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PRESS RELEASE

Piedmont Natural Gas Reaffirms Support of SouthStar Venture


    CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 26, 2001, a wholly-owned
affiliate of AGL Resources (NYSE: ATG) (AGLR) filed a lawsuit against Dynegy
Marketing and Trade (NYSE: DYN).  The lawsuit purports to be a "derivative
complaint on behalf of SouthStar Energy Services, LLC."  SouthStar is a
natural gas marketer operating in Georgia under the trade name Georgia Natural
Gas Services. A wholly owned subsidiary of Piedmont Natural Gas Company (NYSE:
PNY) is a founding member and a 30% owner of SouthStar. The remaining ownership
interest is held by affiliates of AGLR (50%) and Dynegy (20%).

    "Piedmont was unaware of the lawsuit initiated by AGLR's affiliate prior to
its filing last Thursday and is not a party to it," commented Piedmont President
and CEO Ware Schiefer. "Piedmont is an active participant in the governance of
SouthStar through its membership on the venture's Executive Committee. However,
we have not as yet been provided with sufficient information with which to
analyze the merits of the allegations made in the lawsuit."

    Piedmont is involved in a number of joint venture companies and has always
considered relationships with its partners to be an important element in the
continued success of those activities. Piedmont entered into the SouthStar
venture because of the unique strengths each member company would contribute to
SouthStar's success. As a result of those combined strengths, SouthStar has
become a profitable, customer-oriented marketer in Georgia and has the largest
market share in Georgia of all marketers operating in that state.

    "Through its representation on SouthStar's Executive Committee, Piedmont is
intent on continuing to work closely with SouthStar's Executive Committee to
resolve the issues in AGLR's lawsuit against Dynegy and SouthStar's management
team to build on the successes already achieved. SouthStar will remain strongly
focused on the markets and customers it serves. We remain committed to working
with both of our partners, Dynegy and AGLR, to assure SouthStar's continued
success in the retail markets of the Southeastern United States," said Schiefer.

    Piedmont Natural Gas Company is an energy and services company primarily
engaged in the transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas to 700,000
residential, commercial and industrial customers in North Carolina, South
Carolina and Tennessee. The Charlotte-based company is the second-largest
natural gas utility in the Southeast. An unregulated subsidiary of the Company
is an equity participant in a venture that markets natural gas to an additional
570,000 customers in Georgia, the first state in the venture's eight-state
region to deregulate retail natural gas service. Another unregulated subsidiary
is an equity participant in Heritage Propane Partners, L.P., the nation's
fourth-largest propane distributor serving more than 500,000 customers in
twenty-eight states.



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