Duke Energy Gas Transmission: Lebanon East Open Season Draws Significant Market Interest

HOUSTON, March 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT) today reported a robust and diverse response to its recently completed Lebanon East open season, with nominating shippers expressing more than 1.2 billion cubic feet per day of non-binding firm transportation capacity interest in the expansion project.

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The Lebanon East open season was designed to allow marketplace participants to indicate where additional pipeline capacity is needed by nominating incremental expansion volumes from the Lebanon Hub in western Ohio or other points along DEGT's Texas Eastern Transmission existing mainline system in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

DEGT conducted the open season from Dec. 1, 2005 to March 1, 2006. "The open season response confirmed that Lebanon (Ohio) is considered a very liquid point by shippers, one that will grow in liquidity over time as capacity is added and supply options increase," said Greg Rizzo, DEGT group vice president. "We are very pleased with the nominated volumes and the length of service terms expressed - most of which were for 10 years."

Shippers expressed non-binding interest in both supply and demand-driven infrastructure expansion opportunities commencing as early as November 2008. They sought pipeline capacity to transport gas sourced from such diverse supply sources as Canada and the Rockies, as well as regional storage gas.

"These expressions of interest are an important first step in the continued development of expanded energy infrastructure in our Market Zone 2 and the Northeast region," Rizzo said. "Clearly the signal here is a strong continuing demand for additional services and future infrastructure," he said.

Duke Energy Gas Transmission is a North American leader in developing natural gas energy infrastructure, connecting major natural gas supply sources to growing markets. Based in Houston, Texas, the company's assets and operations include more than 17,500 miles of transmission pipeline and 250 billion cubic feet of storage capacity in Canada and the United States along with significant gathering, processing, distribution and natural gas liquids operations that are among the largest in Canada. More information on DEGT can be found at: http://www.degt.duke-energy.com/.

Duke Energy is a diversified energy company with a portfolio of natural gas and electric businesses, both regulated and unregulated, and an affiliated real estate company. Duke Energy supplies, delivers and processes energy for customers in the Americas. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: http://www.duke-energy.com/.

Contact: Gretchen Krueger Phone: 713/627-4072 24-Hour: 704/382-8333