It seems like we've been waiting a decade for this kind of cap-ex headline, generally reported. Nothing here we don't ALL know, but it is nice to see it spread around:
Oil service stocks gain on increased spending forecasts
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NEW YORK, Dec. 18 (Reuters) - Oilfield service stocks rose
8 percent on Monday after analysts predicted that oil and gas
companies plan to increase their worldwide spending on
exploration and production next year.
Analysts with Lehman Brothers and Salomon Smith Barney
separately issued reports projecting that oil and gas companies
will raise their worldwide exploration and production (E&P)
spending by as much as 20 percent next year, creating a
favorable environment for oilfield services stock.
The bullish reports helped propel the Philadelphia Stock
Exchange oilfield services index <.OSX> 8.93 points higher, to
119.05, in afternoon trading.
Rowan Co. gained $2, or 8.7 percent, to $25, R&B
Falcon Corp. , gained $2-3/8, or 12.5 percent, to
$21-7/16, and Tidewater Inc. rose $3, or 7.6 percent,
to $42-3/4 to lead the index higher.
"What is especially bullish is that all areas of the world
are anticipating this spending increase," said Jim Crandell, a
senior analyst of oil service equity research at Lehman
Brothers.
The Lehman report predicts a 19 percent growth in worldwide
E&P expenditures in 2001 compared with 2000, based on a survey
of 344 oil and gas companies.
Salomon Smith Barney analysts forecast oil and gas
companies plan to raise their worldwide exploration and
production spending by 20.2 percent next year, they said in a
note to clients on Monday.
They added that the projected increase would be driven by
continued strong growth in North America, in response to high
natural gas prices, and a surge in spending in the rest of the
world as companies pursue projects that were postponed in 2000. |
