Spree

British energy giant Centrica plc continued its shopping spree in North America Tuesday, announcing it will pay C$128.5 million to purchase the natural gas and power businesses of Atco Ltd., which serves one million Alberta customers.

Strong second-quarter earnings and cash flow and expectationsthat gas prices will remain high for some time prompted AnadarkoPetroleum to raise its 2000 spending program by 34% to $1.5billion.

Houston’s Apache Corp. said yesterday that its recent equityoffering has raised net proceeds of $433.9 million to fund thisyear’s acquisitions, including Occidental Petroleum’s interests inthe Gulf of Mexico. So far, the company has announced or completedcash acquisitions totaling $860 million this year alone.

Strong second-quarter earnings and cash flow and expectationsthat gas prices will remain high for some time prompted AnadarkoPetroleum to raise its 2000 spending program by 34% to $1.5billion. The raise amounts to a $384 million increase over thecombined total of Anadarko’s previously announced capital budget of$766 million and the $350 million remaining from the 2000 capitalbudget of Union Pacific Resources, with which Anadarko recentlymerged.

Three years ago, Reliant Energy was a Texas-based,Texas-centered utility, but that’s no longer true. On Friday, theHouston-based utility improved its presence in the Mid-Atlanticregion, completing a $2.1 billion acquisition from Sithe Energiesof 21 power plants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland (PJM).The facilities together total 4,276 MW of net generating capacityand bring Reliant’s domestic generating capacity to 23,000 MW.

Three years ago, Reliant Energy was a Texas-based,Texas-centered utility, but that’s no longer true. On Friday, theHouston-based utility improved its presence in the mid-Atlanticregion, completing a $2.1 billion acquisition from Sithe Energiesof 21 power plants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland (PJM).The facilities together total 4,276 MW of net generating capacity,and bring Reliant’s domestic generating capacity to 23 MMW.

If El Paso continues on its current path, there may be nopipelines left to buy. After announcing an agreement to merge withCoastal Corp. only a week earlier, the Houston-based energy giantannounced two more major purchases last week.

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) parent Unicom is planning a shoppingspree that could include one or several major gas or waterdistribution companies or a communications company, Unicom Chairmanand CEO John W. Rowe said this week at the company’s annualmeeting.

Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) parent Unicom is planning a shoppingspree that could include one or several major gas or waterdistribution companies or a communications company, Unicom Chairmanand CEO John W. Rowe said this week at the company’s annualmeeting.