FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Release: MASTIO publishes the 15th Edition Natural Gas Pipeline Report

March 15, 2011

1. Firm gas transportation is highly reliable.
2. Communicates in an honest and forth
3. Scheduled gas volumes are accurate and forthright manner.

Source: MASTIO 2011 Natural Gas Transportation Customer Value Study.

The criterion MASTIO uses to recognize the best pipelines are:

1. Must have a minimum of 30 ratings within the study.
2. Determined by the pipelines with the highest overall Customer Value Weighted Quality (Benefit) Score. 

Please note that companies need to meet the above criterions to be considered for the MASTIO award.

Mega Pipeline Index –  The Mega Pipeline Index consists of pipelines with at least 3,500 miles of transportation pipe and deliveries of at least 1 trillion CF (TCF).

The following Mega pipelines met the requirements to receive the Mastio Quality Award.

Overall Mega Pipeline Index Winner / Highest Score:

Northern Natural Gas Co.

Suppliers Who Exceed the Industry Benchmark:

Dominion Transmission, Inc.

Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America

Northern Natural Gas Co.

Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co.

Southern Natural Gas Co.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.

Texas Gas Transmission

Williams Gas Pipeline-Northwest 

Williams Gas Pipeline-Transco

MAJOR PIPELINE GROUP

The following is an alphabetical listing of the pipelines included in the Major Pipeline Group.

Major Pipeline Index - The Major Pipeline Index consists of pipelines with at least 3,500 miles of transportation pipe and serves at least 3 states.

The following Major pipelines met the requirements to receive the Mastio Quality Award.

Overall Major Pipeline Index Winner / Highest Score: 

Northern Natural Gas Co.

Suppliers Who Exceed the Industry Benchmark:

Colorado Interstate Gas

Dominion Transmission, Inc.

Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America

Northern Natural Gas Co.

Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co.

Southern Natural Gas Co.

Southern Star Central

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.

Texas Gas Transmission

TransCanada Pipelines - Alberta System

Trunkline Gas Co.

Williams Gas Pipeline-Northwest

Williams Gas Pipeline-Transco

REGIONAL PIPELINE GROUP

The following is an alphabetical listing of the pipelines included in the Regional Pipeline Group.

Regional Pipeline Index - The Regional Pipeline Index consists of pipelines with less than 3,500 miles of transportation pipe and/or serves less than 3 states.

The following Regional pipelines met the requirements to receive the Mastio Quality Award.

Overall Regional Pipeline Index Winner / Highest Score: 

Kern River Gas Transmission Co.

Suppliers Who Exceed the Industry Benchmark:

Algonquin Gas Transmission Co.

Carolina Gas Transmission

CenterPoint Energy-MRT

East Tennessee Natural Gas Co.

Great Lakes Gas Transmission, Inc.

Iroquois Gas Transmission System L.P.

Kern River Gas Transmission Co.

Northern Border Pipeline Co.

Union Gas Ltd.

Vector Pipeline

Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Co.

MAJOR ORGANIZATIONAL PIPELINE GROUP

The following is an alphabetical listing of the pipelines included in the Major Organization Group.

Major Organizational Pipeline Group Index – Includes the pipelines that the parent company owns and operates.

 The following pipelines met the requirements to receive the Mastio Quality Award.

Overall Major Organizational Pipeline Group Index Winner / Highest Score: 

MidAmerican Energy Group

Suppliers Who Exceed the Industry Benchmark:

Boardwalk Pipeline Group

El Paso Group

MidAmerican Energy Group

Oneok Partners Group

Southern Union Group

Spectra Energy Group

Williams Group

MASTIO specializes in providing an independent third party perspective for clients who want to truly assess their corporate image, discover their perceived level of customer value, find new customers, understand the strengths and weakness of the competition, and supplement their market intelligence.  Our strength is in helping clients re-think established norms, eliminate internal biases, collect and analyze data and transform market research into actions that achieve superior business results. 

For more information, contact MASTIO, 2921 N. Belt Hwy., Suite M-14, St. Joseph, MO 64506.  (Phone) 816-364-6200, (Fax) 816-364-3606 or at khuntsman@mastio.com.

APPENDIX

Legacy Indexes

The following MASTIO Customer Satisfaction Indexes are included for legacy purposes.  MASTIO realizes many companies have relied on these indexes to benchmark their performance over the years.  In light of the migration to Customer Value Analysis from the traditional Customer Satisfaction, we feel the Customer Value Indexes provide a clearer picture of a company’s performance relative to other companies.  The Customer Value Index places a higher level of importance on price than the legacy Customer Satisfaction Index.  Also, please note that awards are presented based on a company’s performance on the CV Index.

Customer Satisfaction Index

Mega Pipelines

The Mega Pipeline Index consists of pipelines with at least 3,500 miles of transportation pipe, serves at least 3 states, and deliveries of at least 1 trillion CF (TCF). 

Source:  MASTIO 15th Edition Natural Gas Transportation Customer Value Study – 2011

Legacy Indexes

Customer Satisfaction Index

Major Pipelines

(Formerly the Long Haul Pipelines)

The Major Pipeline Index consists of pipelines with at least 3,500 miles of transportation pipe and serves at least 3 states. 

Source:  MASTIO 15th Edition Natural Gas Transportation Customer Value Study – 2011

Legacy Indexes

Customer Satisfaction Index

Regional Pipelines

(Formerly the Short Haul Pipelines)

The Regional Pipeline Index consists of pipelines with less than 3,500 miles of transportation pipe or serves less than 3 states. 

Source:  MASTIO 15th Edition Natural Gas Transportation Customer Value Study – 2011

Legacy Indexes

Customer Satisfaction Index

Interstate Pipelines

Source:  MASTIO 15th Edition Natural Gas Transportation Customer Value Study – 2011

Legacy Indexes

Customer Satisfaction Index

Canadian Pipelines

Customer Satisfaction Index

Intrastate Pipelines

Source:  MASTIO 15th Edition Natural Gas Transportation Customer Value Study – 2011

Legacy Indexes

Customer Satisfaction Index

Major Organizational Groups

The Major Organizational Groups Index consists of organizational scores compiled from the combined scores of their transportation subsidiaries. 

The following table lists the entities that comprise the Major Organizational Groups Index.  Please note that some pipelines may have been sold since the beginning of our research.

Source:  Mastio 15th Edition Natural Gas Transportation Customer Value Study - 2011