Life at ONEOK

This information was released to the public today:

ONEOK Sells its Oil and Gas Production Companies

TULSA, Okla. – Sept. 19, 2005 – ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE) announced today that it signed an agreement with TXOK Acquisition, Inc. to purchase ONEOK’s oil and gas production companies for $645 million. The transaction is expected to close by October 14, 2005.

The sale includes natural gas and oil properties in four fields in Oklahoma and Texas with estimated reserves of approximately 240 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent, as of August 1, 2005.

“With this transaction we will exit the oil and gas production business and will focus our attention on our other businesses, which include natural gas distribution, gas gathering and processing, pipelines and storage, energy services and natural gas liquids,” said David Kyle, ONEOK chairman, president and chief executive officer.

ONEOK plans to use the proceeds from the sale to reduce debt.

TXOK Acquisition is a privately held oil and natural gas acquisition, exploration, exploitation, and development and production company, headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

As part of the transaction, it is anticipated that substantially all of the ONEOK production employees will be offered positions with the buyer.


Still a lot to be done and quite a bit of uncertainty, but it appears Ken's days at ONEOK are numbered.