Piedmont Natural Gas Announces Agreement to Acquire Natural Gas System Serving Fort Bragg in North Carolina

Piedmont Natural Gas PNY today announced that it has reached agreement with the United States Department of Defense (DOD) to purchase, expand and operate the natural gas pipeline distribution system serving Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina.  The agreement follows a trend of public/private partnerships that serve to privatize utility infrastructure located on U.S. military bases across the country. The agreement and its associated tariffs have been filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission for approval. Piedmont Natural Gas Chairman, President, and CEO, Thomas E. Skains, commented on the agreement, "We are pleased to have reached this agreement with the DOD to acquire and improve the natural gas distribution systems at Fort Bragg. We look forward to providing safe and reliable natural gas service to the important members of this community for many years to come.  We are especially honored to serve the men and women of our armed services with the benefits of comfortable, affordable and clean-burning natural gas." Greg Bean, Fort Bragg's Director of Public Works, said, "We are pleased to have a world-class partner in Piedmont Natural Gas, to help meet the readiness needs of one of the U.S. military's most important strategic installations." Piedmont currently owns, operates, and maintains approximately eight miles of natural gas pipelines used to serve residential and commercial buildings on the base.  The new agreement transfers ownership and operational responsibility to upgrade and maintain an additional 75 miles of existing natural gas pipeline facilities on Fort Bragg property after an initial transition period of approximately two and a half years.  During the transition period, Piedmont will be reviewing system operations and service requirements, enhancing existing facilities, and constructing new pipeline infrastructure to ensure the continued safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the natural gas pipeline distribution system. About Piedmont Natural Gas Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation utility customers in portions of North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy-related businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing, and regulated interstate natural gas transportation and storage and intrastate natural gas transportation businesses. More information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available on the Internet at http://www.piedmontng.com/.