HOUSTON, TEXAS, July 10, 2001—El Paso Natural Gas Company, a subsidiary of El Paso Corporation (NYSE:EPG), announced today a binding open season for 320 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of pipeline capacity from the Keystone and Waha areas of the Permian Basin in West Texas to the California border near Ehrenberg, Arizona. The binding open season, which began July 5, 2001 and closes on August 2, 2001, is in response to the interest expressed during El Paso's non-binding open season in March 2001 soliciting shippers for potential system expansions.

The expansion capacity will be made available by adding compression to El Paso's Line 2000 from McCamey, Texas to the California border near Ehrenberg, Arizona. The expansion capacity will be sold at El Paso's existing maximum California tariff rate, and the fuel charge is estimated to be 5 percent. The projected in-service date of the expansion facilities is mid-2003 subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory, environmental, and right-of-way authorizations.

The receipt points on El Paso's system for this capacity will be the Waha and Keystone pools in the Permian Basin area of West Texas. The delivery points will be Southern California Gas Company (SoCal) and PG&E's proposed North Baja Pipeline, El Paso's bi-directional lateral (Line 1903), any future incremental capacity on the SoCal system from Ehrenberg, Arizona into the State of California, and any upstream points on El Paso's south mainline system where capacity exists.

"This system expansion will add incremental interstate capacity to California, Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas to meet increasing natural gas demands including the demand for natural gas to generate electricity for the western United States," said Patricia A. Shelton, president of El Paso Natural Gas Company.

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.