Unocal Corp.’s Spirit Energy 76 unit recorded a 64% success ratein its core Gulf of Mexico shelf exploration program during 1998,including four new discoveries during December. For the full-year,Spirit Energy had 21 discoveries on the shelf. Preliminaryinformation indicates the company replaced about 100% of its 1998production with new reserves (excluding sales), increasedproduction from year-ago levels, and continued to developadditional attractive exploration prospects.

“The success in 1998 validates Unocal’s commitment torevitalizing and investing to grow our Gulf of Mexico explorationand production business,” said Roger C. Beach, Unocal CEO. “Therecord is testimony to the quality of the asset base and thestrength of the teams we’ve put together at Spirit Energy.”

Spirit Energy’s shelf exploration prospects are predominantlynatural gas and deliver production quickly, making them extremelyattractive given the weakness in crude oil prices, Beach said.Spirit’s finding and development costs for the shelf in 1998, basedon preliminary data, were $1.30 – $1.35/Mcfe.

In addition to the GOM shelf and onshore program, Unocal hassolidified its position as a player in the Gulf of Mexicodeep-water. “Our inventory of high-quality deep-water prospectsgives us the leverage to meet or exceed very aggressive goals forreserves,” said Jack Schanck, president of Spirit Energy 76. “Weare currently participating in two deep-water exploration wells,and our goal is to achieve the same cost advantages forSpirit-operated deep-water wells that we enjoy with our drillingprogram in Indonesia and Thailand.”

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