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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Big Dog who wrote (46523)	6/16/1999 12:46:00 PM
From: Jon Cave	Respond to of 95453

VTS vs PGO The only reason I can figure for VTS share price doing so much better than PGO is its exposure to the land drilling market in the US. Market currently thinks land drilling will pick up because demand for natural gas. Does that make sense to anybody here <g>. Just trying to figure out why VTS is so hot and PGO is not.

To: Big Dog who wrote (46523)	6/16/1999 12:51:00 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Respond to of 95453

Is SEV dead meat?? Looks like it from the amount of selling going on today.

To: Big Dog who wrote (46523)	6/16/1999 12:57:00 PM
From: Jon Cave	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

I agree with Big Bull. I don't think that the construction oil stocks will do as well as the rest of the OSX sector. I've been thinking about buying HLX or FGI, but just for short term trades. HLX was a great buy at 6 today. If I had bought at 6, I would be selling at 6 3/4 right now. (not that lucky)

To: Big Dog who wrote (46523)	6/16/1999 2:33:00 PM
From: oilbabe	Respond to of 95453

BigDog: Yea, I've followed your guidance for about 7 months now...Bought FGI in Dec. and sold after the CNBC interview ...Thanks for the info on FGI...you're probably right. I was a little frustrated at missing RIG yesterday...I traded it very succesfully the past few weeks, but yesterday it looked like it had run away from me. Well, surprise surprise, here it comes...I agree with most that we are over-extended here, and due for a pullback. Think I'll wait and see where we settle. I still like RIG long term, but will wait for a pullback. OT: Can't settle in with diana, since I live in the Mickey Mouse House (Orlando). Weather sucks, but its not too bad in February! Thanks again for all the info. This is by far the most informative thread around!

To: Big Dog who wrote (46523)	6/16/1999 8:23:00 PM
From: James Cherney	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Big Dog...Makin the cake in repair & refurb??? Can you comment on the general condition of the GOM offshore platforms along with the average age and the requirements for maintenence that is required to stay in maritime compliance??? I know GIFI's Dolphin subsidiary is in this biz...Is there the kind of cake in this market that would interest Wallstreet and who stands to benefit??? TIA, jrc

To: Big Dog who wrote (46523)	6/16/1999 11:55:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 95453

Offshore technology: Dash into deep water - Financial Times World Energy, June issue by Robert Corzine The pace of technological change in the offshore oil and natural gas industry continues to intensify as oil companies pursue the holy grail of lower costs and greater technical capabilities. Although the prolonged period of low oil prices over the past year caused the cancellation or deferment of a significant numbers of offshore projects, the basic drive to venture further offshore and into ever deeper waters shows no signs of slowing. The reason is simple. In many parts of the world it is only the deepwater areas that offer the scope for discovering the giant fields which big oil companies need to make a material difference to their reserves. Last year's plunge in crude prices has, if anything, accelerated the shift to the deep offshore. In May Shell Oil, the US subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell, sold its portfolio of shallow water properties in the Gulf of Mexico to Apache Corporation for around $750m in cash and shares, in order to focus on deepwater opportunities, such as the Brutus field, on which Shell proposes to spend $900m. Low prices did little to dampen the ardour of companies for emerging deepwater areas such as Angola, where the big oil companies have fought furiously for the most desirable exploration blocks. Such frantic commercial activity is underpinned by growing confidence in the offshore technology, although more than a few cutting edge deepwater developments have been plagued by technical problems and delays. A new breed of seismic survey vessels is emerging from shipyards around the world. The three-dimensional data they generate allows geologists to target wells more precisely and with fewer risks. Drilling has benefited not so much from revolutionary advances as from steady incremental change, much of it aimed at deepwater operations. About $16bn has been earmarked for the construction of a new generation of rigs to drill wells in three kilometres of water while at the same time reducing the time required by 20 to 40 per cent. But the fundamental principle of how a well is drilled has not changed in the past hundred years, and some oil executives are calling for more fundamental changes. In the UK North Sea, a mainly mature oil producing area which is suffering from a sharp decline in exploration drilling, there is a growing interest in finder wells, whose purpose is to answer one question: are there hydrocarbons in the targeted formation? Advocates say such wells, which collect far less geological information compared with conventional ones, could cut the cost of a multi-well drilling campaign by about a third. The interest in the deepwater and the desire in mature offshore areas to develop marginal fields close to existing platforms and pipelines has spurred the development of subsea technologies, in which wells - and in some cases processing facilities - are placed directly on the seabed. This is an especially compelling development for oil companies. The ability to extract produced water at the wellhead, or possibly even within the well itself, would unlock significant savings, given that water can constitute as much as 90 per cent of the fluids produced in some older fields. But for all the recent advances in offshore technology, there are some who believe that the industry may be approaching a technological crossroads, with the interests of the top tier of giant companies - traditionally the driving force for much new technology - diverging from those lower down the scale. "Companies like BP Amoco, Royal Dutch/Shell and Exxon Mobil have the critical mass to explore for and develop giant fields," says Andy Tillbrook, a UK-based industry consultant. "But smaller companies need to make money from whatever they find."

To: Big Dog who wrote (46523)	6/17/1999 12:18:00 AM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 95453

Offshore drilling: Efficiencies overshadowed by rig market realities Soft oil prices have dampened the thrill of some impressive advances in offshore drilling technology, writes Robert Steven Financial Times World Energy, June issue Continuous incremental improvement in drilling technology is enabling the oil industry to drill wells which would have been considered uneconomic or technically impossible just 10 years ago. Wells are being drilled horizontally with pinpoint accuracy to a distance of over 10 kilometres away. Multiple horizontal lateral branches can be successfully side-tracked from wells drilled from floating rigs to increase production from thin and previously unreachable reservoir horizons. In the region of $16bn is currently being spent by contractors to build a new generation of rigs to drill wells in three kilometres of water while also introducing time saving efficiencies of between 20 and 40 per cent into the well construction schedule. "One of the recent developments in drilling that has been most important," says Dave Herasimchuk, vice-president of market development at drilling contractor Global Marine, "is the ability to control precisely the direction and position of the wellbore." It is now routine to drill horizontally and control the position of the drill bit over 7,000 metres away. This capability has given a new lease of life to mature fields and basins around the world by developing reservoirs that were not previously accessible. "The changes that have taken place on the rig floor are much less revolutionary," says Mr Herasimchuk. "However, we are now building a new generation of rigs for deepwater operations, which in terms of size and capacity are a big step forward. To make this work we are tapping into state-of-the-art technologies for every component in the drilling process." Nevertheless, the fundamental principle of how a well is drilled has not changed in the past hundred years. There is an analogy with the internal combustion engine, which would still be recognisable to motoring pioneers although many of the modern components and efficiencies they have introduced would be unimaginable. In a similar manner, there has been a huge and accelerating development in all the technical components involved in drilling, both down the well and on the rig floor. However, in all but the most specialised situations, drilling and completing a well still demands a large derrick to support heavy lifting gear. A state-of-the-art rig floor incorporates widespread automation and computer control to maximise safety and efficiency but the basic process of drilling and casing a hole remains the same. Consequently as wells are drilled deeper and in greater water depths so the drilling equipment and the vessels needed to carry it grow bigger and more expensive. With a price tag of at least $300m the new breed of drilling rig needs to be contracted to operators on a long-term basis at rates of between $150,000 and $200,000 a day to be a viable investment. To justify higher costs operators are demanding new efficiencies to cut the time it takes to drill a well, particularly in deepwater. The Discoverer Enterprise, a $382m deepwater drillship being built by Transocean Offshore, is due to enter service with BP Amoco in the US in July. With a displacement of 100,000 tonnes it is one of the largest drillships yet built and will be able to support two entirely separate areas for simultaneous drilling activities, thereby reducing well construction time. Transocean expects the dual activity drilling system to bring efficiency improvements in well construction of up to 40 per cent, reducing the effective cost to the operator by 50 per cent due to savings in associated services. Other rig newbuilds are targeting efficiency savings of around 25 per cent by servicing a single drilling derrick with dual pipe-handling systems. This allows the process of making up drill pipe, casing and riser to be taken out of the critical path in well construction. The novel hydraulic RamRig drilling system developed by Maritime Hydraulics is just entering operational service on a mobile rig on the Bideford Dolphin with Saga Petroleum in Norway. It weighs 20 to 30 per cent less than conventional drilling packages on floating rigs, has a lower centre of gravity and a more compact design while also providing integrated active or passive heave compensation to counter the effect of vessel motion on the drill pipe. The next evolutionary step in offshore drilling technology could be the development of a truly lightweight package with the same performance as a standard heavy derrick. Coil tubing drilling offers potential by doing away with the need to make and break drill pipe. But there is still no viable alternative to a heavy-duty derrick and drawworks for installing well casing or deepwater riser pipe. Slim-hole drilling is also gaining ground, partly to reduce the weight demands placed on the surface equipment. Ironically, no matter how much drilling efficiency can be improved, it is still likely to have less impact on the net cost of drilling than the interplay of supply and demand in the rig market. The slump in oil prices during 1998 means there is currently a drilling rig surplus and a third generation semi-submersible can be hired in the North Sea for little more than $30,000 a day. As recently as the beginning of last year the same rig cost $160,000 a day. For the foreseeable future the greatest drilling cost efficiency that an oil company can achieve is to explore and develop when rig rates are low, counter to the conventional oil price-driven cycle.