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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hdrjr who wrote (57816)	1/4/2000 8:40:00 AM
From: hdrjr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

XTO to sell property to reduce debt, last quarter XTO averaged 13,100 bbls and 288,636 mcf per day. They now have 60% of oil hedged at $24 (thru half of 2000) and 25% of gas at $2.45 (for the year 2000). This property is a very small part of their production and no doubt will be accounted for in continued production increases in the East Texas fields (3rd quarter production increases were 16% for oil and 18% for gas). Sounds like news that will be well received by the market since debt has been a previous concern. Cross Timbers to Sell Properties; Reduce Debt FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Cross Timbers Oil Company (NYSE: XTO - news) today announced plans to sell properties located primarily in Crockett County, Texas and Lea County, New Mexico. Randall & Dewey, Inc. of Houston has been engaged to market the properties with the assistance of Lehman Brothers. Bids will be accepted in mid-February with closing expected by the end of the first quarter 2000. The properties to be sold were originally included in the Company's planned initial public offering of the Texas Permian Trust. Cross Timbers no longer plans to pursue the trust offering. Daily production from the properties to be sold currently averages 15 million cubic feet of gas and 1,050 barrels of oil. ``Given the currently depressed market conditions for oil and gas related equities, we have decided to pursue a private sale of some of the properties we would have put into the Texas Permian Trust,' stated Bob R. Simpson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. ``We are committed to the debt reduction that would have been achieved through the trust offering; however, we now believe we can achieve a higher valuation for these properties in the private market.' The Company anticipates generating about $320 million to $340 million in internal funding during 2000. Sources will include this property sale, cash flow and disposition of other assets including the Company's portfolio of equity securities. The amount of cash flow will depend on commodity prices. At this time, the Company has hedged 8,000 barrels per day of its oil production for the first half of 2000 at a NYMEX price of about $24 per barrel. Natural gas hedges currently total 70 million cubic feet per day for the year 2000 at an average NYMEX price of $2.45 per Mcf. Internally generated cash sources for 2000 will fund the Company's $100 million to $120 million development program and the anticipated first quarter purchase of the $100 million minority interest in Arkoma Basin properties held by Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. The $100 million to $140 million remainder will be used to reduce existing debt. The Company's strategic goals for year 2000 announced in August 1999 remain unchanged: Cash flow from operations of $4.00 per share Proved reserves of 40 Mcfe per share Debt of $.40 per Mcfe, and To be ranked among the top 10 U.S. independents based on domestic reserves ``Year 2000 will be spent capitalizing on the vast development opportunities we've acquired since 1996. We've nearly tripled production and reserves as well as related development opportunities over the past three years. We can now focus on achieving strong year-over-year production gains while, at the same time, reducing debt to meet our goals,' Simpson continued. Cross Timbers Oil Company is engaged in the acquisition, exploitation and development of quality, long-lived producing oil and gas properties. The Company, whose predecessors were established in 1986, completed its initial public offering in May 1993. Its properties are concentrated in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Wyoming and Alaska.