nyse nwn industry utility founded 1859 portland oregon headquarters portland oregon united states key people gregg kantor president & ceo tod r. hamachek chairman products natural gas revenue 754 037 2014 operating income 144.8 million 2011 net income 63.9 million 2011 number of employees 1 050 2011 subsidiaries nng financial corporation gill ranch storage llc nw natural gas storage llc website www.nwnatural.com footnotes references financial data . 1 nw natural formerly northwest natural gas company is a publicly traded utility headquartered in portland oregon united states . primarily a natural gas distributor the company services residential commercial and industrial customers in western oregon and southwest washington in the pacific northwest . founded in 1859 the company has approximately 680 000 customers and revenues of nearly one billion in us dollars annually . 1 contents 1 history 2 services 3 financial results 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit portland gas light company began as the first gas company in the pacific northwest in 1859 based on a perpetual charter by the territorial government . 2 3 the territorial government granted the charter in january 1859 only a month before oregon became a state on february 14 at which time the oregon constitution became effective . 2 the constitution would not have allowed this perpetual franchise had the constitution been in effect at the time the charter was granted . 2 the company was started by h.c. leonard and henry d. green colorful pioneers who knew each other in new york met again in san francisco and started a general store in astoria in 1850 . 2 moving to portland in 1852 green and leonard built the first shipping dock in portland . 2 they also operated as agents for pacific mail steamship company and exported goods to the hawaiian islands and asia . 2 their first coal gasification plant at flanders and the waterfront operated on coal from vancouver island . 2 gas began flowing in 1859 and the first gas lights were in a section of downtown portland beginning june 1 1860 and supplied 49 customers . 2 3 they incorporated as the portland gas light company in 1862 and purchased the portland water company franchise . 2 they also created the east portland gas light company in 1882 creating a plant at east second and ankeny . 2 green died in 1885 and leonard sold the portland water company franchise to the city in december 1886 . 2 the gas business was sold to bankers c.f. adams and abbot low mills in august 1892 for a reported 850 000 . 2 adams and mills reincorporated as the portland gas company and bought three other franchises including the east portland gas light company . 2 they connected east and west portland with a 10 inch gas main under the willamette and then dismantled the eastern gas plant . 2 in 1913 the company was sold to the american power & light company for 3.5 million and was renamed the portland gas and coke company . 2 4 4 american power was a subsidiary of the electric bond and share company of new york ebasco . 2 ebasco was the holding company for small utilities owned by general electric . 2 using american power s financing portland gas supported the creation of st. johns gas company in 1909 clackamas county gas company in 1913 and acquired both companies in 1915 . 2 in the early days of the company gas was manufactured from coal or oil in local plants . 4 this process ended with the arrival of natural gas to the region in the 1950s and the company closed its last gas plant in 1957 . 4 in 1958 the company changed its name to northwest natural gas company . 4 during the 1960s 70s and 80s the company continued to grow and expand its service area beyond portland and the willamette valley . 4 by the end of 1989 the company had grown to serve over 300 000 residential customers . 5 the company s name was changed again from northwest natural gas company to nw natural in 1997 . 6 nw natural moved from the nasdaq stock market to a listing on the new york stock exchange under the symbol nwn in 2000 . 7 nw natural attempted to purchase portland general electric a portland based electricity utility for nearly 3 billion beginning in october 2001 from enron . 8 9 due to issues including the bankruptcy of pge parent enron the proposed merger was abandoned in may 2002 . 8 for a fifth straight year business ethics magazine named nw natural to its list of 100 best corporate citizens ranking 47th . 10 on january 17 2003 the board of directors of nw natural gas co. dba nw natural announced the creation of a charitable fund at the oregon community foundation to honor retiring chief executive officer richard g. reiten . nw natural donated 125 000 to create the nw natural dick reiten leadership fund . 11 on july 10 2003 northwest natural gas company and coos county broke ground for the county s natural gas transmission line and nw natural s local distribution system in coos bay . 12 in 2005 the company began removing tar from the site of a former plant that had polluted the willamette river 13 and were later fined for actions related to that clean up . 14 in 2007 nw natural announced plans to construct a new pipeline for delivery of natural gas 15 and announced a rate cut for the first time in six years . 16 services edit corporate headquarters in portland nw natural is oregon s largest natural gas utility . it serves customers along the oregon coast in the willamette valley the columbia river gorge and the portland metropolitan area . 17 the company operates an underground natural gas storage facility near mist oregon in the northern oregon coast range utilizing depleted gas wells as well as a facility near fresno california . 18 these former wells allow the company to purchase the gas when prices are lower and store until needed during peak consumption times during the winter . 18 financial results edit financial figures for the company in millions of us dollars . 1 year revenue net income 2004 707.6 50.6 2005 910.5 58.1 2006 1 013.2 63.4 2007 1 033.2 74.5 2008 1 037.9 69.5 2009 1 012.7 75.1 2010 812.1 72.7 2011 848.8 63.9 on september 26 2003 fitch ratings affirmed outstanding ratings of northwest natural gas co. nwn as follows first mortgage bonds and secured medium term notes at a ; senior unsecured debt convertible debentures and preferred stock at a ; and commercial paper at f1 . 19 see also edit list of companies based in oregon portland gas & coke building references edit a b c 1 nw natural accessed april 2nd 2011 . a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r maccoll e. kimbark november 1976 . the shaping of a city business and politics in portland oregon 1885 to 1915 . portland oregon the georgian press company . oclc 2645815 . a b overview . nw natural accessed september 29 2007 . a b c d e f northwest natural gas company . funding universe accessed september 29 2007 . shaw larry . nw natural gas honors 300 000th customer company s president says clark county fastest growing area of all northwest districts . the oregonian november 29 1989 . hill jim . northwest natural gas drops gas from its name . the oregonian september 5 1997 . dworkin andy . nw natural hopes switch to nyse will rub off on stock price . the oregonian may 25 2000 . a b hill gail kinsey . nw natural pge deal called off . the oregonian may 17 2002 . back brian j. nw natural in advanced and delicate negotiations to buy pge from enron . portland business journal october 5 2001 nw natural named to 100 best corporate citizens list portland business journal april 7 2005 . nw natural creates dick reiten leadership fund . to business city and energy editors . sullivan julie . nw natural tar digging restarts . the oregonian september 17 2005 . pulaski alex and julie sullivan . nw natural will pay 32 750 fine for lag in river tests . the oregonian november 16 2006 . sickinger ted . nw natural partner propose new pipeline . the oregonian august 7 2007 . sickinger ted . nw natural asks to cut your gas bill . the oregonian september 1 2007 . hill gail kinsey . overhaul in nw natural s future . the oregonian august 4 2006 . a b manning jeff . logger s legacy pits gas utility against family . the oregonian june 18 2006 . northwest natural gas affirmed by fitch ; sr sec a cp f1 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to nw natural . hoovers northwest natural gas company google finance northwest natural gas coordinates 45 31 30 n 122 40 19 w 45.524976 n 122.671999 w 45.524976 ; 122.671999 v t e oregon based companies nyse listed greenbrier companies lithia motors nike nw natural portland general electric nasdaq listed columbia sportswear electro scientific industries erickson inc. fei flir lattice mentor graphics radisys rentrak schnitzer steel umpqua holdings private companies a dec banfield consumer cellular esco franz bakery hoffman construction infocus kindercare education laika leupold & stevens les schwab the old spaghetti factory parr lumber plaid pantry reser s fine foods roseburg forest products shari s vigor industrial other bi mart tillamook creamery western family foods list of companies based in oregon retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title nw natural & oldid 724841342 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangenatural gas companies of the united statescompanies established in 1859companies based in portland oregon1859 establishments in oregonhidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidatacoordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a 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