Net proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce debt and increase the company's capacity to fund development projects and exploration.

Estimated reserves of the fields included in the purchase and sale agreement are 34 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) with net production about 18,000 BOE per day.

The properties included in the sale represent the majority of the Unocal Gulf of Mexico assets earmarked for divestment. The company expects to divest the remaining 20 properties up for sale before year-end 2003.

After the sale Unocal will still hold 25 fields in the Gulf region with production of around 67,000 BOE per day, along with an option to initiate deep exploration on many of the fields being sold to Forest.

Earlier this month Unocal announced the sale of 4.925 million shares of Tom Brown, which will result in a pretax gain of $45 million.