HOUSTON, TEXAS, April 24, 2000—Petal Gas Storage Company (Petal), an indirect subsidiary of Crystal Gas Storage, Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of El Paso Energy Corporation (NYSE:EPG), today announced the extension of its open season for the proposed expansion of its high deliverability salt cavern storage facility near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The open season will be extended until 5:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time on May 5, 2000.

The proposed expansion would include leaching an additional salt cavern with a working gas storage capacity of 5.0 billion cubic feet (Bcf). The new cavern, when combined with Petal's current expansion project, will result in a facility with 15 Bcf of actual working gas capacity and a total withdrawal capacity of 1.5 Bcf of gas per day.

The open season includes additional storage capacity and receipt/delivery points on the pipelines of Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Koch Gateway (low pressure and high pressure systems), Transco, Southern Natural Gas Pipeline, Destin, and Florida Gas Transmission.

Open season material including detailed information about the facilities, the proposed storage services, proposed rates, the bidding process, and details necessary to complete a bid can be accessed at www.crystalgas.com/petal or by contacting Petal.

With over $16 billion in assets, El Paso Energy Corporation provides comprehensive energy solutions through its strategic business units: Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, El Paso Natural Gas Company, Southern Natural Gas Company, El Paso Merchant Energy Company, El Paso Energy International Company, El Paso Field Services Company, and El Paso Production Company. The company owns North America's largest natural gas pipeline system, both in terms of throughput and miles of pipeline, and has operations in natural gas transmission, merchant energy services, power generation, international project development, gas gathering and processing, and gas and oil production. On January 18, 2000, El Paso Energy announced that it has agreed to merge with The Coastal Corporation in a deal valued at $16 billion, including approximately $6 billion of assumed debt and preferred equity. Visit El Paso Energy's web site at www.epenergy.com.

New Shippers may contact:

Petal Gas Storage Company
David Hayden (318) 677-5511
Russ Kovin (713) 420-2479

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.