EXHIBIT 99.1

                       UNION TEXAS PETROLEUM (LETTERHEAD)

NEWS RELEASE

Contact:          Carol L. Cox
                  (713) 968-2714


                      UNION TEXAS PETROLEUM REPORTS RESULTS

                          OF ANNUAL STOCKHOLDER MEETING


         Houston,  May 8,  1996 -- At Union  Texas  Petroleum  Holdings,  Inc.'s
annual stockholders  meeting held this morning in Houston,  stockholders elected
the company's 11 members of its Board of Directors to one-year terms expiring in
1997.  The  directors  include John  Whitmire,  Chairman and CEO of Union Texas;
Glenn A.  Cox,  retired  President  and  Chief  Operating  Officer  of  Phillips
Petroleum;  Saul A. Fox,  Partner of Kohlberg  Kravis  Roberts & Company  (KKR);
Edward A. Gilhuly, Partner of KKR; James H. Greene Jr., Partner of KKR; Henry R.
Kravis,  Partner of KKR; Michael  Michelson,  Partner of KKR; Stanley P. Porter,
retired Vice Chairman of Arthur Young & Company;  George R. Roberts,  Partner of
KKR;  Richard R. Shinn,  retired  Executive  Vice Chairman of the New York Stock
Exchange and retired  Chairman and CEO of Metropolitan  Life Insurance  Company;
and Sellers Stough, retired Vice President-Finance of Chevron Corporation.

         The  stockholders  also ratified the appointment of Price Waterhouse as
independent accountants.

         One  of  the  largest  independent   producers  located  in  the  U.S.,
Houston-based Union Texas Petroleum Holdings,  Inc. (NYSE: UTH) explores for and
produces oil and gas overseas  primarily in the U.K.  North Sea,  Indonesia  and
other strategic  areas. The company has  petrochemical  operations in Louisiana.
Union Texas celebrated its 100th anniversary in January 1996.


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