THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: FTC: Final OK To Buckeye Partners Buy Of Some Shell Assets: “The Federal Trade Commission Tuesday gave final clearance to Buckeye Partners LP's (BPL) $517 million purchase of a package of Shell Oil Co.'s pipeline and storage assets.” (ShellNews.net) Posted 22 Dec 04

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Trade Commission Tuesday gave final clearance to Buckeye Partners LP's (BPL) $517 million purchase of a package of Shell Oil Co.'s pipeline and storage assets.

The FTC gave conditional approval to the deal, which included five pipelines and 24 terminals in the Midwest, on Sept. 27. The companies completed their transaction on Oct. 1. Shell Oil Co. is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Cos. (RD, SC).

In a separate decision, the FTC gave final approval to Aspen Technology Inc.'s (AZPN) acquisition of Hyprotech Ltd. The agency gave a green light to the transaction in July conditioned on Aspen Technology divesting certain process engineering simulation software assets that the FTC felt would have anticompetitive effects in some high-tech markets.

-By Brian Blackstone; Dow Jones Newswires; 202-828-3397; brian.blackstone@dowjones.com