RNS No 8346F
ATLANTIC RICHFIELD COMPANY
30th October 1997


   ARCO, BG plc Announce Agreement to Collaborate on Indonesian LNG Project;
                       Another Successful Gas Well Drilled

LOS ANGELES, October 30th/PRNewswire/ -- Subsidiaries of ARCO and BG plc today
announced an agreement to collaborate in the supply of gas to the proposed
Tangguh liquefied natural gas project in Irian Jaya, Eastern Indonesia, using
reserves from the Wiriagar, Berau and Muturi production sharing contracts
(PSCs).

Operational responsibility for the fields within the three blocks feeding the
previously-announced Tangguh project will belong to ARCO, which has been
designated the PSC representative to the state oil company, Pertamina.

Frank Chapman, BG plc Executive Director for Exploration and Production, said:
"I am delighted with the conclusion of the collaboration agreement with ARCO.
This will enable the government of Indonesia and all the partners involved to
benefit from an optimal development of the reserves in all three licenses."

Last month, ARCO (NYSE: ARC) announced proved and probable reserves in excess of
13 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in support of the Tangguh project, a name
meaning "reliability and strength" that was given to the project by Indonesia
President Suharto.

Today, Atlantic Richfield Berau Inc. and BG Exploration and Production Ltd.
announced results of another successful well drilled by ARCO.  The well,
Vorwata-4, drilled under terms of the collaboration agreement, is located on the
leaseline between the ARCO-operated Berau block and the BG-operated Muturi
block.  The well flowed gas at a tubing-limited rate of 36 million standard
cubic feet per day from Jurassic age sandstone formations.

Leon Codron, President of Atlantic Richfield Indonesia, Inc., said: "We are very
pleased with the productivity and quality of the gas in Vorwata-4.  The results
indicate that the Vorwata reservoir discovered by ARCO and its co-venturers this
year extends northward into the Muturi PSC, providing the area with additional
reserve potential beyond earlier estimates and further supporting a multi-train
Tangguh LNG project."

To further prove the extension of the Vorwata reservoir into the Muturi block,
BG and its partners -- Cairns Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Genting
Berhad, and PT Saptapetra Wisesa -- plan a continuous campaign of drilling in
Muturi through to mid-1998.  BG said that some of the wells will be testing the
limits of the geological structure.

BG said that gas shows were encountered in several prospective horizons while
drilling the Nambumbi-1 well located 4 kilometres northwest of the Vorwata-1
discovery and designed to test for reserves at the northern limit of the Vorwata
field.  Mechanical difficulties prevented a comprehensive testing of the well
and it has now been suspended.  Drilling continues in the Muturi block at
Sakauni-1 which commenced on October 4th and which is located 11 kilometres
northeast of Vorwata-4.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Partners in the Berau block are ARCO (48%), Occidental Berau of Indonesia, Inc.
(22.856%), Nippon Oil Exploration (Berau) Ltd. (17.144%), and KG Berau
Petroleum, Ltd. (12%).  Partners in the Wiriagar block are ARCO (80%) and KG
Wiriagar Petroleum, Ltd. (20%).  ARCO is operator of both blocks through its
Atlantic Richfield Berau, Inc. and Atlantic Richfield Wiriagar Inc.
subsidiaries.

BG Exploration and Production operates the Muturi concession, which covers 4,652
square kilometres of the Kepala Burung region of Irian Jaya.  The first well,
Mogoi Deep-1, drilled onshore in the northwest of the concession in 1996,
recorded cumulative flows of 40 million cubic feet per day.  Partners in the
Muturi concession are: BG (50%), Cairns Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Genting Berhad (45%), and PT Saptapetra Wisesa (5%).


Contact:

Albert Greenstein of ARCO, 213-486-3384; 
or Peter Crumpler of BG plc, +44 118 929 3186
Web site: http://www.arco.com/(ARC)


END

MSCBRBBGCSXCCRG
Atlantic Coal (LSE:ATC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024 Click Here for more Atlantic Coal Charts.
Atlantic Coal (LSE:ATC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024 Click Here for more Atlantic Coal Charts.