M&A

Spokane, WA-based Avista Corp. eventually could look for another merger or acquisition for its five-state utility holding company, following the failure of a $5.3 billion acquisition by Hydro One Ltd. earlier this year, CEO Scott Morris said Friday.

Sooner Inc., a member of Japan’s Marubeni-Itochu Steel Group, one of the largest suppliers of oil country tubular goods, or OCTG, in the United States, has agreed to purchase Lafayette, CO-based CTAP LLC for an undisclosed amount. CTAP operates 11 service centers in the U.S. onshore and considered a major supplier of OCTG in the Bakken Shale and the Rockies.

A coup of sorts is underway in Pittsburgh as two brothers brazenly push to take over EQT Corp., which became the nation’s largest natural gas producer after it acquired Rice Energy Inc. in a multi-billion dollar deal that helped transform the juggernaut and generated a windfall for the family.

Sempra Energy on Thursday said it has reached an agreement to sell some U.S. natural gas storage facilities to private equity investor ArcLight Capital Partners LLC for $332 million.

Washington state regulators on Wednesday unanimously rejected the proposed $5.3 billion takeover of natural gas and power distributor Avista Corp. by Ontario-based utility Hydro One Ltd., saying the proposed acquisition does not serve the public interest. It was a unanimous 3-0 decision.

South Jersey Industries (SJI) has exited the retail natural gas business, announcing Monday that it has divested all of the retail gas assets held by affiliates South Jersey Energy and Open Flow Energy to Pennsylvania-based UGI Energy Services LLC in a deal that closed last week.

Ownership of New Brunswick’s natural gas distribution franchise is changing hands in a C$331 million (US$265 million) sale announced Tuesday by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. The buyer — Liberty Utilities (Canada) LP, a subsidiary of Oakville, ON-based Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. — added that a C$5 million (US$4 million) service expansion program will begin after the deal’s scheduled close in first-half 2019. Under Enbridge ownership the franchise, New Brunswick Gas, arranged for imports from the eastern United States for its 12,000 customers in 12 communities to replace Nova Scotia offshore wells that are depleted and shutting down. Enbridge retains a 78% ownership interest in the import route, Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. The Calgary gas and oil transportation conglomerate described the New Brunswick deal as part of continuing asset sales triggered by its C$37 billion (US$28 billion) takeover of Houston-based Spectra Energy in 2016.

Most global oil and gas executives expect to make deals to buy or sell assets in 2019, nearly 10% above the global average, with most of the activity likely to be in the United States, spurred by onshore transactions, and in Canada, according to a recent survey.

Tulsa-based pipeline giant Williams is teaming up with Permian Basin pure-play Brazos Midstream to expand their natural gas and crude oil footprint in West Texas.