Exhibit No. 99.2

            MARKETSPAN ANNOUNCES STOCK BUY BACK PLAN OF APPROXIMATELY
                        10 PERCENT OF OUTSTANDING SHARES

(Brooklyn and  Hicksville,  New York,  August 3, 1998)-  MarketSpan  Corporation
(NYSE:  MN) today  announced  that the Board of  Directors  has  authorized  the
purchase  of up to 10 percent of the  Company's  outstanding  common  stock,  or
approximately  15 million  shares,  through  open market  purchases.  MarketSpan
currently has approximately 158 million shares outstanding.

Robert Catell,  chairman and chief  executive  officer of MarketSpan  said, "The
Board believes that the Company's common stock price does not accurately reflect
the value of MarketSpan's current business and future prospects. Our decision to
begin a stock  repurchase  program  reinforces my and the Board's  commitment to
enhancing  long-term  shareholder value for MarketSpan's  owners.  The purchases
will begin August 13, 1998 and the Board will consider additional purchases once
this program is fulfilled."

MarketSpan, headquartered in Hicksville and Brooklyn, New York, serves more than
1.5 million  natural gas  customers  from Staten  Island to Montauk  Point.  The
company operates five electric  generating plants on Long Island and manages the
transmission  and  distribution of electricity to more than one million electric
customers in Nassau and Suffolk  Counties  and the Rockaway  Peninsula of Queens
County under a contract with the Long Island Power  Authority.  The Company also
owns  KeySpan's  unregulated  subsidiaries  and has  investment  in natural  gas
ownership in Houston Exploration Company (NYSE: THX).