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Gold/Mining/Energy : Lundin Oil (LOILY, LOILB Sweden) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tomas who wrote (1322)	9/20/1999 7:00:00 PM
From: Aggie	Respond to of 2742

Good Evening Tomas, Here is my posting from Strictly: Drilling and oil field services, as requested: Now for my two cents. 1. Old iron is old iron. We have already seen about 80% of the upgrade work possible with old rig designs, this was done during the last boom, mostly to accommodate the shifting drilling technology. Such things as the addition of top drives, extra mud pumps, sponsons, etc. were integrated into these older rigs without much fuss. You cannot squeeze blood from a stone, guys, and old iron cannot be made to work in deep water. Deep water is the future of big budget exploration programs, like it or not. Older semis and drillships do not have the displacement to handle high variable deck loads necessary for deep water mooring and long drilling risers. Older semis and drillships do not have the generating capacity to convert to dynamic positioning, nor do they have the room to add it. Older semis and drillships are not easily converted to high pressure - high temperature rigs. This is why we have had an enormous surge in new build activity. Land rigs, on the other hand, are only hampered by derrick load capacity and design depth rating. A 20,000' rig can drill a 20,000' well, whether it's in 1950 or 1999. And a land rig can easily accommodate extra mud pumps, additional power generation, etc. 2. There has been a robust interest in deepwater blocks worldwide, though not at the frenetic pace of 1996-97. It is not advisable to use a boom year as a yardstick to measure profitable activity. The last licensing round in Brazil, for example, for deepwater blocks attracted widespread industry attention and competitive bidding. Same for Nigeria. The Falkland islands will be busy again, and soon, make no mistake. The soft-pedalling of the discoveries last year was purely strategic. The presence of hydrocarbons in any amount is hugely significant for such rank wildcats. 3. FGI will almost certainly have a slow year with respect to new build orders, but just as certainly, will be busy with work on recommissioning supply vessels, shallow and medium depth-rated jackups and floaters, and barge rigs. The commodity prices dictate profitability in mature petroleum provinces, and there are hundreds of shallow-medium water prospects in the GOM which are being freshly reviewed. I myself do not have a position in FGI at this point, short or otherwise. All of this whining about people expressing their opinions...let's give it a rest, eh? In the final analysis, if you think they're shorting, adjust your perspective and strategy accordingly and take your losses and gains like an adult. 'Nuff said. Last week I had the pleasure of touring the Stena Tay, a completely new concept in Semisubmersible drilling. Very interesting rig conversion (used to be a "flotel"), the power package generates 45 MW (WOW! Small city consumption)and burns about 65 tons of diesel daily to do it. The rig is a HydraLift ram rig, the derrick is not load bearing - only a stiffened structure. The hookload is handled by vertical hydraulic rams. Drilling assemblies and casing strings are made up to the side and out of critical path. Well...Shell has taken a huge gamble with this rig (5 year contract), I wish them luck with all the kinks. Regards to all, Aggie

To: Tomas who wrote (1322)	9/20/1999 7:05:00 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2742

Khartoum, Sept. 20 (SUNA)- The Sudanese oil pipeline was subjected to a sabotage act on midnight Sunday at Taiyan village, 14 kilometers east of Atbara town, and the explosion caused limited damage at the site. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mining Engineer Hassan Mohamed Ali explained in a statement to the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) that the Ministers of Energy and Interior inspected the incident site Monday morning, adding that engineers began as of Monday morning maintenance of the damage and work is scheduled to be completed Tuesday. The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Energy affirmed that the programme of oil exportation, arrival and loading of ships will not be affected by the incident. The fourth ship for exporting Sudanese oil is due to arrive at Bashayer port for loading on Wednesday, he said. Meanwhile, security authorities said that they found at the incident area a sign in the form of emblem of the so-called Ummah Liberation Army. A political source held elements of the so-called Alliance responsible for the sabotage act, condemning such acts as coward ones and targeting the Sudanese nation's capabilities and interests. The source stressed that the concerned authorities will pursue the culprits and arrest them, adding that efforts will be made to avoid occurrence of similar sabotage acts. He called upon the citizens to be alert and inform the security authorities about persons who are suspected of committing such heinous acts.