Press Release

ENRON/PORTLAND GENERAL MERGER SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE UPDATE; OREGON PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSIONERS TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING ON FEBRUARY 14

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sunday, January 26, 1997

HOUSTON -- ENRON announced today that scheduled settlement discussions with the staff of the Oregon Public Utility Commission (OPUC) regarding certain conditions that the staff has included in its preliminary report to the OPUC Commissioners on the pending merger ended without agreement. The parties were unable to resolve the fundamental issues of policy and law, including the staff's proposal to require payments from ENRON's existing and future non-regulated competitive businesses for Portland General Electric's (PGE) customers. The staff's proposal would fund additional rate cuts for PGE customers by taking revenues from ENRON's non-regulated businesses without the customers assuming the costs and risks of such businesses.

Neither ENRON nor Portland General Corporation (PGC) is seeking to pass through to ratepayers either the cost of the merger or the costs and risks associated with non-regulated competitive businesses. Both companies have asked that as a condition of the merger the OPUC require the segregation of the costs, risks and benefits of regulated and non-regulated activities of PGE and its affiliates, including ENRON.

In addition, ENRON and PGC have committed to passing on to PGE customers a guaranteed minimum level of cost savings and any additional cost savings resulting from the merger. The OPUC staff's proposal requests cost savings that ENRON and PGC believe far exceeds the level of cost savings that could be achieved by the merger.

"Our merger does not contemplate the employee layoffs or significant short-term cost cutting typical of mergers between neighboring utilities or overlapping competitors," said Kenneth L. Lay, Chairman and CEO of ENRON. "This merger is about growth and future opportunities for PGE, its customers and its employees. The benefits ENRON has proposed, which include an agreement to pass through merger savings to PGE's customers, to seek approval for customer choice for all PGE customers and our commitment to a number of charitable and public interest groups, represent significant net benefits for PGE customers, for Portland and for Oregon."

In light of the differences between the staff and ENRON/PGC regarding certain of the draft conditions, ENRON and PGC will present their proposal and concerns directly to the OPUC Commissioners in a public meeting February 14, the first date all three of the Commissioners are available.

"Since there are a number of variables that can affect the ultimate resolution of the policy issues raised in the recent settlement negotiations, ENRON is not in a position to predict the outcome of the February 14 meeting but we look forward to discussing these issues in an open forum with the Oregon Commissioners," added Lay.

ENRON, one of the world's largest integrated natural gas and electricity companies with approximately $15 billion in assets, operates one of the largest natural gas transmission systems in the world; is the largest purchaser and marketer of natural gas and the largest non-regulated marketer of electricity in North America; markets natural gas liquids worldwide; manages the largest portfolio of fixed-price natural gas risk management contracts in the world; is among the leading entities arranging new capital to the energy industry; owns a majority interest in Enron Oil & Gas Company, one of the largest independent (non-integrated) exploration and production companies in the United States; owns a majority interest in Enron Global Power & Pipelines L.L.C., which is owner and manager of operating power plants and natural gas pipelines around the world; and is one of the largest independent developers and producers of electricity in the world. ENRON is traded under the ticker symbol, "ENE."

For additional information please contact:

Gary Foster

(713) 853-4527