CMS Energy, Marathon Ashland Petroleum and TEPPCO Form Centennial Pipeline, LLC.

Business/Energy Editors

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2000

CMS Energy Corporation (NYSE:CMS), Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC, and TEPPCO Partners, L.P. (NYSE:TPP) have signed definitive agreements to formally create Centennial Pipeline, LLC.

The companies had announced an agreement March 9 to form Centennial Pipeline and have been going forward with plans for the joint venture since the announcement.

Centennial Pipeline will own and operate an interstate refined petroleum products pipeline extending from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Illinois. Each of the companies will own a one-third interest in the LLC.

The joint venture will build a 70-mile, 24-inch diameter pipeline connecting TEPPCO's facility near Beaumont, Texas, with the start of an existing 720-mile, 26-inch diameter natural gas pipeline extending from Longville, La., to Bourbon, Ill. The pipeline will pass through portions of seven states -- Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois. The Centennial Pipeline will intersect TEPPCO's existing mainline in southern Illinois.

A CMS affiliate, CMS Trunkline Gas Company, which owns the existing 720-mile pipeline, has made a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to convert the line from natural gas service to liquid products service as part of the regulatory process. The Centennial Pipeline will provide significant capacity to transport refined petroleum products to the Midwest market. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2001.

Based in Dearborn, Mich., CMS Energy Corporation (NYSE:CMS) has annual sales of about $6 billion and assets of about $15 billion in the United States and around the world; based in Findlay, Ohio, Marathon Ashland Petroleum, owned 62 percent by Marathon Oil Company -- a part of USX-Marathon Group (NYSE:MRO) -- and 38 percent by Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH), is the nation's fourth largest refiner with 935,000 barrels-per-day capacity; based in Houston, Texas, Texas Eastern Products Pipeline, LLC, the general partner of TEPPCO Partners, L.P., is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Duke Energy Field Services. TEPPCO is one of the largest common carrier pipelines of refined petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gases in the United States.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market conditions, governmental regulations and other factors discussed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission by CMS Energy Corp., USX-Marathon Group, Ashland Inc. and TEPPCO Partners L.P.