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Gold/Mining/Energy : PIONEER NATURAL RES. (PXD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GlobalMarine who wrote (166)	9/4/1998 8:21:00 AM
From: Noel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 233

Finally, some news from the company. It probably doesn't mean much by itself, but after months of no news, it IS something: SAfrica, Pioneer sign oil exploration deal By Emma Thomasson PAARL, South Africa, Sept 2 (Reuters) - South Africa on Wednesday signed an offshore oil exploration and production agreement with U.S. firm Pioneer Natural Resources Co., which it hopes will reduce its dependency on crude imports. "We are very excited about the potential in South Africa," Pioneer Chief Executive Scott Sheffield told journalists after the signing. "We are very excited we will find a lot of oil and reduce South Africa's dependence on imported crude." South Africa produces the equivalent of 200,000 barrels a day of synthetic oil manufactured out of either coal or gas and up to 25,000 barrels a day from an offshore field, but it still imports some 300,000 barrels of oil a day. The Dallas-based company signed the agreement with South Africa's state-owned oil company Soekor, which will permit Pioneer to conduct exclusive activities over a single contract area covering about 10 million acres off the south coast. Pioneer is due to invest over $22 million in the first phase of explorations and Sheffield said the firm's fifth well in the area was already ready to drill. The first phase of the sub-lease will be for four years, followed by a conditional renewal of three years and possibly a third phase. The deal comes hot on the heels of an exploration deal signed in June with U.S. independent Anschutz off South Africa's west coast and another signed last year with PhillipsPetroleum Co. of the United States. The Pioneer area, called Block 7/10-14 B, covers water depths of generally less than 650 feet. Pioneer will have a 100 percent working interest in the block, while Soekor retains the right to a 10 percent working stake if the field is developed. Pioneer already operates about three million acres of the adjacent Block 9, where the Oribi field is already pumping up to 25,000 barrels per day from two commercial wells. Minerals and Energy Minister Penuell Maduna said South Africa had also clinched a deal with Phoenix Canada Oil Co. Ltd for two other blocks, one off the west coast and one off the Cape Town coast, and would sign an agreement soon. "I don't think people would be investing this much in exploration if they had no hope of finding anything," he said. "We think that the potential is great." Joggie Heuser, Soekor chief executive, told Reuters South Africa's 3,000 km of coastline was ripe for the taking. "South Africa is still regarded as frontier country," he said. David Broad, Soekor technical manager, told Reuters much of South Africa's coastline displayed all the requirements for substantial oil deposits as off Angola, adding that surveys should give firmer indications in the next few years. Broad said South Africa's remaining Blocks 3A and 4A were of most interest and were currently under negotiation, while Blocks 15 and 16 did not look so attractive and the other remaining areas were mainly in deep water. On Wednesday, Pioneer Natural Resources' stock was up 44 cents to $14.25 a share in composite New York Stock Exchangetrading. ((--Cape Town newsroom +27 21 252238reutercp@iafrica.com))