Daily GPI

Carolina Power & Light Co. (CP&L) would bulk upconsiderably with its planned acquisition, announced yesterday, ofFlorida Progress Corp., parent of Florida Power, for $5.3 billion.The combined company would be worth about $17 billion and serve 2.7million customers, nearly 200,000 of them gas. It also would be thenation’s ninth-largest energy utility based on generating capacityof more than 18,500 megawatts.

Rigel Energy, a medium-sized producer based in Calgary, got thedesired results from its summer-long, self-advertising campaignyesterday in the form of a $C1.2 billion merger offer from TalismanEnergy. Rigel’s board of directors said it will recommendacceptance of the offer to the company’s shareholders. Talisman isexpected to mail its formal takeover bid offer on Sept. 2, and theoffer will be open for acceptance for at least 21 days, Rigel said.

Philadelphia-based Resource America Inc. announced it has signedan agreement to acquire the stock of Viking Resources Corp., aprivately held energy and energy finance company based in NorthCanton, OH, and centered in the Appalachian Basin.

Kansas City Power & Light and Western Resources successfullyreached an agreement with the FERC settling all merger-relatedissues, Western Resources said yesterday. The company also said theagreement forged between the merging parties and the MissouriPublic Service Commission staff is currently being reviewed by theMissouri commissioners. Only the Kansas Corporation Commission(KCC) approval stands in the way of the merger’s completion, thecompany said.

The Justice Department has said it intends to go to court toseek civil penalties and an injunction against Williams’Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. unless the two sides can reachan agreement over alleged violations involving polychlorinatedbiphenyl contamination (BCP).

Orion Power Holdings Inc., jointly owned by affiliates ofGoldman, Sachs & Co. and Constellation Energy, bought theAstoria Generating Station, Gowanus Gas Turbine and Narrows GasTurbine facilities from Consolidated Edison Co. of New York forabout $550 million.

In an attempt to win approval for their merger from regulatorsin Washington State, ScottishPower and PacifiCorp announced theyhave agreed to give retail electric customers in the state a mergercredit directly payable on customers’ bills of $3 million per yearfor four years beginning in January 2001. The deal is similar tothe those already offered to PacifiCorp customers in Oregon andIdaho. The merger credit, which equates to a reduction of 1.7% offcustomers’ bills, includes Washington’s share of the $10 millioncost savings that ScottishPower had previously committed to passthrough to customers in the state. The merger partners will be ableto offset the $3 million merger credit in each of the four years tothe extent that the cost reductions are reflected in rates. Theproposed marriage requires the approval of regulators in the fivewestern states served by PacifiCorp – Washington, California, Utah,Idaho, Wyoming and Oregon. All have either approved the transactionor have recommended it for approval by their respectivecommissions. It also has passed muster at FERC and the Securitiesand Exchange Commission, but still awaits clearance by the NuclearRegulatory Commission.

Sonat declared a force majeure in connection with maintenancethat began Monday at its No.2 delivery point into East TennesseeNatural Gas and will last for about three weeks. No nominationswill be scheduled at the point during this project, Sonat said.

The financial troubles of Coho Energy reached a new level lastweek as the Dallas-based company received a formal notice from itslenders that the obligations under its $240 million credit facilityhave been accelerated and the lenders intend to exercise all rightsand remedies to satisfy those obligations.