UNION GAS SIGNS CUSTOMER CONTRACTS TO SUPPORT NATURAL GAS INFRASTRUCTURE EXPANSION IN ONTARIO

CHATHAM, ONTARIO – Union Gas Limited’s binding open season for its 2006 transmission system expansion between Dawn and Parkway closed on Dec. 6, 2004. Union Gas has since signed contracts with 23 parties to support this expansion, with an average term of 12 years.

Union Gas has filed a regulatory application with the Ontario Energy Board to expand its facilities by adding over 370 million cubic feet per day of incremental capacity between Dawn and Parkway, effective Nov. 1, 2006. This will increase the total physical capacity on the Dawn to Parkway transmission system to over 5.3 billion cubic feet per day.

“The Dawn Hub continues to grow and is recognized as a major supply and trading hub offering customers both diversity of supply and access to storage,” said Greg Ebel, president, Union Gas. “As a result of this expansion, our customers in Eastern Canada and the U.S. Northeast will now have more ability to transport gas supplies from Dawn to their market areas.” Union Gas is also working with customers to finalize 2007 transportation capacity requests following the recent close of the 2007 open season.

The Dawn Hub is a key natural gas trading location with an average of over 6.8 billion cubic feet per day of trading activity in 2004. There is more than 150 billion cubic feet of high deliverability storage located at the Union Gas Dawn facility, the largest storage facility in Canada. In addition, 10 major pipelines interconnect with the Dawn Hub. 

Union Gas is an integrated natural gas storage, transmission and distribution company serving about 1.2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in more than 400 communities in northern, southwestern and eastern Ontario. The company also provides storage and transportation services to other utilities and energy market participants in Ontario, Quebec and the United States. Union Gas is a Duke Energy company.

Duke Energy Gas Transmission is a North American leader in developing energy infrastructure and connecting major natural gas supply basins to growing markets. The company’s natural gas operations include more than 17,500 miles of transmission pipeline and 250 billion cubic feet of storage capacity in Canada and the United States. More information on DEGT can be found at:  http://www.duke-energy.com/businesses/companies/degt.asp.

Duke Energy is a diversified energy company with a portfolio of natural gas and electric businesses, both regulated and unregulated, and an affiliated real estate company. Duke Energy supplies, delivers and processes energy for customers in the Americas. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: http://www.duke-energy.com.

Contact:	Elizabeth Havelock
Phone:	519/250-2347
24-Hour Phone:	704/382-8333
e-mail:	ehavelock@duke-energy.com