Canadian Occidental Petoleum Ltd., an independent global energyand chemical company, sold oil and gas properties worth $370million in order to take the bite out of low commodity prices, thecompany said Wednesday. This brings CanadianOxy’s 1998 propertysales to $630 million. The company did not disclose who bought theproperties. An additional $235 million of sales are expected beforethe end of January 1999.

Properties in Canada and the United Kingdom were included in thesale. The Canadian assets are located in northeast BritishColumbia, west central Alberta, and northeast Alberta. These landsproduce 125 MMcf/d of gas and 6,000 b/d, and proved reserves total290 Bcf of gas and 20 million barrels of oil annually. Undevelopedland totals 660,000 net acres.

“By the time the last of these dispositions close in January1999, our long-term debt will be about $1.9 billion, credit lineswill be replenished, and we’ll be in good shape to weathervolatility in commodity prices,” said Marv Romanow, CanadianOxy’schief financial officer, “We will be drilling a number of prospectsin 1999 which could require significant follow-up capital. And ifthis environment persists, we expect to see attractiveopportunities to add to our portfolio.”

John Norris

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