Hope Gas Inc history

In 1947 to cope with the postwar surge in demand, CNG made its first public stock offering, totaling $8.2 million.

CNG formed Consolidated Natural Gas Service Company, Inc. in 1961 to centralize accounting, data processing, employee relations, marketing, and rate and tax administration functions.

In 1965 CNG merged its Hope and New York State Natural Gas interstate pipeline companies to form Consolidated Gas Supply Corporation, now known as CNG Transmission Corporation.

With a group of partners, CNG purchased 168,000 acres of developable drilling sites in the gulf that year, and in 1966 established a full-scale exploration and production staff in New Orleans to become the operator on many of its leases.

Deliveries began in 1984.

CNG made a major find of oil at Cottonwood Creek in Carter County, Oklahoma, in 1988.

Although CNG's year-to-year profitability was volatile, the company provided a 24 percent average annual return to investors during the 1980s, and by January 1990, had a 98 percent saturation of its traditional distribution area. It also required a 162-mile pipeline extension, construction of which began in early 1990.

To effectively compete in this new market, CNG Energy Services was established in 1993 to market both natural gas and electricity throughout North America.

In 1994, the company drilled two gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico, in partnership with Oryx Energy in a project known as Popeye, and added 190 billion cubic feet to its gas reserves.

In 1996, CNG International was created to look for overseas markets.