National Fuel Gas

 National Fuel Gas , Co. nyse: NFG is an energy company. It consists of five business segments: Utility, Pipeline and Storage, Exploration and Production, Energy Marketing, and Timber. National Fuel Gas was incorporated in 1902 and is based in Williamsville, New York.

The Utility segment sells natural gas or provides natural gas transportation services. The Pipeline and Storage segment provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage services for affiliated and non-affiliated companies. The Exploration and Production segment is engaged in prospecting for, and development and purchase of, natural gas and oil reserves. The Energy Marketing segment markets natural gas to industrial, commercial, public authority and residential end users. The Timber segment markets timber from its New York and Pennsylvania land holdings, owns two sawmill operations in northwestern Pennsylvania, and processes timber.

History
As one of the earliest gas utility companies in the United States, National Fuel Gas witnessed a number of technological firsts at its company or its subsidiaries. Engineers at the company discovered that depleted underground gas fields could be modified to act as storage reservoirs. Thus, the first such storage facility in the US was implemented at Zoar Field, about forty miles south of Buffalo. This turned out to be a great financial asset to NFG in the 1940s and 50s, when skyrocketing demand for natural gas led to extensive pipelines in the eastern states being connected to new pipelines and fields in the southwestern states. NFG could thereby purchase huge quantities of cheaper summer gas from the southwest, pipe it to its New York storage fields, inject it into the ground, then retrieve it when demand and prices rose in the winter months.

The company was also the first in the industry to develop a gas-fired generator to produce electricity for cathodic protection to fight corrosion on pipelines.

In 1975, with the introduction of "Balanced Billing", the company claimed that it was "the only gas utility in the country" with a flexible plan for customers to pay bills in eleven equal monthly payments, with settlement of any overpayment or underpayment in the twelfth month. This is a modified system of installment credit.

Subsidiaries
National Fuel's direct, wholly owned subsidiaries include Horizon Energy Development, Inc.; Horizon LFG, Inc.; Leidy Hub, Inc.; Data-Track Account Services, Inc.; Horizon Power, Inc.; and Empire Pipeline, Inc.

Shareholder information
National Fuel Gas Co. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NFG. Its fiscal year ends September 30.