HOUSTON, TEXAS, October 30, 2000—El Paso Energy Corporation (NYSE:EPG) announced today that on October 25 it signed a consent agreement concerning its acquisition of certain Texas assets from PG&E Corporation.  As part of the normal review process, the consent agreement is subject to the approval of the Federal Trade Commission.  The company also announced it is finalizing a similar agreement with the State of Texas.  Once the agreements are approved, El Paso Energy will be free to close the PG&E transaction.

With over $21 billion in assets, El Paso Energy Corporation is one of the largest integrated natural gas-to-power companies in the world.  El Paso Energy not only owns North America's largest natural gas pipeline system, but also has growing operations in merchant energy services, power generation, international project development, gas gathering and processing, and gas and oil production.  On May 5, the stockholders of both El Paso Energy and The Coastal Corporation overwhelmingly voted in favor of merging the two organizations.  The merger is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, concurrent with the completion of regulatory reviews.  Visit El Paso Energy's web site at www.epenergy.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.  While the company makes these statements and projections in good faith, neither the company nor its management can guarantee that the anticipated future results will be achieved.  Reference should be made to the company's (and its affiliates') Securities and Exchange Commission filings for additional important factors that may affect actual results.