Recent Wells Strengthen Apache's Horn River Resource Assessment

HOUSTON, July 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apache Corporation (NYSE, Nasdaq:
APA) said today that recent drilling results at the Horn River shale play of
Northeast British Columbia have strengthened earlier estimates that individual
horizontal wells in the play potentially can recover 10 billion cubic feet of
natural gas.

Three recent wells at Two Island Lake, operated by joint venture partner
EnCana, have been brought on line at gross initial production rates of more
than 16 million cubic feet (MMcf) per day and continue to produce 8-10 MMcf
per day after two to three weeks.

Apache and EnCana pioneered the shale play in the Horn River Basin and each
has a 50-percent interest in 425,000 gross acres - the leading acreage
position in the play. Apache tested the shale potential in a recompletion of a
vertical well in the Ootla area in March 2005. Thus far, the two companies
have drilled 28 wells and brought 10 horizontal wells on production, and
expect to have 32 wells on production by the first quarter of 2010.

Apache and EnCana have increased fracture stimulations to as many as 14 stages
per horizontal section. "Drilling costs have come down as we have gained
experience and become more efficient, reducing the time needed to drill a well
to as little as 16 days from a planned 30 days when we started," said John
Crum, Apache's co-chief operating officer and president - North America. "With
the potential to drill 2,000 to 3,000 locations from multi-well pads, we have
a tremendous resource at Horn River that will be developed over many years."

The partners also commissioned a new compression and dehydration facility as
well as a gas gathering pipeline that connects the Two Island Lake area with
the Spectra pipeline system near the proposed Cabin gas plant.

Apache Corporation is a large oil and gas independent with operations in the
United States, Canada, the United Kingdom North Sea, Egypt, Australia and
Argentina.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 including, without limitation, expectations, beliefs, plans
and objectives regarding production and exploration activities. Any matters
that are not historical facts are forward-looking and, accordingly, involve
estimates, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including, without
limitation, risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in our most
recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, on our Web site and in our other
public filings and press releases. There is no assurance that Apache's
expectations will be realized, and actual results may differ materially from
those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We assume no duty to update
these statements as of any future date.

APA-CA

SOURCE Apache Corporation

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