Duke Energy Gas Transmission Announces Open Season for Three Salt Cavern Storage Facilities

HOUSTON – Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT) announced today that its Market Hub Partners (MHP) unit will conduct an open season for customers seeking the flexibility and reliability of salt cavern storage services.

The non-binding open season includes MHP’s existing Egan storage facilities in Acadia Parish, La., and Moss Bluff storage facility in Liberty County, Texas; and the proposed storage facility in Copiah County, Miss. MHP’s facilities are strategically located between growing natural gas supply options and premium markets.

“Recent price and supply volatility have made salt cavern storage facilities vital to the growing markets in the southeast and northeast United States,” said Mark Fiedorek, vice president, asset optimization and storage development. “Our ability to combine customized storage services with attractive supply and market access provides our customers with the services they need to meet their growing natural gas marketing requirements.”

As market demand for salt cavern storage has grown over the past five years, MHP has expanded and enhanced the Moss Bluff and Egan facilities by adding space, injection and withdrawal capacity. By 2009, when the currently anticipated expansion at Egan is fully completed, MHP will have increased the combined working capacity of the two facilities from 26 billion cubic feet (Bcf) to 40 Bcf. The Copiah facility is a proposed new high deliverability salt cavern storage project that has already been certificated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

“MHP’s storage experience, strategic locations and cost-effective expansion options provide customers with a range of solutions to manage supply reliability and balancing requirements, as well as the option to take advantage of market volatility,” Fiedorek said.

Egan Hub Advantages

• Eight interconnects that include most of the major interstate pipelines with access to Gulf Coast, northeast, midwest and southeast markets
• Access to competitively priced supply options with anticipated interconnects to major liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply headers
• Growing  cycling capacity with the proposed addition of  26,660 horsepower of compression by summer 2007
• Total storage working capacity anticipated to reach 24 billion cubic feet (Bcf) by 2009 with expansion options for an additional 16 Bcf

Moss Bluff Advantages

• 16 Bcf total storage working capacity with expansion options for an additional 21 Bcf
• Interconnects with four intrastate and two interstate pipelines
• Access to midwest, Texas intrastate and Houston Ship Channel markets
• Proximity to LNG developments at Sabine, Texas

  Copiah Storage Advantages

• Certificated to 3.3 Bcf, with expansion capabilities up to 14 Bcf of working capacity
• Strategically located between East Texas and Gulf Coast supplies and growing markets in southeast and northeast United States
• Proposed direct connection with Texas Eastern Transmission and the proposed DEGT/CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission Southeast Supply Header
• Proposed indirect access to multiple interstate pipelines via the proposed Southeast Supply Header

The MHP open season runs May 1 -- May 31. The size and timing of any new expansion projects resulting from this open season will depend on market interest. To discuss MHP’s storage service options and obtain more information about the MHP open season, contact Janice Devers at 713/627-6170, Leah Moss at 713/627-5054 or Steven Tramonte at 713/627-4411.

Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT) is a North American leader in the long-haul transportation and storage of natural gas. For more than a half-century, DEGT and its predecessor companies have developed the critically important pipelines and related energy infrastructure that connect natural gas supply sources to premium markets. Based in Houston, Texas, the company's assets include more than 18,500 miles of transmission pipeline and more than 250 billion cubic feet of storage capacity in the United States and Canada. DEGT also has natural gas gathering, processing and distribution assets and natural gas liquids operations that are among the largest in Canada. More information can be found at: http://www.degt.duke-energy.com.

 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:	Gretchen Krueger
Phone:	713/627-4072
24-Hour Phone:	704/382-8333
e-mail:	gdkrueger@duke-energy.com