Dominion Closes Sale of Offshore Gulf of Mexico
Operations
RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion (NYSE: D) today announced
it has closed the sale of its remaining offshore Gulf of Mexico natural gas
and oil exploration and production operations. This is one of several closings
of previously announced asset sales.
The offshore operations were sold to Eni Petroleum Co. Inc., for
approximately $4.73 billion. The operations include approximately 961 billion
cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) of proved natural gas and oil reserves in the
Gulf of Mexico as of Dec. 31, 2006. Proceeds from the sale will fund debt reduction,
including the debt tender offer announced on June 13, and the repurchase of
common stock.
JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers and Juniper Advisory LP were
Dominion’s
financial advisers and BakerBotts LLP and McGuireWoods LLP are the company’s
legal advisers for the sale.
Dominion is in the process of selling all of its
E&P operations except
those in the Appalachian Basin as part of its previously announced plan to
refocus the company on the power generation and energy distribution, transmission,
storage and retail businesses.
Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers
of energy, with a portfolio of more than 26,500 megawatts of generation and
7,800 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline. Dominion also owns and operates
the nation's largest underground natural gas storage system with about 960
billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in
11 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site
at http://www.dom.com.
