BG Alaska Enters Agreement for Alaska North Slope Exploration

BG Alaska E&P, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BG Group plc has signed a Participation Agreement with Anadarko Petroleum and Petro-Canada (Alaska) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Petro-Canada for a 33.33 percent equity share in 2.1 million acres of land in the Foothills area of the Alaskan North Slope. Each partner now owns a one-third working interest in the acreage and Anadarko will serve as operator.

Alaska's North Slope has estimated discovered reserves in excess of 17 billion barrels of oil and 35 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.

The Participation Agreement became effective from January 26, 2006 and is subject to the relevant approvals of the State of Alaska and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Martin Houston, BG executive vice president and managing director, North America, Caribbean and Global LNG, said:

"This agreement builds on our existing North American E&P business in Canada and creates the potential for increasing BG's natural gas supply position into the U.S. gas market, which is underpinned by our LNG importation business. We will manage these assets from our office in Calgary, leveraging the technical capabilities we have developed since we commenced our operations there."