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To: c.d who wrote (208)	8/5/1999 10:50:00 PM
From: Ed Ajootian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 272

c.d, Great to see today's rally, on huge volume. Looks like there is still a spark left in these embers after all.

To: c.d who wrote (208)	8/19/1999
From: Ed Ajootian	Respond to of 272

Rising Energy Prices Fuel Oil & Gas Lending Surge; Chase, BankAmerica Take Top Spots In Industry, Says LPC NEW YORK, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- While rising gasoline prices are causing consternation for U.S. consumers, they are helping to revive corporate lending to the oil & gas industry, according to Loan Pricing Corporation (LPC), which tracks and analyzes the global loan and high-yield bond markets. Lending to U.S.-based oil and gas companies topped $16 billion during the second quarter of 1999, an 86% increase over a slower first quarter of the year, according to LPC. Much of this increase is a direct result of the reduced supply of oil (brought about by unprecedented compliance among OPEC members regarding production cuts) and increased demand world-wide (prompted in part by the summer vacation/travel season and the recovering Asian economies). Companies are taking advantage of the situation. ``Many oil and gas concerns in the U.S. are now in a much better position to access the capital markets than they were only a few months ago,' said Meredith Coffey, a vice-president at LPC. ``As well, they are finding it easier to issue other types of debt, and some are increasing both their drilling and acquisitions budgets.' Indeed, a substantial portion of the improved second-quarter loan volume is a result of the mergers and acquisitions upswing in the corporate financial markets world-wide. Enerquest Oil and Gas and CNG Production, for instance, each purchased assets from Pioneer Natural Resources during the second quarter, while Ocean Energy sold natural gas properties to Cross Timbers Oil. France's TotalFina last month made a 28 billion pounds sterling (roughly $45 billion) bid for France's Elf, a deal that would create the world's fourth-largest oil company. Elf's response was indicative of today's M&A environment; it launched a 50 billion euro ($54 billion) counter offer. Elf last week approached the European banking market in an effort to raise 18 billion euros to support the bid. It received pledges from lenders totaling 41 billion euros, the most ever raised by a first-time borrower in Europe, according to LPC. The leading lenders to U.S oil and gas concerns during the first half of the year were Chase Manhattan Bank and Bank of America, leading $14.8 billion and $13.8 billion of loans, respectively. Loan Pricing Corporation's First-half 1999 Oil & Gas League Table Rank Bank Agent-only Volume Market Share 1 Chase Manhattan $14,841,000,000 23% 2 BankAmerica 13,792,850,000 21 3 Citibank/SSB 7,025,000,000 11 4 BANK ONE 4,874,500,000 7 5 ABN AMRO 3,505,000,000 5 6 First Union 2,552,500,000 4 7 SunTrust 2,130,000,000 3 8 CIBC World Markets 2,068,400,000 3 9 National Westminster 2,000,000,000 3 10 BankBoston 1,835,000,000 3 Please note: This League Table tracks agent-only volume for loans to U.S.-based oil and gas companies. Loan Pricing Corporation, based in New York, collects, analyzes and publishes loan data in databases and publications including DealScan, a database of nearly $5 trillion in C&I loans since 1985, LoanConnector (http://www.loanconnector.com), a real-time loan syndications and news service and Gold Sheets, the industry's leading weekly publication of loan news, data and analysis. LPC is a Reuters company. Info: (212-489-5455 or info@loanpricing.com) SOURCE: Loan Pricing Corporation

To: c.d who wrote (208)	9/7/1999 5:55:00 PM
From: Ed Ajootian	Respond to of 272

Cold Winter, Year-2000 Worries May Boost Home-Heating Bills By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Consumers may have to dig deeper into their pockets this fall and winter to pay their home-heating bills. Higher crude-oil and natural-gas prices, expectations of a colder winter, and anxiety over possible business disruptions caused by year-2000 computer problems are expected to push average heating bills at least 30% higher than last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration report due out Tuesday. Last year, consumers enjoyed bargain energy prices brought on by record-low crude-oil prices and the sixth-warmest winter in 106 years. But this year, analysts say consumers won't be as lucky. A normal winter is forecast after three straight warm ones. And crude-oil prices are expected to hover around $20 a barrel through 1999 -- about $7 to $8 a barrel more than last year, the EIA says. For consumers relying on natural gas for home heating, the price increases this winter could prove even bigger than for heating-oil customers. Natural-gas stocks that recently slipped below year-ago levels continue to decline and are threatening to create a frenzied spot market at the beginning of 2000. Spike in Prices If temperatures are normal this winter, "we are looking at the potential for a very serious spike in natural-gas prices sometime in January," Larry Goldstein, president of Petroleum Industry Research Foundation Inc., said. Mr. Goldstein believes winter natural-gas producer prices will be more than 50% higher during next year's first quarter than in 1999. The EIA projected in its August report that natural-gas prices would be at least 37% higher, but the agency said its new forecast due Tuesday would be even higher. During the first three months of 1999, natural-gas producer prices averaged $1.74 per million British Thermal Units. Crude-oil prices began rising again in the spring as the economies of many Asian countries began to rebound and after a series of production-cutback agreements by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. "Last year, consumers got a bargain on what they paid for fuel," said Dave Costello, an economist at EIA. "This year, there is a double whammy because we expect both higher prices and higher volumes." Heating-oil prices should average 20 cents to 25 cents a gallon higher during the winter than last year, Mr. Goldstein said. During the fall and winter, heating-oil prices averaged 57 cents per gallon. Prices could rise even more if the U.S. is forced by cold weather to turn to Europe for added supply. Germany, a big producer of heating oil, cut its refinery runs by as much as one million barrels a day during the summer because of excess inventory and poor refining margins. Then there is the Y2K factor. Analysts expect year-end prices to spike when consumers, driven by uncertainties over how computers will handle the new millennium, begin stocking up on heating oil, gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Output by OPEC Much of the forecast depends on how well OPEC upholds its production agreements. The group, which has a history of cheating on agreed-to production levels, is meeting this month in Vienna. Many analysts believe it is too soon for OPEC to raise production levels significantly. Still, analysts expect some increase in production by OPEC and non-OPEC producers before the March 2000 meeting, which could help prices at the consumer end. The forecasts of higher fuel prices are not expected to change expectations about inflation. "People have come to learn that energy prices are very volatile and that they need to focus on the longer-term inflation rate," said Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute. "These sorts of spikes are in general transitory." In the natural-gas market, analysts blamed disappointing production results, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, and decisions by independent producers to curtail production earlier this year for the current trend toward higher prices. Natural-gas production is down about 7% from year-ago levels. In the gasoline market, crude-oil prices are expected to curtail any seasonal price drops with the end of the summer driving season. U.S. pump prices were expected to peak in August at $1.20 a gallon for regular unleaded, but analysts say prices will continue to creep up another five cents through December. In California, gasoline prices peaked on Aug. 9 at $1.53 a gallon and have been sliding back ever since. They remain about 20 cents above normal levels, according to the California Energy Commission. The state is still recovering from a series of refinery fires and shutdowns in the spring and summer. The normally tight gasoline market became even tighter in July after an explosion at Chevron's Richmond refinery and a fire at a Mobil refinery in Torrance, which sent spot prices shooting up again. The Richmond refinery continues to operate below capacity, and some repairs may not be completed until January. California prices are normally about 12 to 15 cents higher per gallon than the rest of the country because the state uses a unique gasoline blend to meet state emission standards.