Oil and Gas Investor Announces

2006 Excellence Award Winners at NAPE

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 1, 2007) - - - Oil and Gas Investor magazine announced the

names of its 2006 Excellence Award winners during the opening day of the North American

Prospect Expo (NAPE) at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

According to Oil and Gas Investor Editor-in-chief Leslie Haines, “The Oil and Gas Investor

Excellence Awards honor commitment to quality and innovation in the most important areas of

the oil and gas industry—executive management, financing, exploration, field rejuvenation,

acquisitions, investor relations and exemplary corporate citizenship. As long-time supporters of

the industry, we at Oil and Gas Investor and Hart Energy Publishing are delighted to recognize

these individuals and companies.”

Oil and Gas Investor’s March 2007 issue includes a special section with details on all the award

winners and lessons from them.

This year’s winners are as follows:

• Executive of the Year: Harold Korell, chairman, president and chief executive of Southwestern Energy Co. The Houston-based company has made a name for itself on Wall Street with its promising Fayetteville Shale play in Arkansas where

Southwestern quietly put together some 800,000 acres before other producers

jumped in. Under Korell, since 1997, the company has gone from less than $100

million in market cap at one time to $6.4 billion, and it projects year-end 2007

production from its Fayetteville assets alone of 300 million cubic feet per day.

-more-

• Best Discovery: operator BP Plc and partners Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy

Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for their huge Lower Tertiary discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. The Kaskida prospect was drilled in 5,860 feet of water to a total depth of 32,500 feet in Keathley Canyon Block 292. The well encountered 800 net feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sands. The find appears to be the largest yet made in the world-class Lower Tertiary play in the Gulf of Mexico.

• M&A Deal of the Year: Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s simultaneous, profile-changing acquisitions of gas players Kerr-McGee Corp. and Western Gas Resources Inc. The total $23.3-billion deals were funded with short-term debt, which The Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarko has been paying back with asset divestments, such as in the Gulf of Mexico and Canada. With the acquisitions, Anadarko received some 4.3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved gas reserves and 711 million barrels of proved oil reserves.

• Financing of the Year: Denver-based Forest Oil Corporation and Houston-based

Mariner Energy Inc. have received Financing of the Year for Forest’s spin-off and

merger of Gulf of Mexico assets with Mariner. The deal involved a multiple-step

transaction, featuring a Reverse Morris Trust component, a share distribution to

Forest investors generally tax-free and Mariner’s listing on the New York Stock

Exchange.

• Best Field Rejuvenation: Tulsa-based Williams Cos. for its nuts-and-bolts

engineering work on its mature San Juan Basin properties, which are making 163

million cubic feet of gas per day, up from 135 million in June 2005. The company’s

production-optimization and -enhancement team gained volumes by lowering field

operating pressures, optimizing flow rates, and drawing down bottomhole pressures.

• Best Investor Relations Program: Houston-based Newfield Exploration Co., which

had a challenging 2006 while trying to explain its emerging Woodford Shale program

to the marketplace while also needing to hit production targets in other plays, which it

missed three times in the year due to continued post-hurricane and other problems. A

tour of its Woodford program for more than 80 analysts and investors shed light on

the goals and possibilities there, and Newfield’s stock performance improved.

• Best Corporate Citizen: Denver-based Questar Exploration & Production Co., for

its work in the Pinedale Anticline area of Wyoming. In discussions with community

members, regulatory agencies and environmental groups, Questar will reduce surface

disturbance 67% via directional drilling up to 30 wells per pad, resulting in 60% fewer

wellpads, and it has other innovations under way that reduce emissions and tankertruck

trips. The plan has won it year-round drilling access to its leases, while

addressing wildlife and air-quality concerns.

Headquartered in Houston, Hart Energy Publishing’s market-leading publications include Oil and

Gas Investor, E&P, PipeLine and Gas Technology and FUEL. Hart also produces newsletters,

custom publishing products, conferences, electronic media, and unique multi- and single-client

consulting services.