-- Three-year contract covers 12 billion cubic feet of annual supply at eight
                                  facilities
    -- Dovetails with previous CNG-Ormet agreement to manage $1 billion in
                                 electricity
   -- May be largest U.S. energy user to select same firm for gas, electric
                             management services

    PITTSBURGH, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- CNG Energy Services Corporation
announced today it has signed a three-year contract with Ormet Corporation,
one the nation's largest aluminum producers and suppliers of aluminum
products, to provide comprehensive natural gas management service for eight
Ormet facilities around the United States.  The facilities have a total annual
gas consumption of about 12 billion cubic feet.
    The gas management contract builds on a landmark alliance CNG Energy
Services and Ormet announced last June to jointly manage $1 billion worth of
electricity over 10 years for two Ormet facilities in Ohio.  Along with the
size of the electric requirement, the alliance is unique in that Ormet and CNG
managers work side by side to meet Ormet's needs.
    The natural gas agreement, which may be extended on a year-by-year basis
after its initial term, began January 1, 1998.  The electric agreement covers
management and supply of up to 550 megawatts of power, which is to begin
flowing January 1, 2000.
    "We are gratified that Ormet has decided to expand our relationship," said
Joseph H. Petrowski, president of CNG Energy Services.  "To the best of our
knowledge, this is the first time in the United States that such a large
energy user has selected one firm to help manage both its gas and electric
requirements.  Ormet is clearly one of industry's leaders in taking advantage
of an integrated approach in managing its energy needs."
    The gas management agreement covers facilities operated by Ormet
subsidiaries: Ormet Primary Aluminum Corporation, Ormet Aluminum Mill Products
Corporation, Specialty Blanks, Inc., and Formcast, Inc., at facilities in
Hannibal, Ohio; Burnside, La.; Jackson, Tenn.; Iuka, Miss.; Bens Run and
Wheeling, W.Va.; Denver, Colo.; and Terre Haute, Ind.  Services include supply
acquisition, portfolio consulting, price risk management, delivery, balancing,
energy supply backstopping and administration.
    "As is the case with our electricity management agreement, Ormet and CNG
employees will work side by side at the CNG Energy Services trading and
operations center in Pittsburgh to ensure that Ormet's needs are filled in the
most efficient and beneficial manner," said Thomas E. Dodd, CNG Energy
Services vice president in charge of the Ormet relationship.
    The power management agreement covers the electricity needs for Ormet's
aluminum smelter and rolling mill in Hannibal, Ohio.  The smelter is one of
the largest aluminum reduction facilities in the United States.  The plant and
mill are currently supplied by Ohio Power under an agreement that will end
December 31, 1999.
    Headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia, Ormet Corporation produces a
wide range of aluminum products for fabrication, extrusion and conversion
markets.  Its subsidiaries are: Ormet Primary Aluminum Corporation, one of the
four largest U.S. producers of primary aluminum; Ormet Aluminum Mill Products
Corporation, which supplies quality aluminum sheet and foil products for the
distributor, food and beverage, printing, packaging, construction and
transportation industries; Specialty Blanks, Inc., the largest independent
U.S. producer of industrial aluminum alloy blanks for the lighting, cookware,
automotive and aerospace industries, as well as a producer of wheel rims for
after-market automotive wheel manufacturers; and Formcast, Inc., a worldwide
producer of complex aluminum cast parts.
    CNG Energy Services Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is the
energy marketing subsidiary of Consolidated Natural Gas Company (NYSE: CNG).
CNG Energy Services is one of the nation's largest wholesale power marketers,
with volumes of more than 25 million megawatt-hours in 1997.  It is also one
of the largest wholesale gas marketers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
regions, with daily volumes of about 3 billion cubic feet.  Additionally, CNG
Energy Services is the nation's largest non-utility retail energy marketer,
with more than 120,000 residential and small-business customers for
competitively priced natural gas and electricity.
    Along with energy marketing, Consolidated Natural Gas also has more than
1.8 million natural gas distribution customers, operates North America's
largest natural gas storage system and a regional natural gas pipeline system
and is one of the nation's largest independent oil and gas producers.

    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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