News Release Nov. 29, 2001

HOUSTON – Duke Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission, LP (Texas Eastern) unit is seeking Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval to increase the capacity of its existing natural gas pipeline system in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to serve the growing needs of a local distribution company.

The company’s Texas Eastern Incremental Marketing Expansion (TIME) project will allow for the transportation of up to an additional 100,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas to New Jersey Natural Gas Co. Texas Eastern owns and operates an open access pipeline system extending from south Texas and offshore Gulf of Mexico to major markets in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. 

“Demand for natural gas in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast markets is expected to grow steadily over the next few years,” said Robert B. Evans, president of Duke Energy Gas Transmission  (DEGT), the parent company of Texas Eastern. “With minimal landowner and environmental impact, we will be able to cost effectively bring new supplies of natural gas to the region by this time next year. These additional volumes will provide our customers with greater energy security, reliability and flexibility.”

The facilities proposed for the TIME project will be comprised of pipeline looping and compression additions/modifications along with Texas Eastern’s Penn-Jersey system in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Specifically, a new 10,000-horsepower compressor unit will be added to the Lambertville, N.J., compressor station and existing units at Armagh and Entriken, Pa., compressor stations will be modified to increase output by 8,600 horsepower each. In addition, the project proposes to construct about 16 miles of new 36-inch loop pipeline running parallel to Texas Eastern’s current pipelines in Perry, Lebanon, Burks and Bucks counties in Pennsylvania, as well as other ancillary facilities. The new pipeline primarily will be placed within Texas Eastern’s existing right-of-way corridors, creating little impact to landowners, communities or the environment. The TIME project is expected to be in service November 2002.

DEGT, the Houston-based Duke Energy business unit responsible for the company’s interstate natural gas pipeline operations, owns and operates 12,000 miles of interstate natural gas pipelines known as Texas Eastern Transmission, LP; Algonquin Gas Transmission Co.; East Tennessee Natural Gas Co.; and with others, owns Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and the Gulfstream Natural Gas System. Together, these companies transport 8 percent of the natural gas consumed in the United States.

Duke Energy, a diversified multinational energy company, creates value for customers and shareholders through an integrated network of energy assets and expertise. Duke Energy manages a dynamic portfolio of natural gas and electric supply, delivery and trading businesses   --  generating revenues of more than $49 billion in 2000. Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is a Fortune 100 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at:  www.duke-energy.com.