To: diana g who wrote (50336 ) 9/2/1999 11:44:00 PM From: Gameboy Read Replies (4) | Respond to of 95453
Hi Diana, I respect your stated investment strategy - buy & hold; not exactly mine which is buy & hold for awhile. I totally bailed out of this sector about a year ago when it became obvious the red ink would flow in earnest; I'm back for payback. I may never know what led OPEC in late 1997 to totally misjudge the supply/demand for oil - their information resources must dwarf those of normal mortals a million to one. 1998, though, was an abortion and our own DOE figures were as misleading as anyone else's. Believe one thing: OPEC is now sitting in the catbird's seat and they're not going away. Venezuela loves to sell oil to the US but they're down to a 25 year supply and Venezuela's production cost is relatively high. Some OPEC members can survive $10 oil but Venezuela can't. This sector is the Phoenix rising from the ashes. Imagine the humiliation, setbacks, and loss of face this industry has endured because of the aberrantly low oil prices. As Slider pointed out, the institution boys will need a couple of positive quarters of re-evaluation to re-think the energy sector. BTW, I love the flow of information and opinions on this thread. Thanks Slider for RRC and John Q. Public for EEE. Picked up both. And BELW, got that one, too. It's time to rock and roll - payback time. But Diana, $20/barrel. Dream on. OPEC will take $30/barrel in a heartbeat and they may take more. Right now they're just taking steps to bring buyers to their knees. A properly functioning cartel means control. If OPEC were your cartel, what would you want? The Asian economies got their OPEC welfare in 1998. That was yesterday. For the crap shoot keep HMAR in mind; earned $2+ in a twelve month period last year, now selling for slightly over 50 cents/share. Dot com companies lose money for years with no profit in sight and running boats is no less expertise intensive than running a web page. Kick ass and have fun. Steve