HOUSTON, TEXAS, October 21, 2004—El Paso Corporation (NYSE:EP) announced today that it has closed the sale of a 46.2-percent ownership interest in the MASSPOWER power plant. A 33.7-percent ownership interest was sold to Northern Star Generation, LLC for $34 million, and a 12.5-percent ownership interest was sold to United States Power Fund, L.P., a private equity fund managed by Energy Investors Funds, for $13 million. El Paso will retain a 4.1-percent ownership interest in MASSPOWER, a 270-megawatt power plant located in Springfield, Massachusetts.

El Paso has now closed on the sale of 22 of the 25 domestic power plants that the company previously announced in January it had agreed to sell to Northern Star Generation, LLC. With the close of this transaction, El Paso has received approximately $616 million and eliminated approximately $39 million of non-recourse debt as a result of the sale of this group of power plants.

This sale is part of El Paso's plan to sell its domestic power portfolio as part of its long-range plan to reduce the company's debt, net of cash, to approximately $15 billion by year-end 2005. To date, the company has announced or closed approximately $3.5 billion of the $3.3 billion to $3.9 billion of asset sales targeted under the plan. An asset sales tracker that shows all of the announced and completed asset sales is posted at www.elpaso.com under Investor Resources.

El Paso Corporation provides natural gas and related energy products in a safe, efficient, dependable manner. The company owns North America's largest natural gas pipeline system and one of North America's largest independent natural gas producers. For more information, visit www.elpaso.com.

Northern Star Generation, LLC is owned by AIG Highstar Generation LLC and OTPPB US Power, LLC, which is owned by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. AIG Highstar Generation LLC is owned by AIG Highstar Capital II, L.P. and affiliates. AIG Highstar Capital II, L.P. is sponsored by AIG Global Investment Group.

Energy Investors Funds is 100 percent management owned and was founded in 1987 as the first investment manager to raise, close, invest, recapitalize, and liquidate the assets of a private equity power fund, and is the only private equity power fund manager with an established track record of long term success. The firm has mobilized over $1 billion in capital, and currently manages five private equity funds from its offices in Boston, New York, and San Francisco. These funds have made over 65 diversified investments, with a combined underlying asset value exceeding $5 billion. For more information visit www.eifgroup.com.

This release includes forward-looking statements and projections, made in reliance on the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company has made every reasonable effort to ensure that the information and assumptions on which these statements and projections are based are current, reasonable, and complete. However, a variety of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the projections, anticipated results or other expectations expressed in this release, including, without limitation, the ability to implement and achieve our objectives in the long-range plan, including achieving our debt-reduction targets; our ability to close our announced asset sales on a timely basis; the uncertainties associated with governmental regulation and other factors described in the company's (and its affiliates') Securities and Exchange Commission filings. While the company makes these statements and projections in good faith, neither the company nor its management can guarantee that anticipated future results will be achieved. Reference must be made to those filings for additional important factors that may affect actual results. The company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made herein or any other forward-looking statements made by the company, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.