EXHIBIT 99.1


                               [ENRON LETTERHEAD]

                                                                    NEWS RELEASE




          ENRON PRESENTS PROCESS TO CREDITORS' COMMITTEE FOR SEPARATING
                    POWER, PIPELINE COMPANY FROM BANKRUPTCY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, May 3, 2002

HOUSTON - Enron Corp. (ENRNQ) presented today a process to its Unsecured
Creditors' Committee to maximize recoveries through the exploration of a variety
of alternatives for moving the company's core energy assets out from under its
Chapter 11 case.

Under the proposal, which will be facilitated through Section 363 of the
Bankruptcy Code, the new company would be an energy infrastructure business
focused on the transportation, distribution, generation and production of
natural gas and electricity primarily in North, Central and South America.

"We believe this process will lead to the maximization of value of Enron's core
energy assets and the mitigation of risk by removing viable operations out from
under Chapter 11," said Stephen F. Cooper, Enron interim CEO and chief
restructuring officer. "This enables Enron's creditors to realize value from the
company's power and pipeline roots through an expedited process. However, this
is just one of the options that we will openly explore with our creditors."

Headquartered in Houston, the new company, temporarily called "OpCo Energy
Company," could have 15,000 miles of pipeline assets, 75,000 miles of
distribution assets, 6,700 megawatts of generation, and 12,000 employees. It is
estimated that OpCo could have $10.8 billion in assets and a projected earnings
before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in excess
of $1.3 billion in calendar year 2003.

The company hopes to have the Section 363 auction and sale process completed by
the end of 2002.

The proposed process and additional asset information may be viewed at
www.enron.com.

A media conference call with Stephen F. Cooper will be held today at 4 p.m. EDT
and can be heard by calling 719-457-2679, passcode 172005. The call may also be
heard on the web at https://cis.premconf.com/sc/scw.dll/usr?cid=vlllrdlcmmsvclz.

Enron delivers energy and other physical commodities and provides other energy
services to customers around the world. Enron's internet address is
www.enron.com.