SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
FORM 8-K
Current Report Pursuant
to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of report (Date of earliest event reported) August 22, 2001
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UNOCAL CORPORATION
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(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
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(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation)
1-8483 95-3825062
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(Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
2141 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 4000, El Segundo, California 90245
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(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
(310) 726-7600
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(Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
Item 5. Other Events.
Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Drilling Activities
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On August 22, 2001, the Company announced that it had concluded drilling
operations at its deepwater exploration well on the Ponza prospect in Keathley
Canyon Block 774 in the Gulf of Mexico. Although the well reached its objectives
and penetrated hydrocarbon-bearing zones, the well did not appear to hold
commercial quantities of pay. The well was plugged and abandoned; however,
evaluation of data from the Ponza well is continuing. Under terms of farm-in
agreements, the Company incurred essentially no net costs in the drilling of the
Ponza well. The Company is the operator and holds a 50-percent working interest
in Keathley Canyon Block 774.
The Company is currently drilling an appraisal well at the Mad Dog prospect, a
previously announced discovery located in Green Canyon Block 826.
The next deepwater well the Company plans to drill is an appraisal well at the
recently announced Trident discovery, drilled on Alaminos Canyon Block 903. The
Company is the operator of Trident and holds a 59.5-percent working interest in
the seven-block prospect.
Indonesia Deepwater Drilling Activities
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On September 4, 2001, the Company announced that its Unocal Rapak, Ltd.,
subsidiary had drilled two successful exploration appraisal wells on the Ranggas
prospect in the southern portion of the Rapak Production-Sharing Contract (PSC)
area, offshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia. These two wells were a follow-up to
the initial discovery well. Unocal Rapak, Ltd. is operator of the Rapak PSC area
and holds an 80-percent working interest.
The Ranggas-2 well was drilled to a total depth of 13,661 feet in 5,192 feet of
water. The well encountered 155 feet of net oil pay and 118 feet of net gas pay.
The well is located in the southern portion of the Ranggas structure, nearly a
mile southwest of the discovery well. The Ranggas-3 well was drilled to a total
depth of 13,248 feet in 5,368 feet of water. The well encountered 306 feet of
net oil pay and 123 feet of net gas pay. The well is located 3.4 miles north of
the discovery well in the central portion of the Ranggas structure.
In the next phase of drilling, Unocal Rapak will drill four to eight wells
beginning late in 2001 or early in 2002 to further delineate the Ranggas
discovery and test at least two adjacent prospects. The Company expects to
determine commerciality and the size of production facilities in this second
drilling phase.
Production, Reserves and Financial Forecasts
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On September 5, 2001, the Company announced that its worldwide net daily
production for 2001 is expected to average between 505,000 to 515,000 Barrels of
Oil Equivalent (BOE). In the Lower 48, natural gas production is expected to
average 920 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) for 2001, up from 764 mmcf/d in
2000. The Company expects to record reserve replacement in 2001 of between 170
percent and 220 percent of production with finding and development costs between
$7.30 per BOE and $5.60 per BOE.
The Company's goals are to increase worldwide net oil and gas production to
approximately 800,000 BOE per day in 2007 while maintaining a stable capital
spending program of $1.8 to $2.0 billion per year with a 45 to 50 percent
debt-to-total-capitalization ratio, while reducing finding and development costs
to about $5.50 per BOE.
This filing contains certain forward-looking statements about the Company's
exploration and drilling activities, reserve replacement, finding and
development costs, future production, capital expenditures and debt ratios.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance. The statements are
based upon the Company's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a
number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those described in the forward looking
statements. Actual results could differ materially as a result of factors
discussed in the Unocal's 2000 Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
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Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
UNOCAL CORPORATION
(Registrant)
Date: September 6, 2001 By: /s/ JOE D. CECIL
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Joe D. Cecil
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