CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Piedmont
Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) today announced an agreement with Progress
Energy Carolinas (NYSE: PGN) to provide natural gas delivery
service to the electric utility's recently announced power
generation facility to be built at its existing Sutton site near
Wilmington, N.C. Piedmont
will construct approximately 133 miles of transmission pipeline and
install 23,000 HP of new compression facilities to serve the new
620 MW combined cycle Sutton plant.
Commenting on the announcement, North
Carolina Governor Beverly
Perdue said, "We welcome today's announcement which
represents not only a significant investment by Piedmont Natural
Gas and Progress Energy Carolinas in critical energy infrastructure
for our State but also advances our joint efforts to create a
cleaner environment for the benefit of all North Carolinians."
Piedmont's capital investment
in the pipeline and compression facilities is estimated at
$217 million. The new natural gas
facilities will not only serve Progress Energy Carolinas'
requirements at its new Sutton plant but will also create cost
effective expansion capacity that Piedmont will use to help serve the growing
natural gas requirements of its other customers in the eastern part
of North Carolina. Progress
Energy Carolinas' subscription to the natural gas expansion
capacity is supported by a long-term service agreement with
Piedmont. Subject to approval by
the North Carolina Utilities Commission, Piedmont will begin construction of the new
natural gas pipeline and compression facilities early in 2011 and
be ready for service in June 2013.
Piedmont Natural Gas Chairman, President and CEO Thomas E. Skains commented on the agreement, "We
are excited about this additional opportunity to work with Progress
Energy to add significant new natural gas infrastructure to deliver
clean and efficient energy to the eastern portion of North Carolina. This project will stimulate
economic growth and development and benefit our environment and the
energy consumers in North
Carolina."
"This is an important milestone for North Carolina and a vital part of our plan to
convert a significant portion of our power plant capacity from coal
to natural gas," said Lloyd Yates,
CEO and president of Progress Energy Carolinas. "We are pleased to
be the catalyst for this critical natural gas expansion and the
economic and environmental benefits it will bring to eastern
North Carolina."
Impact on Piedmont's
Previously Announced Robeson LNG Storage Project
Since the timing and design scope of the Sutton project will
help serve the needs of Piedmont's
growing natural gas customer base in the eastern part of
North Carolina in a more cost
effective manner, Piedmont also
announced today that the Sutton project alleviates the need for it
to pursue further development of its previously announced Robeson
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) storage project at this time. The
Robeson LNG storage project was put on hold by the Company in
March 2009 pending further evaluation
of its growth requirements in the eastern part of North Carolina and the timing of natural gas
infrastructure to serve that growth. Although work on the Robeson
LNG storage project will be suspended indefinitely, Piedmont anticipates that it will invest
$60 million of the $217 million Sutton project in Robeson County, NC, which will have a
significant positive economic impact on the county and expand
Piedmont's role in the local
community.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These
statements are based on management's current expectations and
information currently available and are believed to be reasonable
and are made in good faith. However, the forward-looking statements
are subject to future events, risks, uncertainties and other
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those projected in the statements. Factors that may make the actual
results differ from anticipated results include, but are not
limited to, rate of customer growth, new legislation and
regulations and application of existing laws and regulations,
economic and capital market conditions, the cost and availability
of labor and materials and other uncertainties, all of which are
difficult to predict and some of which are beyond our control. For
these reasons, you should not rely on these forward-looking
statements when making investment decisions. The words "expect,"
"believe," "project," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "could,"
"will," "assume," "can," "estimate," "forecast," "future,"
"indicate," "outlook," "plan," "predict," "seek," "target,"
"would," and variations of such words and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are only as of the date they are made and we do not
undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking
statement, either as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. More information about the risks and uncertainties
relating to these forward-looking statements may be found in
Piedmont's latest Forms 10-K and
10-Q, which are available on the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov.
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 and industrial utility customers in
North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 61,000 customers served
by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our subsidiaries are
invested in joint venture, energy-related businesses, including
unregulated retail natural gas marketing, interstate natural gas
storage and intrastate natural gas transportation. Additional
information about Piedmont is
available on the Internet at http://www.piedmontng.com.
SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas