NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 10, 2004--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it lowered its corporate credit ratings on Duke Energy Corp. and its subsidiaries, Duke Capital Corp., PanEnergy Corp., Texas Eastern Transmission LP, Westcoast Energy Inc., and Union Gas Ltd. to 'BBB' from 'BBB+'. The 'A-2' short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings were affirmed. The outlook is stable. Standard&Poor's also affirmed its 'BBB-' corporate credit rating on Duke Energy Trading&Marketing LLC. The outlook on the Duke Energy Trading&Marketing rating is negative. "The downgrade reflects weaker-than-anticipated financial performance during 2003 and an ambitious deleveraging plan that could materially improve the consolidated financial profile, but which carries a measure of execution
