THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, April 11, 1995                TAG: 9504110350
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   33 lines

CNG ANNOUNCES CHARGE OF UP TO $150 MILLION

Consolidated Natural Gas Co., hurt by declining prices, said it will take a first-quarter charge of $100 million to $150 million to write down its oil and natural gas properties. It said it will take other charges later this year to cut at least 470 jobs, including 15 to 20 at its Norfolk-based Virginia Natural Gas subsidiary.

Pittsburgh-based CNG disclosed the possibility of charges and layoffs in its annual report last month, when it announced a plan to boost earnings by 10 percent annually.

Natural gas prices in February were down 40 percent from a year earlier, CNG said. In its annual report, CNG blamed unusually mild weather and low prices for weaker earnings throughout the company, including Virginia Natural Gas, whose 1994 net income fell to $11 million from $12.5 million the year before.

CNG said it will start cutting at least 470 employees, or 6 percent of its work force of 7,566, in the second quarter, through layoffs and early retirements. It said all 15 to 20 of the 600 jobs at Virginia Natural Gas that are expected to be cut will be eliminated through early retirement.

Besides VNG, cuts will be made at CNG's corporate headquarters and at five other CNG subsidiaries. by CNB