By Tom Kleckner

CenterPoint Energy executives Friday said the company is in “late-stage discussions” over its Enable Midstream Partners gas-gathering and processing joint venture but offered few details beyond that.

“Should these discussions not come to fruition, we will evaluate the sale of units in the public market place,” CenterPoint CEO Scott Prochazka said during a conference call with analysts.

Prochazka also said the Houston-based company “continues to believe Enable is well positioned for success.”

CenterPoint owns a 54.1% share of Enable. Oklahoma City’s OGE Energy holds a 25.7% limited-partnership interest and a 50% management interest.

In August, OGE accepted a right of first offer for CenterPoint’s shares. Any competing offer CenterPoint accepts for its interest would have to be at least 5% higher than OGE’s, CFO Bill Rogers said.

Enable’s status has been the prime subject of the two companies’ earnings calls for more than a year. (See OGE, CenterPoint Earnings Calls Focus on Enable Midstream.)

“This has been admittedly a long process,” Prochazka said. “As we come to the end of this, we will communicate the outcome, irrespective of what it is.”

CenterPoint reported quarterly earnings of $167 million ($0.38/share), down from $177 million ($0.41/share) a year ago. A Thomson Reuters survey of analysts had projected earnings of 39 cents/share.

The company said revenue for the quarter rose 11.1% to $2.10 billion, up from $1.89 billion for the same quarter last year.

Rogers said CenterPoint’s Hurricane Harvey restoration efforts have cost the company between $110 million and $120 million. A third of that will be covered by property insurance claims, with the rest recovered through capital mechanisms or regulatory assets in the company’s next rate case, he said.

CenterPoint’s electric utility operations added 46,000 metered customers during the quarter, a 2% growth rate.

Wall Street reacted to CenterPoint’s announcement by driving down the company’s share price by 79 cents, to $28.96/share, when the market opened Friday. The stock recovered to $29.59/share by the market’s close.

OGE Q3 Earnings Unchanged from 2016

OGE on Thursday reported net income of $183 million ($0.92/share), compared to $184 million ($0.92/share) the same period a year ago. Third-quarter revenue was $717 million, down from $744 million the year before.

Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research had projected earnings of 93 cents/share.

OGE said its Oklahoma Gas & Electric subsidiary expects to file a rate case with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission by the end of year. The utility is seeking to recover $390 million in expenses to retrofit its Mustang power plant with seven 66-MW combined cycle gas turbines.

“It’s a much simpler case” than previous rate proceedings, CEO Sean Trauschke told analysts. “The plant will be finished and in service, so there’s no question about the cost.”

OG&E also expects to file another rate case with the OCC in 2018 to recover $542 million in environmental upgrades at its Muskogee plant.

OGE shares, which closed Wednesday at $36.75, were down to $35.97/share in Friday afternoon trading, a loss of 2.1%.