Aquila taps Peculiar, Mo., for its new power plant

After being rebuffed by one Cass County, Mo., town, Aquila Inc. is looking elsewhere in that county to build a new power plant.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based utility said Wednesday it wanted to build a 315-megawatt gas-fired plant just southwest of Peculiar, Mo. City officials are considering whether to annex 74 acres for the plant and approve a series of tax-free bonds to help build the $140 million plant. With the bonds, Aquila would be expected to pay a certain amount to the city in lieu of taxes, said company spokesman George Minter.

Some residents and leaders of the nearby city of Harrisonville, Mo., opposed Aquila’s plans this summer to build a $113 million plant there, saying they were concerned the plant would short-circuit residential growth. In a company news release, Peculiar Mayor George Lewis was quoted as welcoming the plant and its ability to attract revenue to the city.

Aquila, in addition to its electric operations, also is a natural gas provider. It is the natural gas provider in the Lawrence area.

Aviation

United to cut flights

United Airlines, increasingly squeezed by discount carriers in the U.S. market, is cutting back its domestic flight schedule and expanding its international presence in the push to become profitable again.

The change in focus announced Wednesday means the world’s second-largest carrier will be offering slightly fewer departures per market in the United States and flying more regional jets as it reduces its domestic capacity 12 percent by March 2005.

International capacity will be boosted by 14 percent as United looks to its more lucrative overseas routes — particularly those to China, Japan and Vietnam — to help it return to profitability after four straight years of losses.

Specific routes that would be cut were not disclosed. The company operates several flights out of Kansas City International Airport.

Atchison

MGP Ingredients to miss quarterly earnings mark

A slowdown in the popularity of low-carbohydrate diets is expected to hurt the earnings of Atchison-based MGP Ingredients.

The company said Wednesday that it expected to operate at a break-even position or slightly above break-even for the first quarter of its fiscal year. That is down from earnings of 16 cents per share during the same period a year ago.

MGP officials said they still expected the company’s full year earnings to be between $1.03 per share to $1.08 per share. The company makes a variety of ingredients used by food manufacturers, including several ingredients that help lower the carbohydrate content of foods.

Energy

Oil prices top $52 mark

Crude futures surged above $52 a barrel Wednesday as a possible strike by Nigerian oil workers loomed and petroleum output in the Gulf of Mexico continued to suffer more than two weeks after Hurricane Ivan whipped through the region.

Oil producers in the Gulf say a significant obstacle is that some pipelines in the region are still shut down while damage is inspected and fixed.

An Energy Department report that showed domestic oil supplies grew for the second week in a row provided little comfort to traders, who instead focused on declining heating oil inventories.