RANGE RESOURCES CORPORATION (NYSE: RRC) today announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Barnett shale properties from a subsidiary of DTE Energy Co. (NYSE: DTE) and a private company. The adjusted purchase price was $284 million. With closing of this transaction, Range’s position in the Barnett Shale play has expanded to 103,000 net acres and production has increased to more than 90 Mmcfe per day.
Range also announced today that it has sold non-core oil properties located in East Texas for $64 million. The properties include 99 shallow oil wells covering 5,600 net acres. Range did not own the leasehold rights to the deeper formations. The properties were producing approximately 700 barrels per day at the time of the sale. The sale was structured as a like-kind exchange, therefore Range has deferred any cash taxes as a result of the transaction.
Commenting on the announcement, John Pinkerton, Range’s President and CEO said, “The Barnett Shale properties are an excellent complement to our growing position in the play. The purchase coupled with the property sale high grades our overall property base. Our strategy is to periodically sell non-core properties. Including the sale announced today, we have completed approximately $300 million of property sales in the last 12 months. We anticipate additional divestitures in 2008. Given our extensive drilling inventory that includes more than 10,000 locations covering in excess of 3 million acres, we are in an excellent position to generate very attractive returns. By divesting of non-core properties, we can increase the capital available to accelerate the exploitation of our drilling inventory. We believe this enhances the per share investment in Range.”
RANGE RESOURCES CORPORATION (NYSE: RRC) is an independent oil and gas company operating in the Southwestern, Appalachian and Gulf Coast regions of the United States.
Except for historical information, statements made in this release, including those relating to potential, fourth quarter production, future earnings, cash flow, capital expenditures, production growth and planned number of wells are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on assumptions and estimates that management believes are reasonable based on currently available information; however, management’s assumptions and the Company’s future performance are subject to a wide range of business risks and uncertainties and there is no assurance that these goals and projections can or will be met. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the volatility of oil and gas prices, the results of our hedging transactions, the costs and results of drilling and operations, the timing of production, mechanical and other inherent risks associated with oil and gas production, weather, the availability of drilling equipment, changes in interest rates, litigation, uncertainties about reserve estimates and environmental risks. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Further information on risks and uncertainties is available in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are incorporated by reference.
Range’s internal estimates of reserves, particularly those in the properties recently acquired or proposed to be acquired where we may have limited review of data or experience with the reserves, may be subject to revision and may be different from estimates by our external reservoir engineers at year-end. Although we believe the expectations and forecasts reflected in these and other forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance they will prove to have been correct. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties.
The Securities and Exchange Commission permits oil and gas companies, in filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. We use certain terms, such as "probable," "possible," “potential” or "unproven," that the SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. These estimates are by their nature more speculative than estimates of proved reserves and accordingly are subject to substantially greater risk of being actually realized by the Company. While we believe our calculations of unproven drill sites and estimation of unproven or potential reserves are reasonable, such calculations and estimates have not been reviewed by third-party engineers. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, available from our website at www.rangersources.com or by written request to 100 Throckmorton Street, Suite 1200, Fort Worth, Texas 76102. You can also obtain this form from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.
Contacts:
Rodney Waller, Senior Vice President,
817-870-2601
or
David Amend, IR Manager, 817-870-2601
or
Karen
Giles, Sr. IR Specialist, 817-870-2601
www.rangeresources.com
