El Paso Corporation (EP)

[NovoMira]

El Paso Raises Loss Estimate for Taxes

Tuesday September 4, 11:25 am ET

El Paso Sees Expects to Carry Forward Loss of $2.4B, Up From $1 Billion

WASHINGTON (AP) -- El Paso Corp. said Tuesday that it expects a net operating loss carry-forward for taxes of around $2.4 billion at the end of 2007, up from a previous estimate of $1 billion.

The pipeline operator and natural-gas producer is based in Houston.

The increase in the carry-forward, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, is mainly due to the filing of the company's 2006 federal tax return, the carry-over of capital losses from the sale of power assets that offset the gain on the sale of ANR Pipeline Co. and related assets, and a plan to expense intangible drilling costs for a production segment that are expected this year.

Net operating losses represent the excess of business expenses over income for a given tax year. A tax loss carry-forward is a tax benefit that allows a company to apply losses to reduce tax liability.

The company expects the projected carry-forward increases to be offset by the expected gain on the proposed initial public offering of its master limited partnership, which is scheduled for the fourth quarter.

Shares of El Paso rose 41 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $16.28 in early trading Tuesday.

Edit: EP closed up 53 cents - $16.43.