FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE              Contact: Guy T. Marcus    Barbara Johnson
July 1, 1997                                VP-Inv. Rel.     Media Rel.
                                            214/978-2691     713/676-8097


                 CONTRACT SIGNED FOR VENEZUELA HEAVY OIL PROJECT

     DALLAS,  Texas -- Petrozuata  CA., a joint venture company owned by Maraven
(49.9%)  and Conoco  (50.1%),  has  awarded  Contrina  a  lump-sum  engineering,
procurement and construction contract worth about US $500 million for the design
and  construction  of extra heavy crude oil  processing  facilities  and related
utilities and offsites in the Jose industrial  condominium,  near Puerto LaCruz,
in the eastern State of Anzoategui Venezuela.
     Contrina is a permanent joint venture for the Venezuelan  heavy oil upgrade
program  formed  by  five  world  class  engineering  and  construction   firms:
Halliburton Company's (NYSE:HAL) Brown & Root subsidiary; Parsons Process Group;
Technip, Paris, France; and Proyecta and Dit-Harris, both of Caracas, Venezuela.
     The contract covers the process and utilities engineering,  procurement and
construction  packages of the  downstream  Venezuela  Extra Heavy Oil Project to
process  the extra  heavy  crude oil from the Zuata  area of the  Orinoco  Belt.
     The  main  process   units  of  package  1  are  crude   desalter,   vacuum
distillation,  delayed  coker,  gas  recovery  plant/fuel  gas  system,  naphtha
hydrotreater,  amine  regeneration,  sour water  stripping  and sulfur  recovery
facilities.  Package 2 mainly comprises utilities and offsites including storage
and handling facilities.

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Halliburton Company                



     The plant is designed to process  120,000 of extra heavy crude oil and will
use state-of-the-art technologies.
     "Our integrated team is proud to participate in this pioneering  upgrade of
the extra  heavy  crude oil from the  Orinoco  Belt.  We are  beginning  to work
immediately,  with plant  start-up  scheduled for  mid-2000,"  said  Halliburton
president and chief operating officer Dave Lesar.
     Halliburton  Company  is one  of the  world's  largest  diversified  energy
services, engineering, maintenance, and construction companies. Founded in 1919,
Halliburton  provides a broad range of energy services and products,  industrial
and marine engineering and construction services.

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