Vistra, Japan's New Gas-Fired Power Plant, Oil Exec Meeting: Your Daily Energy News

News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) dealing with the energy markets.

POWER
Vistra to Buy Cogentrix Energy in $4.7 Billion Deal - Utility Vistra (Irving, Texas) said on Monday it has agreed to buy Cogentrix Energy (Charlotte, North Carolina), comprising 10 natural gas-fired power plants, from Quantum Capital Group (Houston, Texas) for about $4.7 billion, as it looks to meet growing power demand. The deal includes about $2.3 billion in cash, $900 million in Vistra stock and the assumption of $1.5 billion in debt. The acquisition includes three combined cycle gas turbine facilities, two combustion turbine facilities located across the PJM Interconnection, four combined-cycle gas turbine facilities on ISO New England and one cogeneration facility on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid. (Reuters)

Japan's Osaka Gas Starts First of Two Gas-Fired Power Units at 1.25-GW Plant - Japan's second-biggest city gas provider, Osaka Gas (Osaka, Japan) said on Monday it started commercial operations of the No.1 unit at its new 1.25-gigawatt (GW) natural gas-fired power station in Himeji, western Japan, on January 1. The plant comprises two 622.6-megawatt units, with the No.2 unit expected to begin operations in May, the company, which also supplies electricity, said. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can learn more by viewing the related project reports. (Reuters)

VENEZUELA
Trump Administration Sets Meetings with Oil Companies over Venezuela - The administration of President Donald Trump is planning to meet with executives from U.S. oil companies later this week to discuss boosting Venezuelan oil production after U.S. forces ousted its leader Nicolas Maduro, Reuters reports from a source familiar with the matter. The three biggest U.S. oil companies--Exxon Mobil Corporation (Spring, Texas), ConocoPhillips (Houston, Texas) and Chevron (Houston)--have not yet had any conversations with the administration about Maduro's ouster, according to four oil industry executives familiar with the matter, contradicting Trump's statements over the weekend that he had already held meetings with "all" the U.S. oil companies, both before and since Maduro was seized. It is unclear what executives will be attending the upcoming meetings, and whether oil companies will be attending individually or collectively. One oil industry executive told Reuters the companies would be reluctant to talk about potential Venezuela operations in group settings with the White House, citing antitrust concerns that limit collective discussions among competitors about investment plans, timing and production levels. (Reuters)

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About IIR Energy
Energy asset information on power plants, oil refineries and natural gas infrastructure is now more important than ever. A unit of Industrial Info Resources, IIR Energy provides infrastructure information on these assets, as well as real-time tracking of planned and unplanned interruptions affecting the commodity-trading community. We are the number one source for information about power plant outages, refinery turnarounds and midstream natural gas disruptions.

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).