Houston, Texas - Black Stone Minerals Company, L.P., and certain of its affiliates, including Black Stone Acquisitions Partners II, L.P., announced today that it agreed to buy a Term Royalty Interest in certain natural gas producing properties from Energy Corporation of America (ECA).

On April 5, 2005, ECA created the Appalachian Gas Royalty Trust and filed an S-1 Registration Statement with the SEC. Black Stone, one of the largest private fee mineral and royalty owners in the U.S., entered into negotiations with ECA to purchase the assets for $155 million. They acquired a 90 percent royalty interest in 312 producing gas wells in the Appalachian Basin in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Black Stone will also acquire a 50 percent royalty interest in 181 development wells to be drilled by ECA in Kentucky and West Virginia. ECA will drill the development wells by March 31, 2008. The estimated proved reserves in the Term Royalty Interest are 45 BCF. The Term Royalty Interest has an effective date of January 1, 2005, and lasts for 20 years, at which time the Term Royalty will revert to ECA.

"We are very pleased to be partners with a company with the proven expertise of Black Stone, and are committed to making this a win/win transaction," said John Mork, CEO of ECA. "The proceeds from this sale will allow ECA to repay outstanding debts and invest in future exploration, development and production."

"This acquisition is a major step forward for Black Stone," said Thomas L. Carter, Jr., president of Black Stone. "We like the properties which have historically had stable production profiles and productive lives in excess of 25 years. The properties complement our existing portfolio of assets and are consistent with the business model that we have established that is intended to earn our investors and limited partners superior returns."

ECA is a privately held energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production, gathering, aggregation and sales of natural gas and oil, primarily in the Appalachian Basin and Gulf Coast region in the United States and New Zealand. ECA owns and operates over 5,000 gas and oil wells in the United States. Raymond James acted as ECA's financial advisor for the development of the Trust and the sale of the Term Royalty Interest.

Black Stone is one of the largest privately owned mineral companies in the United States. Along with its limited partners and other investors, Black Stone now owns interests in approximately 13 million gross mineral and royalty acres in almost every significant onshore exploration basin in the lower 48 states. They have interests in approximately 15,000 wells, producing more than 3.1 million barrels per year on an oil equivalent basis. Randall & Dewey, a division of Jefferies & Company, Inc., acted as advisor to Black Stone on this transaction.