Thursday February 2, 2:42 pm ET

HOUSTON, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Oil and Gas Investor magazine, an international trade publication covering the oil and gas industry, named Denver-based Bill Barrett Corporation's (NYSE: BBG - News) deep test well in northeast Utah's West Tavaputs Plateau the magazine's Discovery of the Year for 2005. Company officials accepted the award today in Houston at the annual North American Prospect Expo, the country's largest marketplace for natural resource prospects and technologies.

The Discovery of the Year award is one of several categories cited in the magazine's annual Oil and Gas Investor Excellence Awards honoring "commitment to quality and innovation in the most important areas of the oil and gas industry." Editor-in-Chief Leslie Haines said the publication issues its annual Excellence Awards for executive management, exploration, financing, field rejuvenation, acquisitions, investor relations and corporate citizenship. She noted that Bill Barrett Corporation's (BBC) #6-7 Peters Point discovery marked the second year in a row that a Utah discovery has been awarded the magazine's Discovery of the Year.

"Any domestic oil and gas discovery these days has national significance," she said. "Rising energy costs show that this country needs new sources of domestic supplies of oil and natural gas, yet the regulatory and financial constraints tend to discourage exploration efforts these days. BBC simply persisted for nearly four years, a trait more remarkable given the relative youth of the company when it first acquired the property. To have a prospect that, between the shallow and deep concepts, could ultimately mean 500 bcf (billion cubic feet) to a TCF (trillion cubic feet) to the national's energy supply is great news for consumers." The United States' current annual natural gas consumption is estimated to be approximately 23 TCF, with projections of national consumption rates approaching 35 TCF a year by 2025, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Within months of forming the Company in 2002, BBC invested $8 million to acquire over 47,000 acres of oil and gas leases and production of less than one mmcfe/d (million cubic feet equivalent a day) in and around the West Tavaputs Plateau area located northeast of Price in Carbon County, Utah. The Company is currently producing over 50 mmcfe/d (gross) from the area.

To test the concept for deep gas (deeper than 12,000 feet), BBC invested another $8 million to conduct a seismic survey at West Tavaputs. The survey delineated two anticlinal closures, each ranging in size from 4,000 to 5,000 acres. Anticlines are dome-shaped folds in rock and are highly prized hydrocarbon targets.

"It's generally believed that most of these classic gas traps have been found," said Kurt Reinecke, Vice President of Exploration, Southern Division, for Bill Barrett Corporation. "We are pleased with these initial results, particularly in light of the fact that we have yet to drill what appear to be the best locations as identified by the seismic survey." He added that topographic relief in the area is dramatic, nearly 2,500 feet from canyon bottoms to the top of the plateau, making for some challenging operational considerations. The Company's deep location required a highly directional well with over 3,200 feet of lateral offset. The well was spud in May 2005 and took 100 days to drill at a cost of around $9 million. The total measured depth was 15,325 feet, with a true vertical depth of 14,920 feet.

The Company successfully completed the well to the Navajo, Entrada and Dakota formations, with additional potential pay zones encountered in the shallower (3,500-7,500 feet) Wasatch, North Horn, Price River and Mancos formations, all of which will be tested at a later date. The Company plans to drill two and possibly as many as six deep wells to the Dakota/Jurassic formations during 2006, with plans to spud the first offset well sometime in the second quarter of 2006. Reinecke said the Company has identified at least 35 potential 160-acre locations.

BBC was recognized by Oil and Gas Investor two years earlier for Best Community Relations Program for BBC's efforts to educate local Carbon County, Utah residents about the natural gas business through its series of ads, community meetings and philanthropy.

The Company's environmental efforts in the area were also recognized by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) when the Company was presented the organization's 2005 Chairman's Stewardship Award. The IOGCC recognized the Company for cleaning up old well sites neglected by previous owners, its work to re-route and re-align roads to better protect natural artifacts and its funding of a cultural artifact inventory project, all of which cost the Company nearly $1 million. The IOGCC also recognized the Company for its equipment donations to the College of Eastern Utah and for its contributions to local community causes.

Forward-Looking Statements and Cautionary Statements
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. Bill Barrett Corporation may use certain terms in this news release and other communications relating to reserves and production that the SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit the Company from including in filings with the SEC. It is recommended that U.S. investors closely consider the Company's disclosures in Bill Barrett Corporation's definitive prospectus dated August 17, 2005 filed with the SEC. This document is available through the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330 (U.S.) and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.

This press release is forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements reflect Bill Barrett Corporation's current views with respect to future events, based on what it believes are reasonable assumptions. No assurance can be given, however, that these events will occur. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including, among other things, exploration results, market conditions, oil and gas price volatility, the availability and cost of services, materials and drilling rigs, the ability to obtain industry partners to jointly explore certain prospects, the ability to receive drilling and other permits, surface access, uncertainties inherent in oil and gas production operations and estimating reserves, unexpected future capital expenditures, competition, the success of Bill Barrett Corporation risk management activities, governmental regulations and other factors discussed in the Company's definitive prospectus dated August 17, 2005 filed with the SEC (www.sec.gov).

Bill Barrett Corporation, headquartered in Denver, explores for and develops natural gas and oil in nine basins and the Overthrust Belt in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Additional information about the Company is on its web site www.billbarrettcorp.com.

Source: Bill Barrett Corporation