RICHMOND, Va., July 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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.
SOURCE Dominion
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Related links:
http://www.dom.com/
CONTACT:
Media, Dan Donovan, 412-237-2900 or
412-951-1080, ddonovan@dom.com, or Analysts, Fiona McCarthy,
804-819-2447, Fiona.R.McCarthy@dom.com, both of Dominion
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