Hey Sarge! This one's for you, bud!
St. Elmo's fire done struck the patch today, boy!
Energy News
Wed, 10 Mar 1999, 3:37pm EST
Oil Stocks Rise on Hopes of Higher Worldwide Demand and Lower Production
Oil Stocks Rise on Hopes of Higher Demand and Lower Production
New York, March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Oil industry shares rose
on reports that nations such as Saudi Arabia will cut production
and worldwide demand for oil will increase, possibly stemming a
glut that has slashed earnings.
The four largest U.S. oil companies rose in early afternoon
trading. Exxon Corp. rose 2 9/16 to 72 1/2. Mobil Corp. rose 3
7/16 to 91 7/16. Texaco Inc. rose 3 3/8 to 53. Chevron Corp. rose
3 1/16 to 83. Shares of smaller exploration and production
companies such as Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and oil service
companies such as Halliburton Co. also rose.
''The market is starting to anticipate production cuts at
the OPEC meeting on March 23,'' said Adam Sieminski, an analyst
with BT Alex Brown Inc. in Baltimore.
Indications that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries will cut output have surfaced over the last week.
Today, Saudi Arabia said OPEC and other producers would agree to
more reductions before the March 23 meeting, Agence France-Presse
said. Crude oil prices rose 20 cents to $14.05.
The positive sentiment was tempered by OPEC's inability to
enforce reductions pledged last year and by Venezuela's statement
that it wouldn't agree to new cuts.
Rising Demand
Still, stocks rose after the Paris-based International
Energy Agency raised its estimates for growth in worldwide oil
demand for the last three quarters of 1999. A strong U.S. economy
will compensate for slower growth elsewhere, it said.
''Even without the OPEC cuts the potential for both supply
and demand to be in much better shape than the first and second
quarters is real good,'' Sieminski said. ''We think both oil and
gas prices are going to be higher in the second half.''
Indexes that follow the oil industry rose along with the
broader market. Standard & Poor's four-company index of
exploration and production companies rose 3.28 to 51.59. Shares
of Anadarko rose 2 1/2 to 36 3/4. Burlington Resources Inc. rose
2 1/16 to 38 3/16. Apache Corp. rose 1 15/16 to 23 1/2. Union
Pacific Resources Group Inc. rose 9/16 to 9 7/8.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's index of 15-oil service
companies rose 4.67 to 59.46. Halliburton, the largest oil
service company, rose 3 3/16 to 35 7/16. Schlumberger Ltd., the
second-largest, rose 2 13/16 to 58 1/8. Baker Hughes Inc., the
third-largest, rose 1 11/16 to 21 13/16.
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