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

To: stevedhu who wrote (58169)	1/8/2000 3:42:00 PM
From: Area51	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Thanks for the chronicle posting. I think this comment may be in error: Speed lowers costs. The average cost of finding and bringing a deposit of oil to production is now $3 to $4 a barrel. And that holds for remote seas off Africa as well as the Gulf of Mexico. Previous data I have read (e.g. - wtrg.com indicates a finding cost of $2 (middle east) to $4 per barrell, and lifting costs of an additional $3 - $4 per barrel. The average US cost to find and produce was listed as $8.60 per barrel. Still with oil above $15 and finding/lifting costs of $8 I would think independent producers should be able to make significant money. (One reason I gather that it is not so easy is that typical texas crude for example may only sell for 50% - 80% of the Brent price). Before investing (and especially before losing) too much money in the oil patch I always wanted to understand the oil economics so any insight that others can provide is appreciated.