Q1 Operations for St. Mary Yields Over 100 Projects

St. Mary Land & Exploration Company provides an update of the Company's significant operations and financial guidance.

During the first quarter of 2008, St. Mary participated in the completion of over 120 drilling and recompletion projects, not including coalbed methane operations. The Company had between 13 and 15 rigs operating throughout the quarter. The Company also invested approximately $53 million in the acquisition of proved and unproved oil and natural gas properties, the majority of which relates to Cotton Valley drilling inventory in East Texas. Operations for 2008 are proceeding on or ahead of plan. During the quarter the Company made progress in several key plays that are expected to generate further growth opportunities.

Tony Best, President and CEO, commented, "I am pleased with the growth and performance of our inventory. The Woodford shale in the Arkoma Basin, the Cotton Valley sand and Haynesville shale plays in the ArkLaTex, and the North Dakota Bakken are some of the most active and exciting areas in the oil and gas industry currently, and St. Mary has meaningful exposure to all of them. Our operating teams are doing a great job managing our current assets, as demonstrated by lower per unit LOE in the first quarter and our increase to production guidance for the full year. We continue to focus on expanding our inventory and executing on our business plan -- we are off to a great start this year and I believe the outlook for the remainder of the year is bright."

General and administrative expense -- The increase in general and administrative expense is the result of forecasted increases in expenditures that are strongly linked to profitability and commodity prices. There also continues to be upward pressure on compensation related costs as a result of the highly competitive state of the industry.

Recognition of general and administrative expense will be weighted more heavily to the second half of 2008 as a result of timing changes related to the Company's previously announced long-term Performance Share Plan. Based on the expected timing of the initial awards, the expense will begin to be recognized in the second half of 2008 as opposed to being recognized over the full year as was initially forecasted.