July 18, 2002

New Orleans, LA -- Dominion Exploration and Production, Inc., a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE:D) and partner Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE: PXD), have now drilled five successful development wells for their Devils Tower Project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Dominion E&P also announced the Triton discovery, a future, three-mile subsea tie-back to the Devils Tower spar floating production system. The Noble Max Smith semi-submersible rig has just ended the six well drilling program, which was finished at 20 percent below estimated cost.

The Devils Tower spar will have a total of eight dry tree producing wells. The five development wells were drilled from the future spar location, and will be completed as producers. The Devils Tower discovery well and two of the appraisal wells announced previously will also be completed as producers.

Duane Radtke, President and CEO of Dominion E&P said, "We delineated this field with only one expendable wellbore. By drilling appraisal wells that can be used as producers we significantly reduced our development cost. The development drilling program results were consistent with pre-drill expectations and the field reserves are now estimated to be 80-150 MMBOE."

Fabrication of the spar is about 50 percent complete at this time. The project will allow up to 60,000 BOPD production from the discovery, located about 140 miles southeast of New Orleans in Mississippi Canyon Block 773. First production is expected by the end of the second quarter 2003.

"We are pleased that the Devils Tower project remains on schedule. Our cycle time of less than 3½ years from discovery to first production adds to the economic benefit we will achieve from the project," added Radtke.

In December 2001, Dominion E&P acquired operating rights on three blocks adjoining Devils Tower, Mississippi Canyon Blocks 772, 728 and 729. Two of the five Devils Tower development wells and the Triton discovery were drilled on these additional blocks.

The Triton discovery well, the Mississippi Canyon 772 #4, encountered a total of 80' of net TVT (true vertical thickness) pay in two intervals. Both intervals are stratigraphically equivalent to Devils Tower field pays, but are structurally separated. This first test of Triton demonstrated that the discovery is commercially viable. Appraisal wells will be required to fully delineate the field. Dominion E&P plans to develop the Triton field with a subsea development to the Devils Tower spar when processing capacity is available. One to three wells will be required to produce the expected reserves of 10 to 40 MMBOE.

Dominion E&P owns 75 percent interest and is operator of Devils Tower and Triton with Pioneer Natural Resources Company owning the remaining 25 percent interest.

Dominion has a diversified and integrated energy portfolio consisting of nearly 24,000-megawatts of generation, 5.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas reserves, 7,600 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline and the nation's largest underground natural gas storage system with more than 950 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. Dominion also serves 3.9 million franchise natural gas and electric customers in five states and nearly one million unregulated retail customers in eight states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's web site at www.dom.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The company wishes to caution readers that the assumptions which form the basis for forward-looking statements with respect to or that may impact earnings for fiscal 2000, and thereafter, include many factors that are beyond the company's ability to control or estimate precisely, such as estimates of future market conditions and the behavior of other market participants. Other factors include, but are not limited to, weather conditions, economic conditions in the company's service territories, fluctuations in energy-related commodity prices, conversion activity, other marketing efforts and other uncertainties.

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