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Gold/Mining/Energy : Trico Marine Services (TMAR)
TMAR 22.47+0.3%2:59 PM EST

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To: Spaw who wrote (883)10/10/1998 3:58:00 PM
From: monu   of 1153
 
For anyone who hasn't seen this:

Friday October 9, 5:45 pm Eastern Time

US GAO asked to investigate IEA world oil forecast

WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. General
Accounting Office was asked on
Friday to investigate the accuracy of the International
Energy Agency's forecasts for world
oil supply and demand, and whether those projections
have unnecessarily helped push down
crude prices.

Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) wants the GAO to look
into the IEA's 1997 and 1998
forecasts that there would be an oversupply of oil, which
the senator claims is not as great as the organization
predicted.

''I am told that the IEA is at a loss to explain what has
happened to the forecasted oversupply and has termed
this an
'arithmetic mystery','' the senator said in a letter to the
GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress.

Domenici said it is crucial that traders in the oil futures pits
at the New York Mercantile Exchange have the most
accurate
information to ensure orderly trading.

The senator asked the GAO to find out how the IEA
comes up with it oil supply and demand forecasts.

''Should the IEA be in the business of making oil supply
and demand forecasts or should they focus solely on
reporting
inventory figures?'' Domenici asked.

The Independent Petroleum Association of America said
it supported the request for a GAO study. The trade
group said its
analysis shows the IEA may be over-predicting
worldwide crude production.

For example, the group pointed out that the IEA forecast
that world supply would exceed demand by 3.4 million
barrels per
day (bpd) during the second quarter of 1998, but the IEA
said that only 1.8 million bpd of excess oil showed up in
inventories.
That leaves 1.6 million barrels of oil per day missing.

''If IEA predictions are not accurate, and the magnitude
of oversupply is much less, the market might very well
have reacted in a different way in the last 11 months. Oil
prices might not have seen their precipitous drop from
where they were one year ago,'' the trade group said.
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