FTC OKs Divestiture by ChevronTexaco

The Federal Trade Commission said it approved the sale of ChevronTexaco Corp.’s 33.3% stake in the Discovery Natural Gas system to Duke Energy Field Services, a unit of Duke Energy Corp.

The divestiture is related to the conditional acceptance by the FTC of the $39-billion merger that created ChevronTexaco in October.

In March, ChevronTexaco said it reached an agreement to sell the stake, which Texaco had owned before the merger, for an undisclosed amount to the Duke Energy unit.

ChevronTexaco shares fell 18 cents to $87.90 on the New York Stock Exchange.