
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 11, 1995                   TAG: 9510110093
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OIL RIVALS SHELL, AMOCO TO POOL THEIR RESOURCES

Amoco Corp. and Shell Oil Co., long rivals in the oilfields of the Permian Basin of west Texas and southeast New Mexico, where huge gushers helped them become industry leaders, have decided to form a joint venture.

The new company, which has not been named, would maintain, and perhaps increase, production from their 12,000 maturing wells. It would become the largest oil producer in Texas, accounting for about 20 percent of the state's output, said Jack Little, Shell's president of exploration and production.

Amoco would have a 65 percent interest in the new company; Shell, a unit of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Cos., would have 35 percent.

Jerry Brown, the group vice president for Amoco's domestic operations, said the work force of 1,300 would shrink, but it was too early to say how much. He said the goal was to create a ``nimble, lean, quick'' organization.

The combined fields produce about 210,000 barrels of oil a day, but production has been declining.

Computer imaging has given new life to older oilfields, enabling many companies to find deposits near existing wells and tap them with horizontal drilling and other means.

by CNB