TENNECO <TGT> TO TRANSPORT GAS ON OPEN ACCESS Tenneco Inc said Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co, its largest interstate natural gas pipeline, will transport natural gas under the open access rules of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC. In open access, gas pipelines serve purely as a transport company, moving gas from suppliers to customers. Pipelines also transport its own gas to customers. Earlier this week, Transco Energy Co <T> rejected the FERC guidelines, saying it would not offer open access until the regulatory body offers a solution to the exposure it faces for gas it has bought but could not sell. The exposure faced by the industry stems from take or pay contracts, under which pipelines bought gas on long-term contracts they could not sell. The problem grew severe as customers won cheaper sources of gas because of open access. Some industry analysts speculated earlier this week that Tenneco might follow Transco's lead and close its pipelines to open-access because of the take-or-pay issue. But Tenneco today said open access "is one of the steps FERC is taking to restructure the gas industry in the U.S. FERC is moving the industry through this restructuring now, even before all transitional problems are solved." A spokesman said Tenneco faces 1.7 billion dlrs in exposure under the take-or-pay contracts, but he had no specific figure for Tennessee Gas, which runs 2,000 miles of pipelines from Louisiana and Texas up to New England. "We remain convinced that the most critical transitional issue facing the industry--take-or-pay--must be resolved by FERC in the near future. "A failure to do so could have grave consequences for the industry's continued ability to provide its customers with reliable natural gas," said Tennessee Gas Transmission Co president R.C. Thomas.