AEP will buy Enron's Houston Pipeline Company

<%=company1%> announced today that the company has signed an agreement under which AEP Energy Services Gas Holding Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of AEP, will acquire the stock of Houston Pipe Line Co. (HPL) from Enron Corp.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter 2001. The completion of the acquisition is subject to, among other things, expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

HPL owns, or leases, and operates one of the most extensive and flexible natural gas gathering, transportation and storage operations in Texas. HPL's intrastate system includes more than 4,400 miles of pipe with capacity of approximately 2.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) and the operation of the Bammel Storage Facility, one of the largest storage facilities in North America with a capacity of approximately 118 billion cubic feet and significant injection and withdrawal capacity.

"AEP is pleased to purchase Houston Pipe Line from Enron," said Paul Addis, executive vice president for AEP. "HPL will enhance AEP's natural gas business with its multiple connections into the production areas of Texas, its numerous interconnects with intrastate and interstate pipelines, and its position in and around Houston as a premier provider of natural gas.

"The acquisition will allow AEP to extend its strategy of linking physical asset operations with trading and marketing to provide our customers flexible and tailored energy products," Addis said. "Adding HPL to our natural-gas asset portfolio will help us reach our goal of becoming a top-10 gas trader and marketer." AEP's gas volume during the third quarter of 2000, the most recent data reported, was 4 Bcf/d, placing the company 14th in volume among wholesale gas marketers in the U.S.

Edited by Stephen Heiser