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To: BigBull who wrote (57255)	12/22/1999 11:05:00 AM
From: articwarrior	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Last night on the evening news there was a report on Halter Marine having to go to court to get the state of Alaska to pay for the Ferry it built for them. 46 million is in dispute. Alaska says Halter took to long to finish the job and Halter says Alaska had to many changes. Arcticwarrior

To: BigBull who wrote (57255)	12/22/1999 11:14:00 AM
From: JungleInvestor	Respond to of 95453

Yahoo article on API figures below. Distillates (Heating oil) and NG should have nice drops next week due to the cold weather. It will be interesting to see if AGA figures announced this week show a significant drawdown on the back of last week's. biz.yahoo.com Wednesday December 22, 7:43 am Eastern Time Note: this article has a followup with more information. FOCUS-Oil edges lower after small US stock drop (Adds London prices, previous Singapore) LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Oil prices drifted further off recent highs on Wednesday following a smaller than expected decline in crude stockpiles in the United States, the world's biggest energy market. Benchmark Brent crude for February was four cents lower at $25.25 per barrel. The American Petroleum Institute industry group reported late on Tuesday that primary crude stocks held by U.S. refiners fell a meagre 199,000 barrels in the week ended December 17. The fall was much smaller than the 2.4 million-barrel draw that the oil market had been anticipating. Exacerbating the report's bearish effect, analysts noted that when a revision to the previous week's numbers was taken into account, crude stocks in fact increased in the latest week. Distillate stocks, mostly heating oil, fell 2.569 million barrels and gasoline dropped 2.364 million barrels -- both more than had been expected. Traders said it was unusual to have such heavy draws in product stocks at this time of the year, but they attributed the decline to secondary stock building among wholesalers as a precaution against potential Y2K problems. Prices have come off in recent days amid signals from Bagdhad that Iraq will press on quickly with exports under the latest stage of its United Nations oil-for-food programme. But crude prices are still within sight of nine-year highs at $26.15 following a sizzling rally in 1999 that has seen prices more than double. OPEC is watching oil stocks closely as a test of the success of its supply restraint policy. Ministers have stated OPEC wants global stocks to fall to levels last seen in 1996 and 1997. Stocks in the United States, which consumes a fifth of world oil, stand around levels last seen in early 1997. The rally has been inspired by three rounds of output cuts brokered by Venezuela and Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Mexico that have squeezed flows by up to four million barrels per day (bpd). Mexican Energy Minister Luis Tellez said on Tuesday Mexico and other major oil producers were ready to extend the output cuts throughout next year, depending on market conditions. But Tellez declined to comment on whether the cuts would be extended at the same level beyond March 31, 2000, the expiry date for the current accord. United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said he did not believe prices would overheat in the face of the cuts and the curbs would stay in place until the end of March. A study by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia said OPEC members can increase production by more than five percent in 2000 and still maintain an average price of $22 a barrel, well over a $17.50 a barrel average for 1999. Dec 22 Dec 21 (1240 GMT) (close) IPE Feb Brent 25.25 25.29 NYMEX Feb light crude 26.20 26.26