Amoco Corp. and Snyder Oil Corp. traded interests in Wyomingproperties to help each company focus its gas businesses in thestate’s Green River Basin. Amoco acquired Snyder’s interest in asubstantial portion of the Jonah field in Sublette and Sweetwatercounties in Wyoming. In exchange, Amoco gave Snyder 75% of itsinterest in the Beaver Creek Unit in Fremont County, WY. Amocoretained 25% interest in Beaver Creek. The deal is the capstone onAmoco’s year-long divestiture plan.

Last year, Amoco said it would sell up to one-third of itsdomestic oil and gas holdings to focus on its most profitableoperations in the United States and abroad. Amoco said it receivedabout $1.9 billion from the divestitures. The Snyder deal wraps theplan up.

“Amoco is excited about the acquisition of additional interestsin the Jonah field in the Green River Basin, which is one of thecore areas of Amoco Energy Group North America,” said RichardFlury, executive vice president of Amoco’s exploration andproduction sector.

In 1996, Amoco acquired 50% of Snyder’s interest in the Jonahfield. This deal increases its interest in key areas of the field.Amoco and Snyder wells recently drilled in the Jonah field haveinitial sustained production rates of more than 10 MMcf/d.Production in the field is approximately 160 MMcf/d gross.

Between September and May, 37 wells have been drilled in theJonah field. “We’ve been stopped by environmental impact statementrequirements from the Bureau of Land Management,” said Amocospokesman John Lloyd. “We just got that cleared up, and we’re goingon with our drilling plan. The current plan is to have 20 to 25wells drilled throughout the remainder of 1998. The net right nowto Amoco in Jonah is 14 MMcf/d, and we expect that to double toabout 28 MMcf/d by the end of the year.” Estimates of reserves werenot disclosed.

The trade also resolves litigation concerning Amoco’s prioragreement to sell the Beaver Creek assets to Howell Petroleum Corp.Howell and Amoco terminated the purchase and sales agreement forBeaver Creek, with Howell agreeing to purchase Amoco’s interests inother outside operated properties in Utah and Wyoming. Snyder hadsued Amoco and Howell to block the Beaver Creek sale, saying it hadpreferential rights to the Beaver Creek assets.

In other news, Snyder signed an agreement with Texaco coveringsix prospects in the Flex Trend area of the Gulf of Mexico. Underthe agreement, Snyder will obtain working interests ranging from22.5 to 30% in prospects in East Breaks, Garden Banks andMississippi Canyon. Snyder expects to invest $25 million in 1998 onthese prospects through a continuous drilling program slated tobegin late next month.

The company said planned 1998 exploration and developmentexpenditures have been increased by 40% to $200 million, reflectingSnyder’s growing portfolio of opportunities in the Gulf. This year,Snyder completed agreements with Shell, British-Borneo and nowTexaco, to participate in the exploration of eight prospects inwater depths ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 feet.

“Participating in these projects allows us to utilize our strongcapital base today, and still maintain our financial flexibility todo high impact acquisitions that fit our operating and growthstrategies,” said John C. Snyder, Snyder CEO. “With thepotentially attractive rates of return afforded from theseprospects, we will be shifting some capital from our acquisitionbudget to these opportunities.”

Joe Fisher, Houston

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