All Five Companies to be Directed by Single Management Team;
         Main Goals Are to Improve Customer Service, Achieve Growth;
                Company Names, Local Presence to Be Maintained

    PITTSBURGH, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Aiming to improve service to its
customers and promote earnings growth, Consolidated Natural Gas Company
(NYSE: CNG) today announced a significant reorganization of the management
structure of its four local natural gas utilities and interstate natural gas
pipeline and storage operations.
    The new structure will bring all five companies -- The East Ohio Gas
Company, of Cleveland; The Peoples Natural Gas Company, of Pittsburgh;
Virginia Natural Gas, Inc., of Norfolk; and Hope Gas, Inc. and CNG
Transmission Corporation, both of Clarksburg, W.Va. -- under the leadership of
a single management team.  This team will manage by business process rather
than by company.
    "While this new structure will result in cost savings, the primary goal of
these changes is to promote sustainable and efficient growth," said Ronald L.
Adams, CNG senior vice president of regulated business.  "We want to focus the
company's local utility and pipeline resources on being more responsive to the
needs of our customers and to enable CNG's regulated businesses to more
effectively seize growth opportunities in the competitive marketplace.  The
best way to do that is to simplify the structure and reorganize management so
as to remove barriers and unleash speed, creativity and efficiency."
    CNG's local utilities serve nearly 2 million customers, making them the
fifth largest gas distribution network in the country.  In addition, the
company operates North America's largest natural gas storage system, with a
total capacity of 885 billion cubic feet.  This storage system is linked to
the major gas-using markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions by CNG's
web-like interstate pipeline network.
    All five companies will continue to remain legally separate and retain
their names.  The change will not affect customers in terms of who to contact
for service, bill paying and the like.
    "It is important for our customers to understand that this in no way
changes our presence in the communities where we do business," Mr. Adams said.
"They can still count on us as their friends and neighbors."
    Effective January 1, the new leadership structure will be organized along
four key business processes: commercial operations, asset operations,
technology and implementation, and organizational and financial performance.
Leading these groups and reporting to Mr. Adams will be:
    -- Paul D. Koonce, president, commercial operations.  Mr. Koonce, 38,
comes to CNG from Sonat Inc., where he has been executive vice president of
the Sonat Marketing Company LP subsidiary.  His responsibilities will include
wholesale sales and marketing, mass-market sales and marketing, gas supply,
rates and regulatory affairs, field services, and system management.
    -- Jimmy D. Staton, president, asset operations.  Mr. Staton, 37, is
currently vice president of pricing, planning and financial services at CNG
Transmission.  His responsibilities will include gas transmission and storage
operations, distribution operations, gathering and production operations, and
engineering and environmental activities, and customer services.
    -- William A. Fox, senior vice president, technology and implementation.
Mr. Fox, 49, is currently president of Peoples Natural Gas and Hope Gas.  His
responsibilities will include project management, technology, and process
improvement.
    -- Laura J. McKeown, senior vice president, organizational and financial
performance.  Ms. McKeown, 40, is currently CNG corporate secretary.  Her
responsibilities will include financial management and reporting, performance
measurement, organizational and leadership development, knowledge management,
and communications.
    Transition to the new structure will be completed during the first half of
1999.
    During the transition, Tom D. Newland, president of East Ohio Gas, and
Jerry L. Causey, president of Virginia Natural Gas, will be retiring.  The
restructuring is also expected to result in the elimination of about 5 percent
of the positions in these business operations during the next year.  CNG
expects to incur a pretax charge of approximately $8 million in the fourth
quarter in connection with workforce reductions.  The exact number of
employees and the cost savings that will result have not yet been determined.
    In all, about 5,200 employees work at CNG's local utilities, CNG
Transmission and related support operations.
    Consolidated Natural Gas (NYSE: CNG) is one of the nation's largest
producers, transporters, distributors and retail marketers of natural gas. The
company's natural gas transmission and distribution operations serve customers
in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, New York and other states in
the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. CNG explores for and produces oil and
natural gas in the United States and Canada. The company also selectively
participates in energy businesses abroad.

    This press release contains forward-looking statements. The company wishes
to caution readers that the assumptions which form the basis for forward-
looking statements with respect to or that may impact earnings for fiscal
1998, and thereafter, include many factors that are beyond the company's
ability to control or estimate precisely, such as estimates of future market
conditions and the behavior of other market participants. Other factors
include, but are not limited to, weather conditions, economic conditions in
the company's service territory, fluctuations in energy-related commodity
prices, conversion activity, other marketing efforts and other uncertainties.
    CNG's recent news releases are available 24 hours a day on the Internet,
by fax machine, or by voice recording.  On the Internet, use CNG's Web site:
http://www.cng.com.  For faxing, call 1-800-758-5804 on a touch-tone phone and enter
CNG's extension number, which is 203456.  From a menu, you will then be able
to select releases that will be faxed to you immediately without charge.  For
voice recordings, call 1-888-CNG-NEWS.  This line is toll-free.

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