Gill Ranch Storage, LLC Receives Approval of Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for Gill Ranch Storage Facility near Fresno

Gill Ranch Storage, LLC (GRS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest Natural Gas Company, dba NW Natural (NYSE:NWN), today received approval of its filing for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to construct and operate an underground natural gas storage facility near Fresno, Calif., known as Gill Ranch Storage.

"This approval by the CPUC is a key milestone in development of the Gill Ranch Storage facility,” said Charlie Stinson, Director, Project Development, of GRS. "Following some additional permit approvals, which are expected soon, we anticipate breaking ground at Gill Ranch before year-end, and to remain on schedule for an August 2010 in-service date.”

The Gill Ranch Gas Storage project, with an initial capacity of about 20 billion cubic feet (Bcf), will be developed by GRS and Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG). GRS and PG&E each own a portion of the overall project, holding undivided interests, with GRS having a 75 percent interest and PG&E having a 25 percent interest in the initial development phase of the project.

Gill Ranch Storage is located about 25 miles west of Fresno and will include an approximately 27-mile, 30-inch pipeline, which will connect to the PG&E Line 401 north of Panoche, Calif.

About NW Natural

NW Natural is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and serves approximately 660,000 residential and business customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. It is the largest independent natural gas utility in the Pacific Northwest, and recognized its 150th year as a public company on Jan. 7, 2009. The company has approximately $2.2 billion in total assets, which includes about 16 Bcf of underground gas storage capacity the company has developed within its service territory at Mist, Ore.