Southwestern Energy Announces E&P Asset Sale

HOUSTON, April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwestern Energy Company announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary has entered into a definitive purchase and sale agreement with XTO Energy Inc. for the sale of certain oil and gas leases, wells and gathering equipment held by the company in its Fayetteville Shale play for approximately $519.6 million in cash. The sale includes 55,631 net acres, or approximately 6% of the company's approximately 906,700 net acres in the play as of December 31, 2007, and approximately 10.5 MMcf per day of production from the Fayetteville Shale as of March 17, 2008. The acreage is located in the southeast portion of the company's focus area. The transaction is scheduled to close in the second quarter of 2008.

"The sale of this acreage is in keeping with our focus on present value and our strategy of rationalizing our assets to fund our capital program," stated Harold M. Korell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southwestern. "Results have been improving in recent quarters in the Fayetteville Shale project, our James Lime drilling looks promising, and we are now drilling our first Marcellus Shale test. This sale, along with our planned utility and potential Permian sales, will meet our 2008 capital needs and position us well as we move into 2009. We expect 2008 to be another great year for Southwestern."

Merrill Lynch is Southwestern's sole financial advisor in connection with the transaction.

Southwestern Energy Company is an integrated natural gas company whose wholly-owned subsidiaries are engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, natural gas gathering and marketing, and natural gas distribution. Additional information on the company can be found on the Internet at http://www.swn.com/.

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