January 5, 2004
Tulsa, Oklahoma . . . Unit Corporation (NYSE – UNT) announced
today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Unit Drilling Company, has closed
an acquisition to purchase a subsidiary of Strata Drilling LLC for $10.5
million in cash. Through this acquisition, Unit Drilling Company will
acquire two drilling rigs, its 102nd and 103rd rigs, as well as spare
parts, inventory, drill pipe, and other major rig components.
The two existing rigs are 1,500 horsepower, diesel electric rigs with
the capacity to drill 12,000 to 20,000 feet. One rig is currently operating
under contract and the other rig will require approximately $2 million
in expenditures to complete. The latter rig should be fully operational
within 90 days. Currently, Unit has all 100 of its drilling rigs operating
under contract. Its 101st rig, previously under construction, is complete
and will be operating under contract next week. Unit also plans to initiate
construction of its 104th rig, a 1,500 horsepower diesel electric rig.
Both of the two rigs acquired in our recent acquisition and our 104th
rig will be added to our 19-rig Rocky Mountain Division.
Mr. Larry Pinkston, Unit’s President and Chief Operating Officer,
said, “This acquisition will complement our current drilling rig
fleet and will help to meet our customers’ growing demand for
drilling rigs.”
Unit Corporation is a Tulsa-based, publicly held
energy company engaged through its subsidiaries in oil and gas exploration,
production, contract drilling and natural gas gathering and processing.
Unit’s Common Stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under
the symbol UNT. For more information about Unit Corporation, visit its
website at http://www.unitcorp.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the Securities Litigation Reform Act that involve risks and uncertainties,
including the intended operating location of the recently acquired drilling
rigs, development, operational, implementation and opportunity risks,
and other factors described from time to time in the company’s
publicly available SEC reports, which could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expected.
