Houston, Texas, and Clarksburg, W. Virginia, August 16, 1999-Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, a business unit of El Paso Energy Corporation (NYSE:EPG), and CNG Transmission Corporation, a subsidiary of Consolidated Natural Gas Company (NYSE: CNG), announced that the Atlantic Alliance Project open season will commence on Tuesday, August 17, 1999 and extend to Thursday, September 30, 1999. Shippers will be asked to submit binding precedent agreements for service commencing November 2001 as part of the open season.

The Atlantic Alliance Project will transport up to 750,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day from Chicago and the Niagara Import Point to developing markets in the Northeast. It will include access to Transco and the proposed MarketLink Project at Leidy, Pennsylvania, and to Columbia and the proposed Millennium Project at Horseheads and Greenwood, New York. Capacity will be phased in as needed on Tennessee's and CNG's existing systems by adding limited facilities along existing rights-of-way. This approach results in lower costs and less environmental impact than building new pipelines along new rights-of-way.

Interested shippers are encouraged to contact their account manager or Mike Stokdyk at Tennessee at (713) 420-3434 or Cindy Currey at CNG at (304) 623-8231 for additional information.

With over $10 billion in assets, El Paso Energy Corporation provides energy solutions through its strategic business units: Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, El Paso Natural Gas Company, El Paso Field Services Company, El Paso Power 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 natural gas transmission, gas gathering and processing, power generation, energy marketing, and international energy infrastructure development. On June 10, the stockholders of both El Paso Energy and Sonat Inc. overwhelmingly voted in favor of merging the two organizations. The merger is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of this year, concurrent with the completion of regulatory reviews. Visit El Paso Energy's web site at www.epenergy.com.

CNG Transmission, headquartered in Clarksburg, W.Va., is the interstate natural gas transmission subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based Consolidated Natural Gas Company, a fully integrated natural gas company. CNG is in the process of merging with Dominion Resources, Inc., to become one of the nation's largest integrated energy companies, with 4 million customers, 20,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and more than 3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of oil and natural gas reserves. CNG Transmission provides gas transportation and storage services to other major pipelines and to markets in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast regions of the country.

New Shippers May Contact:

Tennessee Gas Pipeline
Mike Stokdyk
(713) 420-3434

CNG
Cindy Currey
(304) 623-8231

CNG Media Relations Contacts

Robert Fulton
(304) 623-8200

Dan Donovan
(412) 690-1370

CNG Investor Relations Contact

Jim Garret
(412) 690-1485

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.