Paris, January 18, 2005 – Olivier Lecointe has been appointed Electricity Director of Gaz de France responsible for creating the Group's Electricity Division.

Olivier Lecointe (47) graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and the National School of Statistics and Economic Administration (ENSAE).

He joined EDF in 1982, where he began his career in the EDF distribution centre in Saint-Mandé. In 1989, he was appointed manager of the Generation team in EDF's General Economic Research Department. Between 1994 and 1999, he was in charge of the Cordemais Fossil-Fired Generation Centre and, subsequently, the North-West Engineering & Services Unit.

From 1999 to 2002, he managed one of the strategic initiatives of the EDF Group: “Our generation capacity, a key advantage in the market” and, working in EDF's Energies Division, was responsible for research related to changes in EDF's generation portfolio and contractual negotiations with other generators.

He was in charge of internal control of EDF's Generation-Engineering Division from October 2002 to April 2005, where he was responsible, in particular, for setting up the Division's risk management system.

Since January 2004, he served as Deputy Director of EDF's Audit Department.

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For the very first time in its corporate history, Gaz de France is setting up an Electricity Division. This new structure will be responsible for coordinating the electricity activities of Gaz de France and for preparing its electricity business.

At present, Gaz de France's electricity supply offering is chiefly aimed at business customers, eligible since July 1, 2004. These customers are particularly interested in an offer that combines both gas and electricity.

To deploy these combined gas/electricity offerings, the Group intends to create an optimized portfolio of electrical power supply which, as for its gas supplies, will be based on its own resources and on short- and long-term contractual supplies.

In France, Gaz de France can already obtain electrical power supplies from its power station in Dunkirk and will shortly be able to count on supplies from other units. The Group is pursuing plans for two combined cycle power stations, one in the west of France and the other in the south. Ultimately, it plans to have 5,000 megawatts of generation capacity in Europe.

Press Contact: Contact for investors:

Jérôme Chambin – Tel.: 33-1 47 54 24 35 Charles L. Ranunkel – Tel.: 33-1 47 54 79 04

Email: jerome.chambin@gazdefrance.com Email: GDF-IR-TEAM@gazdefrance.com

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General information:

Group profile:

. Listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, the Group joined the CAC 40 share index on September 1, 2005, and the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 on September 19, 2005.

. In 2004, Gaz de France recorded net sales of €18.3 billion. In the first half of 2005, Gaz de France generated net sales of €11.1 billion.

. The Group has more than 45,000 employees.

In Europe, at December 31, 2004, Gaz de France represented:

. The largest natural gas transmission network with more than 30,000 kilometres of gas mains in France,

. The 2nd largest supplier as far as its portfolio of end customers is concerned, boasting a total of approximately 12.3 million customers (industrial and residential customers), including nearly 10.9 million in France,

. The 2nd largest distribution network, with approximately 175,000 kilometres of transmission pipelines covering 76% of the French population,

· The 2nd largest operator of regasification terminals with total capacity in the region of 17 billion m3,

· The 2nd largest operator of storage infrastructures with a capacity of some 9 billion m3,

· The 3rd largest buyer of natural gas,

. A company doing business in more than 30 different countries.

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