Tulsa Firm, Employee Fined Over Price Fixing

Wednesday, July 12th 2006, 2:46 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Federal officials say a Tulsa company and one of its former executives will plead guilty to conspiring to rig bids for natural gas pipeline construction projects in Colorado.

The US Justice Department says Flint Energy Services and former Flint regional manager Kenneth Rains of Farmington, New Mexico, will enter the plea as part of a plea deal.

Flint would be fined $100,000 while Rains would be fined $10,000 and serve prison time as determined by a judge.

The government says Flint and Rains took part in manipulating pipeline construction bids in the Upper San Juan Basin in southwest Colorado.

The San Juan Basin in Colorado and New Mexico is one of the largest natural gas producing regions in the country.