NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) May 16, 2006--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services stated today that DTE Energy Co.'s (BBB/Stable/A-2) decision to curtail synthetic fuel (synfuel) production is adverse to credit quality but does not affect the ratings at this time. The company's decision is in response to the current high-priced oil environment, which could disallow the use of associated tax credits and income from production. If synfuel production remains curtailed for the year, the company would forego about $135 million in cash flow because it has hedged 70% of the expected $450 million contribution for 2006. Also, DTE has hedged only about 25% of expected synfuel cash flow for 2007.
