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Piedmont Natural Gas CEO Commends Senate Energy Committee for Continued Focus on Natural Gas Supply

Posted on: Thursday, 16 February 2006, 18:00 CST

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Congress must act decisively this year to expand the ability of energy producers to find and retrieve natural gas, such as in a particularly promising portion of the Gulf of Mexico, or risk continued high prices that have plagued families and factories, according to testimony presented before a Senate committee today by Thomas Skains, chairman, president and chief executive of Piedmont Natural Gas.

"The average residential customer is paying roughly twice as much for natural gas as he did in 1999. These high prices strain the budgets of all homeowners and, even worse, many low-income households must choose between heat and other life necessities," said Skains, testifying on behalf of the American Gas Association (AGA) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Skains is a member of AGA's Board of Directors.

By law, utilities do not profit from higher commodity prices. "In fact, higher natural gas prices hurt our business. We want what our customers want: adequate supplies at affordable prices," Skains said.

The purpose of the hearing was to gather public input on S. 2253, which would require the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to offer certain portions of the 181 area for natural gas and oil leasing.

"I urge you to act here and now to begin to rectify the natural gas supply and demand imbalance. Opening Lease Sale 181 in the Gulf of Mexico is an important step in the right direction," Skains said. "There is absolutely no question we must do this. Natural gas is being produced in a safe, efficient and environmentally responsible fashion. We are talking about activity 100 miles or more offshore that will not be seen, heard or smelled. No tankers, no barges, no spills. I live in a coastal state, and I appreciate the need to protect our beaches, but I know this is no threat."

"Energy efficiency must continue to play a key role in easing the price pressure in natural gas markets, but it is not the only answer," Skains emphasized. "Prices will come down only when we increase the supply of natural gas in the marketplace to meet the growing demand for our product. We must unlock more domestic sources of natural gas, both onshore and offshore. We must begin construction of a natural gas pipeline from Alaska. We must build new LNG receiving terminals, and not just in the Gulf Coast. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita taught us an important lesson about the need for geographical diversity for our nation's natural gas supply. Further, the mix of fuels used to generate electricity must be diversified, including the use of solar and wind technologies, the use of clean coal and coal gasification and nuclear power."

Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to 990,000 residential, commercial and industrial utility customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 61,000 customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. For more information, go to http://www.piedmontng.com/.

The American Gas Association, founded in 1918, represents 197 local energy utility companies that deliver natural gas to more than 56 million homes, businesses and industries throughout the United States. Natural gas meets nearly one-fourth of the United States' energy needs. For more information, go to http://www.aga.org/.

First Call Analyst: FCMN Contact:

Piedmont Natural Gas

CONTACT: Headen Thomas, +1-704-731-4438, or +1-704-651-7137, orheaden.thomas@piedmontng.com, or David Trusty, +1-704-731-4391, or+1-704-507-6393, or david.trusty@piedmontng.com, both of Piedmont Natural Gas;or David Coburn of LGA Inc., +1-704-552-6565, or cell +1-704-906-9372, orcoburn@lgapr.com

Web site: http://www.piedmontng.com/http:/// http://www.aga.org/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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