Dominion Sells U.S. E&P

Dominion (D) - Get Report agreed to sell most of its U.S. onshore natural gas and oil exploration and production operations for $6.5 billion.

The deals, with

Loews

(LTR)

and

XTO

(XTO)

, cover 3.51 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas and oil reserves as of Dec. 31, 2006.

"We expect the New Dominion to produce 2008 operating earnings of $6.00 or more per share, and we are confident that we can achieve long-term average annual earnings per share growth of at least 4 percent to 6 percent thereafter," CEO Thomas Farrell said. "We will provide detailed 2008 operating earnings guidance in January."

Loews agreed to purchase Dominion's operations in the Permian Basin, Michigan and Alabama for $4.025 billion. These operations include reserves of 2.5 Tcfe

XTO Energy agreed to purchase Dominion's operations in the Rocky Mountains, Gulf Coast, San Juan Basin and South Louisiana for $2.5 billion. These operations include proved reserves of approximately 1 Tcfe.

Closing on both sales is expected to occur in August.