PITTSBURGH, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Consolidated Natural Gas Company
(NYSE: CNG) and its partners announced today the acceptance of their
US$1.7 billion bid to own and operate a 925-mile natural gas pipeline being
privatized by the Western Australia state government.
A CNG subsidiary, CNG International Corporation, will hold a 33.3 percent
interest in the AlintaGas Dampier-to-Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline. Other
partners include El Paso Energy Corporation (33.3 percent), AMP Asset
Management (11.1 percent), Axiom Funds Management (11.1 percent) and Hastings
Funds Management (11.1 percent).
The purchase is scheduled to close in April and is estimated to require a
investment of $145 million by CNG.
Dampier-to-Bunbury is a 24-inch, 550 million cubic feet a day pipeline
that brings gas supplies in from the northwest portion of the state. It
serves several industrial companies, including Wesfarmers, Western Power,
Alcoa Aluminum and Worsley Aluminum, and plans are to double its capacity by
the end of the year 2007.
CNG and El Paso, a business unit of El Paso Energy Corporation, also each
own 30 percent of Epic Energy, which has two pipelines in southern and eastern
Australia. After the sale, Epic will manage the Dampier-to-Bunbury pipeline.
CNG is one of the nation's largest producers, transporters, distributors
and marketers of natural gas, and offers a variety of energy marketing
services throughout North America. The company's natural gas transmission and
distribution operations serve customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West
Virginia, New York and other states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
CNG explores for and produces natural gas and oil in the United States and
Canada, and makes selective investments 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 company extension, 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.
SOURCE Consolidated Natural Gas Company
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.cng.com
CONTACT:
Dan Donovan of Consolidated Natural Gas,
412-690-1370
|
