HOUSTON, Oct. 26, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:EEP) ("the Partnership") announced today that it has agreed to sell several gathering and intrastate natural gas pipelines in Texas and Oklahoma and treating plants in Texas for $106 million. The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
The assets included in these agreements represent approximately 327 miles of gas gathering pipeline, 121 miles of transmission pipeline and a gas treating facility located in South Texas. Additionally, the sale includes a Northeast Texas gathering system that consists of approximately 300 miles of gathering and products pipeline, the Eustace gas processing and treating plant and three other gas treating facilities.
The South Texas and the Northeast Texas assets will be sold to TexStar Field Services, L.P. and its subsidiaries, subject to contractual closing conditions.
Dan C. Tutcher, president of the general partner and management company, stated, "This divestiture is consistent with the Partnership's strategy to strengthen our natural gas business, which includes selling assets that are not integral to our core business. The Partnership has abundant internal growth projects to develop over the next few years and the net proceeds from this sale will be redeployed to those initiatives."
Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (www.enbridgepartners.com) owns and operates a diversified portfolio of crude oil and natural gas transportation systems in the United States. Its principal crude oil system delivers crude oil received primarily from western Canada to refining centers in the U.S. Midwest, accounting for approximately 10 percent of total U.S. crude oil imports, and to Ontario, Canada. The Partnership's natural gas gathering, treating, processing and transmission assets are principally onshore systems located in the active U.S. Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast regions. Enbridge Energy Management, L.L.C. (NYSE:EEQ) manages the business and affairs of the Partnership and its principal asset is an approximate 18 percent interest in the Partnership. Enbridge Energy Company, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Enbridge Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, (www.enbridge.com) is the general partner and holds an approximate 11 percent effective interest in the Partnership.
TexStar Field Services, L.P., based in San Antonio, Texas, is a natural gas midstream energy company that provides gathering, compression, treating, and processing services to producers in south Texas. TexStar currently operates 750 miles of pipeline, a compression facility, and a natural gas processing plant.
When used in this news release, words such as "anticipates," "expects," "plans" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements relating to the pending sale. Such statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions pertaining to factors such as: (1) regulatory approvals; and (2) performance of other parties. Reference should also be made to Enbridge Partners' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recently completed fiscal year, for additional factors that may affect results. These filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC's web site (http://www.sec.gov ) and via Enbridge Partners' web site.