News Release

April 21, 2006

KCC takes action to assure continued gas service for former customers of bankrupt Superior Energy Services

In expedited proceedings, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) has taken swift action to avert the sudden and abrupt loss of natural gas service by customers served by Superior Energy Services, L.L.C. (Superior), following the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on April 10, 2006.

On April 17, 2006, the KCC approved a temporary arrangement with Kansas Gas Service, a division of ONEOK, Inc. (KGS) to assure gas service is maintained to former Superior customers. KGS has agreed to temporarily operate only the part of the system that is connected to KGS or its ONEOK affiliates for natural gas supplies until the earlier of June 30th or the sale of the system to another party. KGS is also providing financial assistance to Superior that will enable Superior to continue to provide service on the portions of the system that are supplied with gas by SemGas Gas Gathering and Lumen Gas Gathering.

In addition to approval of the operating agreement between Superior and KGS, the KCC approved the following KGS requests:

• KGS will use its rates rather than Superior's rates to bill for services rendered by KGS after April 1, because it is not administratively feasible to put separate Superior rates into its billing system. This is consistent with the treatment of new customers to a system. Furthermore, if Superior had not purchased the assets from KGS in 2003, its customers would have remained with KGS and paid the higher rates that resulted from a subsequent KGS rate case.
• KGS will be allowed to recover certain costs it incurs through a surcharge to all KGS customers rather than just Superior customers. KGS will be allowed to accumulate for subsequent recovery costs, such as fees paid to Superior for use of its assets, monetary assistance to Superior for costs of the bankruptcy proceeding, potential payments on a letter of credit provided to certain natural gas suppliers on other parts of the Superior system, and conversion of certain residential customers to alternative fuels. It is anticipated that the surcharge will be less than $1 per customer in total.
• Concerns have been raised that low pressure and water in the gas on parts of the system may cause safety and supply problems for residential customers and customers in Lake City. These concerns apply only to those portions of the system served by unprocessed natural gas. KGS will be allowed to terminate service to residential and Lake City customers of Superior that receive gas supply from gas gathering systems operated by ONEOK Field Services, Semgas, or Lumen. KGS will provide compensation up to $3,000 per customer, for service termination. The customer will be responsible for performing the conversion to propane or an alternative energy source.

The sale of Superior's system will take place as part of the bankruptcy proceedings. KGS will make a bid on the part of the system it is now serving, but nothing prevents another company from outbidding KGS. At the present time, the Commission staff is talking to other utilities to determine their interest in acquiring the SemGas and Lumen portions of the Superior system. There is also the possibility that other nontraditional arrangements, such as a cooperative, could be made for future service. It is currently anticipated that sale of Superior's assets will occur before the end of June.

Docket No. 06-KGSG-1101-COC