Exhibit No. 99.1

PRESS RELEASE

                         DONALD S. RUSSELL RETIRES FROM
                     PIEDMONT NATURAL GAS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CHARLOTTE, NC - After serving 37 years on the Board of Directors of a company
that his father helped found in 1951, Donald S. Russell today announced his
retirement from the Board of Directors of Piedmont Natural Gas.

During Mr. Russell's tenure on the Board since 1966, Piedmont Natural Gas has
grown its customer base from 119,000 to over 920,000, and its revenues from $30
million to over $1.2 billion. Mr. Russell is an attorney and lives in Columbia,
South Carolina.

Upon Mr. Russell's retirement, the company's President and CEO, Thomas E. Skains
remarked, "Mr. Russell's experience and dedication to Piedmont as a Board member
has helped guide it well for nearly 40 years. He has demonstrated outstanding
leadership to the benefit of the Company's shareholders, customers and
employees. We owe him and his family our deepest gratitude, and our best
wishes."

About Piedmont Natural Gas
Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the
distribution of natural gas to 920,000 residential, commercial and industrial
utility customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including
57,000 customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our
subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy-related businesses, including
unregulated retail natural gas and propane marketing, interstate natural gas
storage, intrastate transportation and regulated natural gas distribution. More
information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available on the Internet at
www.piedmontng.com.

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