Dominion, Equitable Extend Sale Agreement For Natural Gas Utilities
RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion (NYSE:D) announced today
that an agreement to sell two natural gas utilities to Equitable Resources
(NYSE: EQT) has been extended at least until September 1, 2007. Prior to
this agreement, either party could have unilaterally ended the agreement
after June 30, 2007.
Dominion
and Equitable also agreed to further extend the termination date until November
1, 2007, if they are able to reach an agreement to close the sale of Dominion
Peoples earlier than the sale of Dominion Hope.
The sale of Dominion Peoples
has been approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. A decision
is expected in September by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on an appeal
by the Federal Trade Commission asking to delay the sale of Dominion Peoples
subject to further FTC review. A U.S. District Court judge previously turned
down that request.
The sale of Dominion Hope is under consideration by the West
Virginia Public Service Commission.
Dominion and Equitable announced on March
2, 2006, that Equitable would pay about $970 million plus adjustments to reflect
capital expenditures and changes in working capital for the two utilities.
Dominion has previously announced that it plans to use the proceeds from the
sale to reduce debt.
Dominion Peoples serves about 357,000 homes and businesses
in western Pennsylvania from its headquarters in Pittsburgh. Dominion Hope
serves 116,500 homes and businesses in West Virginia from its headquarters
in Clarksburg, W.Va. Together, the utilities serve less than 12 percent of
Dominion’s four million electric
and natural gas local distribution customers.
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.
