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

To: upanddown who wrote (49420)	8/17/1999 6:50:00 PM
From: Wowzer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Tuesday August 17, 6:14 pm Eastern Time Oil pulls back on bearish gasoline summer builds, stocks up By Haitham Haddadin NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Oil pulled back slightly in Tuesday's aftermarket as a bearish rise in U.S. gasoline stocks during the summer driving season seemed to overshadow a bigger-than-expected draw in crude stocks for now. But oil's early gain helped oil shares finish mostly higher. September oil closed 38 cents up at a session high of $21.74 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, amid expectations of bullish draws in weekly U.S. gasoline and crude oil stocks. Surging oil products, in the wake of new U.S. refinery problems, added to crude's strength both sides of the Atlantic. In London, September Brent finished 31 cents up at $20.78. But NYMEX crude eased some six cents in afterhours trade despite a report from the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group whose data is awaited by the market, saying U.S. crude stocks fell 3.2 million barrels in the week of August 13. The draw topped market expectations of a 1.8 million barrel draw, but late pressure came as the APIs, released after the close of regular NYMEX trade, also reported that gasoline inventories had actually risen 337,000 barrels. This sharply contradicted forecasts of a gasoline stocks draw of 2.25 million barrels, based primarily on rising demand from U.S. motorist in summer vacation months. NYMEX gasoline piled on strength in the regular session after late reports that Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) took a hydrocracker unit off line at a California plant for a week. But it eased in the aftermarket under pressure from the APIs, which also pushed heating oil lower after citing a deeper than forecast seasonal build in stocks of 2.3 million barrels. By 1728 EDT/2128 GMT, gasoline was down 0.24 cent at 65.20, having earlier settled up 1.32 cent. Heating oil, which ended regular trade a hefty 1.47 cent higher, fell 0.31 cent. Traders now await U.S. Department of Energy data early on Wednesday to confirm the APIs for short-term direction. However, continuing to underpin the oil market's strength in general is the perception that major producers remain committed to output cuts they have put in place since last year. Oil prices now are almost double levels seen in February. Some support today came from news of another assurance from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that Caracas will not increase output this year. He also said Venezuela would push for keeping current supply curbs at the September ministerial meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. ''This (Chavez) statement, obviously, is mostly bullish for the short term, tending to confirm statements by other OPEC (officials) that OPEC will definitely not try to raise production at their Sept 22 meeting,'' a U.S. oil analyst said. ''Near the close, a report came out that Arco's Los Angeles refinery hydrocracker is down for a few days. This seemed to add a bit of panic,'' he added. On the stock market, energy indices were mainly gainers with nearly 30 out of 55 oil and gas firms closing firmer and major shares closing mixed. The S&P International Oil Index (^SPOILI - news) tracking the majors rose a modest 0.40 percent to 1,005.31 while the broader S&P 500 (^SPX - news) rose 1.01 percent to 1,344.16. The S&P Oil Index (^SPOILP - news) grouping the indepedent oil and gas producers, however, fell 0.95 percent to 66.55. Philadelphia Oil Services Index (^OSX - news) was the biggest gainer, up 3.30 percent at 87.85 points. Gains were also seen by independent refiners like Sunoco (NYSE:SUN - news), Tosco (NYSE:TOS - news) and Valero (NYSE:VLO - news), which helped push the S&P Refining Index (^SPENRM - news) 1.92 percent up to 113.90. More Quotes and News: OIL SERVICE (Philadelphia Stock Exchange) (^OSX - news) S&P 500 INDEX (Standard & Poor's Corp) (^SPX - news) S&P O&G REFINNG (Standard & Poor's Corp) (^SPENRM - news) S&P OIL & GAS (Standard & Poor's Corp) (^SPOILP - news) S&P OIL INTL (Standard & Poor's Corp) (^SPOILI - news) Sunoco Inc (NYSE:SUN - news) Tosco Corp (NYSE:TOS - news) Valero Energy Corp (NYSE:VLO - news) Related News Categories: US Market News

To: upanddown who wrote (49420)	8/17/1999 6:55:00 PM
From: pz	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

State of the oil business. If what I've witnessed the last few days is any indication, then things are dramatically starting to pick up. The last few days I've had numerous companies calling out of the blue looking for drillable prospects. I haven't seen this happen in probably 2 or 3 years or more. We normally work for the same companies and don't solicit work, so calls out of the blue like this are very rare. I'm buying back into the drillers, there are just too many indications that things are going to get much better. Paul