Conoco and HoustonStreet Form Joint Venture to Streamline the Way Energy Companies Do Business.

Business/Technology Editors

PORTSMOUTH, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 2000

New company to automate mid- and back-office energy trading

activities based on Conoco's COIN technology and HoustonStreet's

e-commerce expertise

Global energy giant Conoco (NYSE:COC.A) (NYSE:COC.B) and online energy trading pioneer HoustonStreet Exchange will form a joint venture to develop and market a Web-enabled version of Conoco's automated mid- and back-office applications for the global energy market. Sapient (Nasdaq: SAPE), a leading creator of new-economy businesses, has been selected to assist in the early stages of this venture.

The new, yet-to-be-named venture will develop technology based on Conoco's Crude Oil Information Network (COIN) as well as other Conoco technologies created for refined products and the global energy market. COIN automates the arduous and expensive processes of pricing, contracting, scheduling, settling and benchmarking physical crude oil trades. It facilitates commercial transactions from trading centers and ships to oil field leases and accounts for all transportation modes. Conoco's refined products system, built with similar technology and functionality, facilitates transactions from the refinery to truck volumes at the rack. HoustonStreet will bring its proven e-commerce energy expertise to the venture to make the new application available through the Web via an application service provider (ASP) model.

The new venture can potentially save energy companies millions of dollars annually by automating costly manual processes. It could also save companies facing legacy system replacement tens of millions of dollars and many years of development. The venture offers the entire industry a standard platform for making commercial energy trading more efficient and profitable. "It is imperative this be a solution with strong industry support and neutrality. After development, this venture will be operated independent of any individual energy company with ownership spread across the industry," said Rick Oshlo, Conoco's vice president of supply and trading, North America.

"COIN works," said Mac Curtis, general manager, crude oil supply and trading, North America, at Conoco. "With a fully integrated system, we've slashed costs, traded smarter and kept on top of our inventory and financial position. That's why other players in the oil industry want it. With HoustonStreet's industry knowledge, proven track record of execution and Web-enabling expertise, we'll together offer energy trading companies a neutral, secure and easy way to automate their post-trading processes."

Managing these processes to date has been painfully slow, inefficient and costly. COIN alone replaces nine separate legacy systems common throughout the industry. COIN eliminates re-keying of data and paper-based tracking, and reduces the risk of errors by automating how trade information passes from the front-line traders to the company's mid- and back-office systems. Once a trader enters a trade's details, the information automatically becomes available to everyone throughout the company, whether they're located in the central trading headquarters or in remote offices. The scheduler can immediately schedule delivery of the product on best-available data, slashing weeks from the process. The company's financial team can ensure payment and balance the books, and the traders have the most up-to-date information at their fingertips.

"HoustonStreet intends to be nothing less than the Internet foundation upon which the energy industry does business," said Brian King, HoustonStreet's vice president of crude oil and refined products. "We looked at other mid- and back-office systems and validated that COIN is best-in-class. Conoco is a visionary company and we prize their superb reputation in the industry. Together we can provide the industry with a system that will automate post trade processes, generate significant savings, and deliver a better way to do business."

About Conoco

Conoco (NYSE:COC.A) (NYSE:COC.B), with revenues of $27 billion, is a major integrated energy company and active in more than 40 countries. Conoco is one of 14 founders in the giant global procurement exchange for energy and petrochemical companies announced April 11.

About HoustonStreet Exchange

Designed by traders for traders, HoustonStreet Exchange represents the first Web portal for the trading of wholesale energy products. HoustonStreet.com provides an online trading engine that allows traders to buy and sell their energy products faster, more efficiently and more easily than through conventional methods. HoustonStreet Exchange is headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with offices in Houston, Texas. HoustonStreet Exchange is a majority-owned subsidiary of BayCorp Holdings, Ltd., (AMEX: MWH). For more information, visit HoustonStreet at www.houstonstreet.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause these forward-looking statements to be materially inaccurate. These factors include, without limitation, that (i) energy traders may be unwilling or unable to use Internet-based energy trading systems, including HoustonStreet.com, (ii) HoustonStreet.com may not be able to operate profitably, (iii) technological or systems outages could occur, (iv) competitors with greater financial, marketing or other resources could emerge, (v) performance is contingent upon successful completion of design, implementation and improvement to the electricity, crude, refined products and natural gas sites, and (vi) market acceptance of HoustonStreet.com cannot be predicted. HoustonStreet.com is a registered service mark of HoustonStreet Exchange.