Sold

Duke Energy reported on Monday it would be willing to acceptless money for the power it sold in California during January andFebruary, as long as assurances are made by the CaliforniaIndependent System Operator (Cal-ISO) and the California PowerExchange (Cal-PX) that it will be paid. Duke said if guarantees aremade, it will waive the credit premiums on its bids and accept theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) clearing price fortransactions during those months.

A unit of Williams has sold an interest in a central Utahnatural gas property to Texaco Exploration and Production Inc. forapproximately $8 million. The non-operated interest includes 32producing wells and more than 30,000 net acres in the Ferroncoalbed methane play in Emery and Sevier counties. Williams saidthat Texaco is already the operator on most of the propertiesincluded in the transaction. “We’re designing our reserve basearound Williams’ infrastructure and merchant activities,” saidBryan Guderian, vice president of exploration and production forWilliams. “This allows us to support other parts of Williams’energy business, such as gathering and processing and trading. TheFerron assets simply fell outside our plan.”

CMS Energy Corp. announced it sold 10 million primary shares ofcommon stock Friday in a block trade to Banc of America Securities,and deferred indefinitely its previously announced plans for aninitial public offering of up to 50% of its subsidiary, CMS Oil andGas Co. With the new issue, CMS Energy will have approximately131.3 million common shares outstanding.

Almost two weeks after Williams and Duke Energy announced they wereacquiring The Coastal Corp.’s yet-to-be-built 744-mile GulfstreamNatural Gas System (pipeline), Coastal reported that it has enteredinto a $310 million purchase agreement with Berg Steel Pipe tomanufacture and deliver almost all of the steel piping needed forconstruction (see Daily GPI, Nov. 20).

Conectiv sold the southern regional division of ConectivServices, which is located in southern Delaware and easternMaryland, to the unit’s employees. Terms of the sale were notdisclosed. The southern division provided new construction,replacement, service and maintenance of heating, cooling, andplumbing services for residential and commercial customers. Themove continues Conectiv’s previously announced plan to exitbusinesses it no longer considers strategic, and seek a partner forits telecommunications business, and focus on its core mid-meritand power delivery segments. Earlier this year, Conectiv announcedthe sale of the northern and mechanical divisions of ConectivServices and the sale of its Conectiv Thermal joint ventures inCalifornia and Nevada. Conectiv is focused on two core energybusinesses: Conectiv Power Delivery, which provides energy serviceto more than one million customers in New Jersey, Delaware,Maryland, and Virginia; and Conectiv Energy, which includes powertrading and a growing portfolio of “mid-merit” power plants.

Weighed down by misplaced hedges and long term fixed pricecontracts, Beau Canada Exploration Ltd. has sold out to Murphy OilCorp., one of its partners in the development of the hot Ladyfernprospect in northern Alberta and British Columbia, for a totalprice of US$255 million.

Peabody Group, the world’s largest coal company, on Friday soldits Citizens Power unit to a subsidiary of Edison International, aswell as selling its third-party power contracts. Peabody, owned byLehman Merchant Banking Partners, is expected to net about $100million from the two transactions, using the money to pay downdebt.

High natural gas market prices, combined with lower fixedcommodity prices for gas sold by local distributors, have stalledresidential and business customer choice programs in Michigan atcurrent levels and could even cause a reversal on some systems ifcustomers are allowed to return to the LDCs at low fixed prices.

High natural gas market prices, combined with lower fixedcommodity prices for gas sold by local distributors, have stalledresidential and business customer choice programs in Michigan atcurrent levels and could even cause a reversal on some systems ifcustomers are allowed to return to the LDCs at low fixed prices.