Alba Field Expansion Completed

Noble Affiliates, Inc. announced the successful completion of the Alba #8 well in the Alba Field, a natural gas and condensate field located 18 miles offshore Equatorial Guinea, north of Bioko Island. The well tested at a flow rate of 27.5 million cubic feet of gas per day and 2,040 barrels of condensate per day from a 46/64-inch choke at a flowing tubing pressure of 3,000 pounds per square inch.

The well is the last to be drilled as part of an accelerated development project initiated in 1999 to increase the field's production capacity to 225 million cubic feet per day from 90 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Approximately 125 million cubic feet of natural gas per day will be supplied to a methanol production plant currently under construction on Bioko Island; approximately 10 million cubic feet per day will be used for onshore operations; and the remainder will be reinjected offshore.

The methanol production plant is scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of 2001. Condensate production from the Alba Field will increase significantly from 2,200 barrels per day, net to Noble's interest, to approximately 5,000 barrels per day, net to Noble's interest, by the beginning of 2001. Natural gas liquids totaling approximately 600 barrels per day, net to Noble's interest, also will be produced. The accelerated development project has been completed on time and under budget at a total gross cost of $115 million.

The accelerated development project consists of the engineering, fabrication, transportation and installation of a tripod well platform, a four-pile 12-slot manned platform with compression, various infield flow lines, a 19-mile pipeline from the Alba Field to Bioko Island, and the drilling of several wells, some to be used for production and some for injection.

The participants in the Alba Field include Samedan of North Africa, Inc., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Noble Affiliates with 33.75 percent, Globex International with 10.87 percent, the government of Equatorial Guinea with 3 percent and CMS Oil and Gas as operator with 52.38 percent.