Noble Energy Inc., Houston, (NYSE: NBL) plans to acquire privately held, Billings, Montana-based United States Exploration Inc. for $411 million. The acquisition expands Noble's operations in its core Wattenberg Field in the D-J Basin, adding 65,000 acres to Noble's 218,000 net acres in the field. United States Exploration has proved reserves of 248 billion cubic feet equivalent (41% proved developed; 55% gas), resulting in an acquisition cost of $1.66 per thousand cubic feet equivalent. Probable resources associated with the acquisition are estimated to total 217 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent. United States Exploration currently owns an interest in 512 active wells. Production is currently approximately 20 million cubic feet equivalent per day and is expected to grow to an average of 30 million cubic feet of gas equivalent for 2006. "United States Exploration's position in Wattenberg is an extremely good fit with our operations in the field," says Charles D. Davidson, Noble's chairman, president and chief executive. "Their acreage and production are in many instances directly offsetting Noble Energy's and will add more than 6,000 projects in the Wattenberg field. We expect significant technical and operational synergies by applying what we have learned to these properties, which are less developed than Noble Energy's." Noble also has the opportunity to earn up to 350,000 net acres by drilling additional wells on acreage in the greater D-J Basin currently under option to United States Exploration.
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