LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) announced today that it has signed a production-sharing contract with the government of Yemen to conduct oil exploration in Block 44 in the Hadramaut province in Central Yemen.
Occidental has a 75-percent working interest and is the operator. The remaining 25-percent is held by Ansan Wikfs (Hadramaut) Limited, a Yemeni company with headquarters in Sana'a. In addition, The Yemen Company, Yemen's National oil company, has a 7-percent carried interest if commercial quantities of oil are discovered in the block. The exploration phase is expected to take three years with drilling operations to commence in early 2003.
The work commitment is divided into two phases. Phase 1 requires the acquisition of 300 kilometers (185 miles) of 2-dimensional seismic data and the drilling of one exploratory well. A second Phase 1 exploratory well is optional. Phase 2 calls for the completion of an additional 200 kilometers (125 miles) of 2-dimensional seismic surveys, 150 square kilometers (58 square miles) of 3-dimensional seismic and one exploratory well. Like Phase 1, a second exploratory well is optional in Phase 2.
Block 44 encompasses 6,335 square kilometers (2,445 square miles) and is situated just north of Occidental's interests in the 900 million-barrel Masila (Block 14) and East Shabwa (Block 10) operations where combined gross production currently exceeds 250,000 barrels per day. The geology of Block 44, which is part of the Sanyun-Masila Basin, is expected to be similar to that of Masila.
Forward-looking statements and estimates regarding exploration and production activities, oil, gas and commodity chemical prices, operating costs and their related earnings effects in this release are based on assumptions concerning market, competitive, regulatory, environmental, operational and other conditions. Actual results could differ materially as a result of factors discussed in Occidental's Annual Report on Form 10-K.