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

To: articwarrior who wrote (50663)	9/8/1999 10:12:00 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Respond to of 95453

The Justice Department has reportedly settled three new oil royalty- evasion lawsuits with Chevron, [Conoco] and [Occidental Petroleu]m just as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will ask her colleagues to allow major oil companies to continue cheating the federal government. Justice Department royalty underpayment collections are approaching more than $200 million -- demonstrating the urgent need for new Interior Department royalty-collection reforms that Hutchison and other oil-state Senators have blocked. According to the Department of Interior, oil companies bilk taxpayers and Indians of $66 million annually in fees known as royalties for drilling oil from public lands. Oil-accommodating Senators have enabled the rip-off schemes by holding hostage Interior regulations to prevent further cheating since June 1998, an action which has cost the taxpayers $83 million to date. When the Senate reconvenes on September 8th, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) will ask her colleagues to approve an amendment to the Interior spending bill that would extend the moratorium by an additional year, cheating the government of $66 million more. The new regulations would require oil companies to pay royalties on the basis of prices set in the free market rather than on artificial prices set by the oil companies themselves -- the so-called posted prices. New research shows that the top companies responsible for 99% of all federal oil royalty-evasion made $8.4 billion in profits in the first six months of 1999. The Justice Department settlements stem from a $1 billion False Claims Act lawsuit filed by whistleblowers in U.S. District Court in Lufkin, Texas in 1996. The largest lawsuit of its kind ever filed, the Lufkin case accuses major oil producers of underestimating the value of oil in order to avoid paying the federal government royalties owed for drilling on public lands. Last year the Justice Department joined suits against most of the oil companies. Settlements in recent days include: Chevron for $98 million; Conoco for close to $30 million; and Occidental Petroleum for $7.3 million. In addition, a settlement still being negotiated with [BP Amoc]o is reported to be approaching $35 million. A settlement of $45 million with Mobil was finalized in the Fall of 1998. Oil royalties support the education of school children, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, state government budgets, and Indian nations. The Minerals Management Service calculates that oil royalties have funded more than 37,000 park and recreation projects including such crown jewels as Gettysburg National Memorial Park, Niagara Falls, the Appalachian Trail and the Everglades. State governments including Alaska, California and Texas have collected close to $5 billion in royalty- and tax-evasion lawsuit settlements. Yet, the federal government has lagged behind. POGO estimates that oil companies have defrauded the federal government of more than $2 billion. SOURCE Project on Government Oversight

To: articwarrior who wrote (50663)	9/8/1999 10:25:00 PM
From: A. Geiche	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

<If you look at Zacks board it shows a strong sell for FGI and a buy for HLX> arcticwarior -- for heaven's sake, what you are talking about? Could you please provide a link to that "Zacks board"? Is it this? -- biz.yahoo.com biz.yahoo.com FGI -- two strong buys HLX -- six holds

To: articwarrior who wrote (50663)	9/8/1999 10:56:00 PM
From: Roebear	Respond to of 95453

arcticwarrior, You are good company to have in FGI. I must agree with you and John T Clark and disagree with Slider and Winkman77 as to the ultimate elevation of FGI/HLX stock prices. Perhaps my best work in DD is not really DD at all, it is investor sentiment. My biggest blunder this year was not holding on to VTS till it hit target, I let go way to early and took a small profit instead of a near triple. While I told myself at the time I was going to chase a hotter stock, in reality no doubt I was effected by sentiment. Now that is really embarrassing, but I am just being honest. To guard against such,I keep a collage of post from VTS and other stocks at the time of their bottom. The "nobody is going to need new rigs for a zillion years" theme is one that echoes VTS at the bottom as in the following example, culled from the Yahoo VTS bottom collage: * <<but Wallstreet sold off due to no visible earnings for the next several quarters.>> and then 6 months after an oil price firming before VTS realizes recovering returns. Hate to say it again but if you wanna make "big money" in the foreseeable future this sector is NOT the place to be. Oil prices will firm up...but it is a waiting game. The question of how long you can wait and the time value of money comes to mind. Posted: 3/3/1999 11:59 pm EST as a reply to: Msg 618 * I scarcely need to note for any that followed VTS that this post nearly marked the exact bottom for VTS. Note that VTS quickly ran nearly a triple, despite the sentiment of "who needs seismic" just before. Sentiment is like a gun, it makes a BIG difference which end of it you are at. Now I know I will get Heck from Slider for comparing a seismic company to a fab, but it is the sentiment that I see as the same. In my view that has perhaps the largest effect on stock price, note the FA/TA divergences in the net stocks, 1980 vs now in the general market et al. It is indeed my judgement call and so perhaps worth nothing at all, but I believe JL has a firm grasp on the right end of a Big Gun. He is also about to pull it on any non hedged shorts in FGI/HLX. For purposes of disclosure I am currently 70%FGI/HLX and 40%RRC and yes that is 110% and I am tempted to go farther on margin. For purposes of disclaimer, do your own DD, take your own risks. All the Best, Roebear