EXHIBIT 99.1
[NEWS RELEASE LETTERHEAD OF HUGOTON ROYALTY TRUST APPEARS HERE]
HUGOTON ROYALTY TRUST
DECLARES DECEMBER CASH DISTRIBUTION
Dallas, Texas, December 20, 2007 - Bank of America, N.A., as Trustee of the Hugoton Royalty Trust (NYSE - HGT), today declared a cash distribution to the holders of its units of beneficial interest of $0.130350 per unit, payable on January 15, 2008, to unitholders of record on December 31, 2007. The following table shows underlying gas sales and average prices attributable to the net overriding royalty payments made by XTO Energy Inc. (XTO Energy) to the Trust for both the current month and prior month distributions. Underlying gas sales volumes attributable to the current month distribution were primarily produced in October.
Underlying Gas Sales Volumes (Mcf) (a) | ||||||||||
Total | Daily | Average Gas Price per Mcf | ||||||||
Current Month Distribution | 2,491,000 | 80,000 | $ 4.80 | |||||||
| Prior Month Distribution | 2,335,000 | 78,000 | $ 4.40 | |||||||
| (a) | Sales volumes are recorded in the month the trust receives the related net profits income. Because of this, sales volumes may fluctuate from month to month based on the timing of cash receipts. |
XTO Energy has advised the trustee that six wells are currently being drilled on the underlying properties and that it has deducted budgeted development costs of $3,750,000, production expense of $1,846,000 and overhead of $770,000 in determining the royalty payment to the Trust for the current month.
Other
XTO Energy has advised the trustee that scheduled pipeline maintenance, near maximum capacity utilization on pipelines moving gas out of the Rocky Mountain region and moderate regional demand have led to lower realized gas prices for production in this region, resulting in lower monthly trust distributions. Significantly lower October gas prices in the Rocky Mountain region caused costs to exceed revenues on properties underlying the Wyoming net profits interests for the current month distribution as in the prior month distribution. These excess costs did not reduce net proceeds from the remaining conveyances. Gas prices increased for November 2007 in the Rocky Mountain region and the Trust expects to begin recovering the excess costs on the Wyoming conveyance, however, the Trust does not expect to include any proceeds
from the Wyoming conveyance in the January 2008 distribution. With the onset of winter demand and current pipeline expansions projected for completion in early 2008, realized gas prices and monthly distributions are expected to improve.
For more information on the Trust, please visit our web site at www.hugotontrust.com.
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Contacts: | Nancy G. Willis Vice President Bank of America, N.A. (Toll Free) 877/228-5083 | Louis G. Baldwin Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer XTO Energy, Inc. 817/870-2800 |
Statements made in this press release, including those related to the recovery of excess costs on the Wyoming conveyance, completion of pipeline expansions and future realized gas prices and monthly trust distributions, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are subject to risks and uncertainties which are detailed in Part I, Item 1A of the trust’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, which is incorporated by this reference as though fully set forth herein. Although XTO Energy and the trustee believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, neither XTO Energy nor the trustee can give any assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.