ESSEN, Germany, December 16 /PRNewswire/ --

- Gas Upstream Important Growth Area

E.ON Ruhrgas AG was delighted last weekend to be awarded the Rhourde Yacoub exploration permit in the 7th Algerian Licence Round. This award is a very exciting development for E.ON Ruhrgas, which we hope will provide the foundation for a mutually beneficial and broad cooperation between ourselves, the Ministry of Energy and Sonatrach. We see very significant exploration potential in the permit that could give rise to long-term gas supplies for E.ON Ruhrgas customers in Europe, said Dr. Bernhard Reutersberg, CEO of E.ON Ruhrgas.

Gas upstream is an important growth area for E.ON Ruhrgas, which, along with an increased focus on LNG, contributes to security of supply for our customers throughout Europe. Algeria is a strategically important partner in this respect, Mr. Reutersberg stressed.

E.ON Ruhrgas already has own gas production in Norway and UK. Expansion to North and West Africa is now taking place in order to secure gas and LNG supplies for the European markets. In the course of 2008, E.ON Ruhrgas joined a planned LNG project in Equatorial Guinea and established representative offices in Algeria, Libya and Nigeria.

E.ON Ruhrgas AG Corporate Communications Huttropstrasse 60 45138 Essen Germany http://www.eon-ruhrgas.com T: +49-201-1-84-44-64 F: +49-201-1-84-43-51 presse@eon-ruhrgas.com

E.ON Ruhrgas AG, Corporate Communications, Huttropstrasse 60, 45138 Essen, Germany, T: +49-201-1-84-44-64, F: +49-201-1-84-43-51, presse@eon-ruhrgas.com