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"It might take a bit longer than April 30," Stephen Cooper, Enron's chief executive officer, said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Enron announced Wednesday that it would retain its interest in the Transwestern, Northern Plains Natural Gas and Florida Transmission pipelines, forming a new unit named PipeCo.

PipeCo would eventually be distributed to current Enron stakeholders.

"Those assets have been operating safely, profitably and efficiently for years," Mr. Cooper said. "My own view is that this PipeCo entity will continue to be a highly profitable organization."

The company also plans to roll certain international assets into a new unit called InternationalCo. while continuing with plans to sell power-generation and other assets like Eco-Electrica, Portland General Electric Co., Sithe Independence Power Partners, and Compagnie Papiers Stadacona.

Mr. Cooper said PipeCo will assume Enron's share of the debt on the three pipelines, including a loan secured with the Transwestern line.

Enron secured a $1 billion loan two weeks before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, 2001.

The company shopped around the pipelines and other assets, but didn't receive sufficient interest.

"In the aggregate, we were not satisfied that we were getting the full value for our property," Mr. Cooper said. "We think this next step is the way to do it."

Mr. Cooper said that Enron will file its plan of reorganization and related disclosure statements by the middle of the calendar year, but it might take longer than the current deadline of April 30.

The company does, however, have about $5 billion cash on hand, he said.

As reported, the company valued its pipeline and power-generation assets at $ 10 billion in August as it mulled the sale of the properties.

Some other energy companies, such as El Paso Corp. (NYSE:EP - News) and Williams Cos. ( WMB), have turned their focus to core pipeline assets as value on other businesses eroded