El Paso provides hurricane update

Offshore staff

(United States, Gulf of Mexico)-El Paso Corp. is assessing damage to onshore and offshore facilities and pipelines in Texas and Louisiana and beginning to carry out repairs after the passage of Hurricane Rita. The company is in the process of re-assessing onshore pipelines and facilities for possible new damage in parishes south of New Orleans and offshore facilities in the GoM that were affected by Hurricane Katrina.

El Paso operates a total of 77 platforms in the GoM. The company is now transporting personnel back to the company's 19 manned platforms and inspecting offshore facilities. In the eastern Gulf all platforms have been manned and power restored. Production from these fields will resume as early as tomorrow pending notification from pipelines. In the central and western Gulf, the process of re-manning and inspecting facilities continues. All of the 170 MMcf/d of production net to El Paso that was producing before the storm was shut in because of the storm.

In the Texas Gulf Coast and Arklatex areas, production has been curtailed due to processing facility constraints. In the Texas Gulf Coast as much as 53 MMcf/d had been shut-in during the storm with 40 MMcf/d remaining shut-in at this time. In Arklatex, 11 MMcf/d is currently shut-in.

09/28/05