Adding to its natural gas exploration acreage, Bakersfield, CA-based Berry Petroleum Co. said Friday that it has purchased a 50% working interest in approximately 70,000 gross (60,000 net) undeveloped acres in Colorado’s Phillips and Sedgwick counties from Chandler Energy LLC.

The company reported this additional Niobrara leasehold position is adjacent to and immediately north of its producing assets in Yuma County. Berry, as operator of the acreage, is scheduled to begin shooting a 3-D seismic survey within the next three months and expects to drill the first delineation wells in mid-2006.

“This acreage acquisition is part of our ongoing strategy of adding highly prospective acreage near our core areas and is an excellent opportunity to leverage our operational and technical expertise in the Niobrara producing assets,” said Robert Heinemann, CEO of Berry Petroleum. “Our interest in this shallow gas development area will now total approximately 550,000 acres.”

Earlier in the month, the independent oil and gas production and exploitation company modified its management structure to “better align the organization with the growth and diversification strategies that have been key to Berry’s transformation over the last two years.” The new organizational structure utilizes integrated asset teams.

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