Houston, Texas, February 19, 1998-El Paso Energy Marketing Company, a business unit of El Paso Energy Corporation (NYSE:EPG), announced today that it is expanding its commitment to the electric power industry by forming El Paso Power Services. In the process, El Paso Energy Marketing has hired four executives formerly with Citizens Power, LLC. Larry Kellerman, former president of Citizens, has joined El Paso Energy Marketing as president of the newly formed Power Services organization. Joining Kellerman are Mike Prosser, senior vice president of Utility Services; Tim Sullivan, senior vice president of Power Systems; and Todd Torgerson, vice president of Power Marketing.

"We are very excited about this highly qualified group of executives joining El Paso Energy. Combining these individuals with the existing talent in our power group provides us an excellent platform to expand our power marketing and merchant activities," said Greg Jenkins, president of El Paso Energy Marketing. "The formation of El Paso Power Services furthers our commitment to finding sound business solutions rather than regulatory solutions to the challenges facing our customers and partners."

El Paso Power Services will focus on helping electric utilities, non-utility and merchant generators, fuel suppliers, and large industrial concerns achieve lower costs in the transition to a competitive marketplace. Key business functions will include:

• providing utilities with a range of services to facilitate lower system and capital costs
• addressing utility and industrial above-market costs and stranded costs through restructuring transactions
• offering merchant generation including additional merchant plants such as those being developed by El Paso Energy in New England
• providing risk management and power trading
• creating long-term structured transactions involving the application of low-cost energy and low-cost capital

With over $9 billion in assets, El Paso Energy Corporation provides energy solutions through five business units: Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, El Paso Natural Gas Company, El Paso Field Services Company, El  Paso Energy Marketing Company, and El Paso Energy International Company. The company owns the nation's only integrated coast-to-coast natural gas pipeline system and has operations in interstate natural gas transmission, gas gathering and processing, energy marketing, and international infrastructure development.

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 companies have 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. While the companies make these statements and projections in good faith, neither the companies nor their managements can guarantee that the anticipated future results will be achieved. Reference should be made to the companies' (and their affiliates') Securities and Exchange Commission filings for additional important factors that may affect actual results.