Cornerstone Announces FY 2000 Second Quarter Distribution and Growth.

Business Editors

WATSONVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2000

Cornerstone Propane Partners, L.P. (&uot;Partnership&uot;) (NYSE:CNO) announced today that its regularly scheduled distribution of $.54 per unit for the second quarter of fiscal 2000 (October 1, 1999 - December 31, 1999) will be paid on February 15, 2000 to common unitholders of record as of February 9, 2000.

During the period from October 1, 1999 to December 31, 1999, Cornerstone joined with Cabot Propane (Cabot, AR), Tri County Bottle Gas (Schenectady, NY), Streat Fuels (Flint, MI), Pegasus Propane (Port Huron, MI), Temecula Valley Propane (Temecula, CA) and Amerigas-Yucca Valley (Yucca Valley, CA). These recent additions to the Cornerstone family will add approximately 4.7 million annualized retail gallons and about 7,400 customers. Since its inception in December of 1996, Cornerstone has added approximately 106.5 million retail gallons and over 135,000 customers through its acquisition efforts.

&uot;Our team members' continued commitment to accretive growth and distributions were evidenced again this quarter,&uot; said Keith G. Baxter, chief executive officer. &uot;We are building a strong propane distribution and related energy solutions business that will have a profound impact on our industry.&uot;

Cornerstone Propane Partners, L.P. is a master limited partnership. The Partnership is the nation's fourth largest retail propane marketer serving over 460,000 customers with annualized sales of approximately 335 million retail gallons, doing business in 34 states with more than 300 customer service centers. Through its North American energy solutions service team, Coast Energy Group, the Partnership also supplies, purchases, processes and markets over 43,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids to resellers and major end users, an average of approximately .8 Bcf per day in natural gas sales and 95,000 barrels per day in crude oil sales in the United States and Canada. For more information, please visit our websites at www.cornerstonepropane.com and www.coastenergy.com.

The information presented herein may contain certain &uot;forward-looking statements&uot; within the meaning of the federal securities laws. The Partnership's actual future performance will be affected by a number of factors, risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, weather conditions, regulatory changes, competitive factors, the Partnership's success in dealing with the Year 2000 issues and the operations of vendors, suppliers and customers, many of which are beyond the Partnership's control. Future events and results may vary substantially from what the Partnership currently foresees, and there can be no assurance that the Partnership's actual results will not differ materially from its expectations. The Partnership undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.