Atlantic Richfield - Re Jakarta Evacuation

RNS No 5797t
ATLANTIC RICHFIELD CO
18th May 1998

    ARCO Takes Steps to Assure Safety of All Its Employees in Indonesia

        Temporary Evacuation of Expatriate Personnel and Families 
                       from Jakarta is Completed

LOS ANGELES, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- To assure the safety of all its personnel in
Indonesia, ARCO (NYSE: ARC) has temporarily closed its offices in Jakarta and
completed the evacuation of the majority of its expatriate employees and their
families from Jakarta.

ARCO's Jakarta office will remain closed until the safety of all of ARCO's
employees can be assured.

ARCO's oil and gas production operations in Indonesia remain unaffected.  ARCO
is a major oil and gas producer from platforms offshore Java and Bali.  A
contingent of ARCO executives headed by ARCO Indonesia, Inc. president Leon
Codron remains in Jakarta to coordinate the company's ongoing activities.

ARCO has been an oil and gas producer in Indonesia for almost 30 years and
intends to remain a major participant in Indonesia's energy future, a spokesman
said.  ARCO said it looks forward to an early return of its expatriate personnel
to Jakarta.  

ARCO said that its recently announced tender offer for all outstanding shares of
Union Texas Petroleum common stock remains in effect subject to terms and
conditions set forth in the tender offer.

NOTE TO EDITORS:  For a menu of ARCO's news releases or to retrieve a specific
release, visit ARCO's Web site at http://www.arco.com on the Internet.
Contact: Albert Greenstein of ARCO, 213-486-3384
         Web site: http://www.arco.com
         (ARC)

END

MSCNFASSFAPPEAN