempra Energy still faced mixed reviews from credit rating agencies last week, and its prospects for re-negotiating its $6.6 billion 10-year power supply deal with California’s Department of Water Resources were uncertain despite the ongoing federal regulatory proceedings on the DWR contracts as a whole.

No longer believers in the Enron Corp. energy trading mantra that “bigger is better,” Mirant Corp. and Reliant Resources Inc. executives said Thursday that the focus now is on cash — finding it, paying off debts with it and keeping as much of it as they can. They both conceded that for them, anyway, physical gas trading has not become a cash cow.

No longer believers in the Enron Corp. energy trading mantra that “bigger is better,” Mirant Corp. and Reliant Resources Inc. executives said Thursday that the focus now is on cash — finding it, paying off debts with it and keeping as much of it as they can. They both conceded that for them, anyway, physical gas trading has not become a cash cow.

The Williams Companies continues to plan asset sales to strengthen its liquidity and improve its balance sheet. The company announced Tuesday that it is considering selling its ownership interest in an olefins production plant in Geismar, LA, and an associated ethylene pipeline system in Louisiana, as well as a Baltic refinery. Terms of a potential petrochemical asset sale have not been developed, but Williams said it has received unsolicited expressions of interest.