Keyspan to sell NI gas stake

US utility Keyspan Corporation said yesterday that it was planning to sell its stake in a Northern Ireland gas pipeline.

Its chief executive, Mr Robert Catell, said yesterday that the company intended to sell various non-core interests during the year, including "its interests in Houston Exploration, investments in Canada and the pipeline it owns in Northern Ireland".

A spokeswoman told The Irish Times last night that it intended to sell its 50 per cent share in the Premier Transmission gas pipeline in Northern Ireland.

The line links Belfast with Larne and Scotland via an interconnector that runs to South Cairn, Stranraer and ultimately to Twynholm. It supplies Belfast and a Premier electricity generating plant with Phoenix Natural Gas.

Keyspan sold a 24.5 per cent stake in Phoenix during the last quarter of 2003. Keyspan and British Gas (BG) developed the Premier Transmission line as a joint venture a number of years ago. The US utility supplies and operates the infrastructure, while BG supplies the gas.

The spokeswoman said the company intended to "monetise that asset" this year. However, she could not say if Keyspan was talking to any potential buyers and said the company was not in a position to say how much the sale would raise.

Keyspan is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is the largest supplier of natural gas in the north eastern US.

Up to four years ago, it proposed building a line connecting Dublin and Belfast, which would also connect up with the Bord Gáis ringmain between the capital and Galway.

However, it pulled out of the Republic because of a Government proposal that private operators in the country's natural gas network should pay a levy to Bord Gáis.

Yesterday, Keyspan posted fourth quarter earnings for 2003 of $135.4 million (€106.5 million) down from $147.1 million a year earlier.

The main reason for the fall in profits was a new accounting regulation that required it to account for the cost of a leased facility as a debt.

Keyspan also said it felt the pinch from milder weather during the period. Revenues rose 3 per cent to $1.86 billion.