CONSOL Energy to Sell Interest in Australian Mine

PITTSBURGH -- - CONSOL Energy Inc., a producer of high-Btu coal and coalbed methane gas, has agreed to sell its 50% interest in the Glennies Creek Mine in New South Wales, Australia, to its joint venture partner, AMCI Inc., a privately-held company based in Greenwich, Connecticut, for a total of $27.5 million ($US) and the assumption of CONSOL Energy's 50% share of debt in the Glennies Creek Mine.

"Although Glennies Creek was a good long-term investment, it will require additional time and capital to reach its full potential," said J. Brett Harvey, president and chief executive officer. "Even with world coking coal fundamentals currently are favorable, our domestic coal and gas opportunities are even stronger, provide better rates of return, and have lower risk."

CONSOL Energy purchased its interest in the Glennies Creek Mine in December 2001 as the underground mine was being expanded to add a longwall mining system.

The mine produces a high-fluidity coking coal sold primarily to steel makers in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2003, the mine produced 1.1 million tons of coal, of which CONSOL Energy's share was 50 percent.

"Our immediate objective is to improve the performance of our core mining business in the United States and to grow our domestic gas business," said Harvey. "Shareholders' capital and management's time need to be focused in that direction."

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2004.

CONSOL Energy also sold its 50% interest in its Universal Aggregates joint venture to its joint venture partner, SynAggs, a privately held Pittsburgh-based company, in December 2003. Universal Aggregates is constructing a commercial facility in Virginia that will convert coal-fired power plant fly ash waste into a synthetic aggregate. CONSOL Energy developed the technology for producing the aggregate material.

"Our goal for Universal Aggregates was to launch a commercially- viable company that could help coal users such as power plants to turn a waste stream into a valuable product," Harvey explained. "We have succeeded with our goal and it is an appropriate time to allow Universal Aggregate to move ahead on its own."

He said CONSOL Energy received cash at closing and also will receive various royalty payments as new plants are built and aggregate is produced.

"As we announced last year, we will continue to review the sale of non- core assets as a means of enhancing our financial flexibility," Harvey concluded.

CONSOL Energy Inc. is the largest producer of high-Btu bituminous coal in the United States. CONSOL Energy has 19 bituminous coal mining complexes in seven states. In addition, the company is one of the largest U.S. producers of coalbed methane with daily gas production of approximately 135 million cubic feet from wells in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The company also has a joint-venture company to produce natural gas in Virginia and Tennessee, and the company produces electricity from coalbed methane at a joint-venture generating facility in Virginia.