Abstract
A sponsored corporate history of the gas pipeline company, Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation, from its creation in 1947 to its acquisition by Panhandle Eastern Corporation in 1989. Examines the strategic choices that shaped the company's evolution. Discusses the company's entrepreneurial era, from 1941 to 1954, covering the U.S. government's building of the two pipelines extending from Texas to the Northeast; Texas Eastern's acquisition of these pipelines in a bidding process for war surplus properties; the company's beginnings; and the race for Eastern markets. Describes how Texas Eastern sought pathways around growing regulatory constraints on its operations after 1954; domestic expansion and diversification into energy-related and other activities; and North Sea oil and gas projects and other international activities. Examines the dramatic economic and regulatory changes confronting managers at Texas Eastern in the period 1971 to 1989 and the company's responses to gas shortages; a new wave of diversification driven by profits from North Sea oil; and a strategy of refocusing on the company's traditional business strengths after the oil bust in the late 1980s. Castaneda is Director of the Program of Oral History of the Houston Economy at the University of Houston. Pratt is Cullen Professor of Business and History at the University of Houston. Index.