Piedmont Natural Gas Brings in Customers in First-Quarter 2013, Expects to Spend Up to $600 Million this Year

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Leading natural gas services provider Piedmont Natural Gas Company (NYSE:PNY) (Charlotte, North Carolina), which primarily serves North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, reported solid overall improvement for the first quarter of the company's 2013 fiscal year, as the company benefited from a growth in residential and commercial customers, new rates in Tennessee, and colder weather. Net income was reported to be $85.92 million for the quarter, a 12.72% increase from first-quarter 2012.

Total operation revenues stood at $515.88 million, a 9.33% increase from the same period last year. Piedmont added 3,746 new customers during the quarter, an 8.96% increase from the same period in 2012 that was partly driven by a 25% improvement in residential new construction. In addition to the residential and commercial growth, the company benefited from a growth in industrial customers, improved transportation services in the power generation markets, and increased activity in the secondary markets. Weather was 8% colder overall, boosting demand.

Pre-tax income from the company's joint ventures was up 14%, based on stronger performances at SouthStar Energy Services (Atlanta, Georgia), a multistate, full-service provider of natural gas supply, transportation, and related services that Piedmont co-owns with AGL Resources Incorporated (NYSE:GAS) (Atlanta), and Cardinal Pipeline Company, a limited liability company whose members are wholly owned subsidiaries of Piedmont, Williams Partners LP (NYSE:WPZ) (Tulsa, Oklahoma) and Public Service Company of North Carolina, which is a subsidiary of Scana Corporation (NYSE:SCG) (Cayce, South Carolina). The 105-mile Cardinal Pipeline runs from Rockingham County, North Carolina, to an area southeast of Raleigh.

Piedmont's utility capital expenditure program for 2012 totaled $550 million, including $284 million invested in power generation. Expenses from employee benefits in pension and medical plans were $3.5 million lower.

Industrial Info is tracking $236 million in active projects involving Piedmont, including the $160 million construction of a natural gas pipeline. The project involves installing 133 miles of 36-inch diameter transmission pipe to deliver up to 350 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas from Richmond County, North Carolina, to the 620-megawatt Progress Energy Carolinas Louis V. Sutton power generation facility in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is expected to be completed this summer and is part of a larger, $217 million natural gas pipeline project.

Piedmont executives believe the gross customer growth rate will improve by more than 1% in 2013. Capital expenditures for the year are expected to total between $550 million and $600 million, including about $250 million of system integrity expenditures and between $75 million and $85 million to complete a system expansion to serve Duke Energy Progress' (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) Sutton Plant near Wilmington, North Carolina.

"Coming off a record year of capital investments in 2012, we expect to outpace that spending in 2013," said Thomas Skains, the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Piedmont, in a conference call. "This is largely a function of expenditures to enhance system integrity. Some of the projects included in the $250 million of system integrity capex are related to transmission line replacements; transmission line retrofitting for in-line inspection technology; cathodic protection erosion control upgrades; and a new work and asset management system."

For more information, visit Industrial Info's North American Oil and Gas Transmission Project Database.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.