North Carolina Utilities Commission Approves
Dominion Resources, Consolidated Natural Gas Merger
All State Regulatory
Approvals Required for Merger Have Now Been Received
RICHMOND, Va., and PITTSBURGH – The North Carolina Utilities
Commission has approved the merger of Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) and
Consolidated Natural Gas Company (NYSE: CNG), the companies announced today.
The action means that all state regulatory approvals required
for the merger have been received. The public utility commissions of Pennsylvania,
West Virginia, Ohio and Virginia previously approved the merger or filed a statement
supporting it.
Thos. E. Capps, chairman, president and chief executive
officer of Dominion Resources, and George A. Davidson Jr., chairman and chief
executive officer of CNG, said in a joint statement:
"We are extremely pleased that we have reached such
an important milestone in the merger process in a relatively short time. We
will continue to move ahead full bore to reach our goal of creating America’s
premier electric and natural gas company – one that brings added benefits to
our customers, shareholders, employees and communities."
Still pending are approvals by several federal agencies.
The companies continue to expect that all regulatory approvals will be received
by year-end and the merger closing to follow in the first quarter of next year.
The Dominion Resources/CNG merger will create the nation's
largest fully integrated energy company. The merged company will serve about
4 million electric and natural gas customers in five states. It will have about
20,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity and will operate North America's
largest natural gas storage system. The merged company also will be one of the
largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies
in North America, with more than 3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of reserves
in the United States and Canada.
This press release contains forward-looking statements.
The companies wish to caution readers that the assumptions which form the basis
for forward-looking statements with respect to or that may impact earnings for
fiscal 1999, and thereafter, include many factors that are beyond the companies’
ability to control or estimate precisely, such as estimates of future market
conditions and the behavior of other market participants. Other factors include,
but are not limited to, weather conditions, economic conditions in the companies’
service territories, fluctuations in energy-related commodity prices, conversion
activity, other marketing efforts and other uncertainties.
