Westcoast Energy Sells Australian Pipeline Interest.VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22,1998-- WESTCOAST ENERGY (TSE See Tokyo Stock Exchange. TSE 1. See Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). 2. See Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE). :W.) (ME:W.) (VSE See DOS/VSE. VSE - Virtual Storage Extended :W.) (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :WE) Westcoast Energy Australia Pty. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Westcoast Energy Inc. (Westcoast), announced today that it has sold to Duke Energy International its 50 percent interest in the Eastern Gas Pipeline Project for approximately (Cdn) $27 million. Duke will also purchase the remaining 50 percent interest in the project from BHP Petroleum to take sole ownership of the project. The Eastern Gas Pipeline Project is an 800-kilometre interstate pipeline that runs from the Longford Gas Plant near Melbourne, Victoria, to Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales, state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. . It has received most regulatory approvals and is at the construction-ready stage of development. "We are taking this opportunity to sell our 50 percent interest for an amount that exceeds our cumulative investment to date in developing the project up to the heavy capital investment stage of construction," said Michael Stewart, Executive Vice President, Business Development for Westcoast. "The sale of our interest in the Eastern Gas Pipeline Project allows us to direct our capital spending capital spending Spending for long-term assets such as factories, equipment, machinery, and buildings that permits the production of more goods and services in future years. on near term, higher return projects such as the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and the Alliance Pipeline," noted Michael Phelps, Chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Westcoast. "In addition," Mr. Phelps stated, "Westcoast will, over the next couple of years, focus its international activities on Mexico where it will spend some $235 million in 1999 on the Campeche and Cantarell projects alone." "We recently announced the largest capital investment program in our history for 1999 and the year 2000 will see a similarly large investment program," said Mr. Phelps. "Many of our projects have been reassessed and reconsidered because of the uncertain and volatile international capital markets," he said. "Rate of return hurdles have been raised and efforts have been made to lower the overall risk profile of new projects." Westcoast Energy Australia Pty. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Westcoast Energy Inc. Westcoast Energy Inc. (TSE: W; NYSE: WE), headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, is a leading North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. energy company with assets of more than $10 billion. The Company's interests include natural gas gathering, processing and transmission, natural gas storage facilities and gas distribution, power generation, and international energy businesses as well as financial, information and energy services businesses. Information about Westcoast Energy Inc. is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.westcoastenergy.com. |
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