Exhibit 99.4

PRESS RELEASE

                PIEDMONT NATURAL GAS NAMES P.M. (MIKE) FORRESTER
                    VICE PRESIDENT-SOUTH CAROLINA OPERATIONS
                    W.D. (BILL) WORKMAN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

CHARLOTTE, NC - The Board Directors of Piedmont Natural Gas has named P.M.
(Mike) Forrester to the position of Vice President-South Carolina Operations,
effective December 22. He will report to Senior Vice President -Utility
Operations, Ray B. Killough. Forrester replaces W. D. (Bill) Workman, who is
retiring Feb. 1, after ten years of service.

Mr. Forrester joined Piedmont in 1979, and has held supervisory positions in
Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina. Since 1994, he has held the position
of District Manager in Spartanburg.

Mr. Forrester is a member of the SC Board of Education, and is a former chair of
the Spartanburg Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the Boards of the Upstate
Alliance, the Spartanburg Economic Development Corporation, and the Workforce
Investment Board. He is chairman of the Spartanburg March of Dimes Board, and is
involved in many other civic and charitable activities. Forrester served 30
years in the U.S. Army Reserves, and retired as command sergeant major of the
391st Engineer Battalion in 2000.

"Mike Forrester has worked diligently and has emerged as a significant leader in
the community and in the state. I am confident that he will serve our South
Carolina customers and our local communities well," commented Killough. "Bill
Workman has represented Piedmont in an exemplary manner in the communities we
serve in the Upstate, and at the state level. We greatly appreciate the many
contributions that he made during his time with Piedmont, and we wish him well."

Workman plans to continue his efforts in economic development after retirement.
He is president of the Greenville County Research & Technological Corp., the
not-for-profit entity that has created a 1,400-acre industrial and Technology
Park in Greenville County, and charter chairman of the Greenville Area
Development Corporation.

He serves on the Boards of the S.C. Upstate Alliance, and Infomentum, the
decision support center for the region. He is also engaged in the creation of
public-private partnerships developing industrial parks and sites throughout
South Carolina.

Workman was mayor of Greenville from 1983 to 1995. He has served on the Southern
Growth Policies Board, the S.C. Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, and
on the boards of the S.C. Downtown Development Association and the Greater
Greenville Chamber of Commerce. He chaired the S.C. Appalachian Development
Partnership, is a past president of the Municipal Association of South Carolina,
and is a recipient of the Order of the Palmetto and a graduate of Leadership
South Carolina. In 1999 Workman was named the Nelson Mullins Business Person of
the Year in Greenville; and was named Volunteer of the Year for 2000-2001 by the
S.C. Economic Developer's Association.

About Piedmont Natural Gas
Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the
distribution of natural gas to 920,000 residential, commercial and industrial
utility customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including
57,000 customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our
subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy-related businesses, including
unregulated retail natural gas and propane marketing, interstate natural gas
storage, intrastate transportation and regulated natural gas distribution. More
information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available on the Internet at
www.piedmontng.com.

                                  # # # # # # #