Apache Corp. announced a Canadian gas discovery that tested at31 MMcf/d British Columbia on acreage acquired from Shell Canadalate last year. “Proved reserves acquired in the Shell Canadatransaction were mainly oil, but the major upside lies in gasexploration on nearly 300,000 net acres and in the staff of highlymotivated technical people who joined Apache,” said ApachePresident G. Steven Farris. Apache holds a 37% working interest inthe Ladyfern area producer. Murphy Oil, the operator, holds 33% andBeau Canada Exploration has the remaining 30% working interest.”Pressure build-up tests are under way to help in determining theapproximate size of this discovery, but it’s safe to say it has thepotential to be a very large gas field,” Farris said. Apache andits partners have under lease more than 25,000 acres in theLadyfern area and are presently drilling two additional wildcatwells on separate structures. Apache and partners will build aneight-inch-diameter pipeline 15 miles to the Beau Canada pipelineto take Ladyfern gas to Apache’s Hamburg gas plant.

Equitable Resources completed the previously announcedacquisition of the Appalachian production assets of Statoil Energyfor $630 million. The deal makes Equitable by far the largestproducer in the Appalachian basin with 2.2 Tcf of proven reservesand 12,600 gas and oil wells. Equitable said the acquisition wouldbe immediately accretive to earnings. “The addition of these assetsand resources to Equitable’s Appalachian business represent ahigh-value, low-risk opportunity for improving the overall qualityand efficiency of our production assets,” said Murry S. Gerber,Equitable’s president and CEO. Statoil’s production assets arecontiguous to Equitable’s Appalachian properties and consist of 1.2Tcf of proven gas reserves and 6,500 natural gas wells in WestVirginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

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