Denys denies:

>  Which means that between the Europeans and the Americans, all global
>  resources will be consumed before Labor Day this year.  Better start
>  hoarding that petrol.  :)

In that regard, El Paso Natural Gas has just recently revalued its proven
reserves downwards a surprising 41 percent. They're not the only large petroleum
company to do this. Royal Dutch Shell did the same just a few weeks ago,
reducing their proven reserves estimates by 21 percent. While the immediate impact
is primarily financial on these two organizations, nonetheless, as Denys
writes, you'd better start hoarding that petrol:

========================================

El Paso Trims Proven Reserves 41 Pct

Wed, Feb 18, 2004 11:13 GMT

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Energy company El Paso Corp. said on Tuesday it had cut
its proven natural gas reserves estimate by 41 percent and would take a $1
billion pretax charge in the fourth quarter.

In reducing its proven reserves estimates, the Houston-based company joined
oil major Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which shocked investors last month by
cutting its reserves estimates by 20 percent.

"Nobody's happy about the outcome of our year-end reserves. It's a big
disappointment to say the least," Doug Foshee, El Paso's chief executive officer and
president, said on a conference call.

El Paso confirmed late on Tuesday it hired law firm Haynes & Boone to examine
the cause of the $1 billion write-down charge.

Burdened by about $24 billion in consolidated debt at the end of the third
quarter, El Paso has struggled to return to health after failed ventures in the
merchant electricity and telecoms businesses in recent years.

El Paso, which had warned investors earlier this month it would trim its
estimates, cut its end-2003 estimates of proven reserves by 1.824 trillion cubic
feet (tcf) of natural gas equivalent to 2.635 tcf equivalent.

Proven reserves are quantities of oil or gas that a company expects to be
commercially recoverable from known fields from a given date.

The company, which is the largest U.S. natural gas pipeline operator, also
warned investors it expected more write-down charges in 2004 as natural gas
prices weakened.

KEEPS OUTPUT GOALS

El Paso said its January production averaged about 960 million cubic feet
equivalent (MMcfe) per day, and it expected to meet its goal for average 2004
production of 850 MMcfe to 950 MMcfe production range based on its capital
expenditure plans.

The company would not trim its $850 million capital expenditure program for
2004, Foshee said, although it was reviewing its spending and reducing
investments in areas such as south Texas.

That was the region where reserves were trimmed the sharpest, followed by its
coal bed methane operations and Gulf of Mexico production sites.

El Paso's energy production is focused on natural gas, which generated about
five times the revenue of the company's oil output for the first nine months
of 2003.

Production levels declined by 32 percent during that period, with drilling
successes in about only one in five deep shelf wells.

Last month, El Paso hired Apache Corp's exploration and production vice
president Lisa Stewart to head its production operations.

Foshee, who took the helm of El Paso in September, said the company remained
on the path to recovery, and that its asset liquidation program remained on
track to reach $3.3 billion to $3.9 billion by 2006.

On Monday, the company announced the sale of El Paso Oil and Gas Canada to
UK's BG Group PLC for $345.6 million, bringing its asset sales to about $2.9
billion.

The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on March 11.

========================================

Wirt Atmar

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