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

To: Terry D who wrote (60473)	2/17/2000 10:30:00 AM
From: Terry D	Respond to of 95453

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Soaring oil prices will soon stabilize, a top Clinton administration official said on Thursday, after hints from OPEC heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Venezuela that the cartel may be ready to increase production. U.S. crude oil prices, which earlier this week rocketed above $30 a barrel to the highest level in nine years, fell to $28.37 a barrel in overnight trading and were expected to open lower when the New York Mercantile Exchange opened. ``We believe that prices will stabilize. Heating oil prices are already going down and we do think that gasoline ... will go down a bit,' U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told ABC television. ``We will not have, in my judgment, excessively high prices.' Therefore, in his judgement, $30/bbl is not excessive His remarks reflected overnight news from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela that the two influential OPEC members were interested in trying to calm the volatile oil market. On Wednesday, Richardson said he was concerned that U.S. retail gasoline prices could rise significantly ahead of the summer driving season if OPEC did not increase production. President Clinton, who said he was ``deeply' troubled by the tripling of oil prices during the past year, appealed to OPEC on Wednesday to help bring the market into better balance. The president also pointedly reminded OPEC that sharply higher prices could backfire on the cartel by slowing the world economy and encouraging competitors to explore for new oil. Early Thursday, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi told his South Korean counterpart that he believed the ``ideal' crude oil price range was $20 to $25 a barrel. And Venezuela energy minister Ali Rodriguez said the OPEC oil cartel would likely take corrective measures against rocketing oil prices, which earlier this week rose to the highest level since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Their remarks came after several days of conflicting signals from OPEC members on what the cartel's production strategy would be for the next six months. OPEC is due to meet in late March to decide whether to continue deep cuts in output that began last year, or gradually increase production to replenish world inventories. Richardson also repeated that the U.S. administration was reluctant to tap the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was created by Congress for severe supply disruptions. ``This is a price problem,' he said. ``We have to be very careful. The United States does not try to manipulate markets. We don't try to intervene in markets. We don't try to manipulate the price of oil.' Everyone believes that, Bill. But Richardson said he was concerned that low-income people in the northeastern and Midwestern United States would not be able to deal with the sharp rise in heating oil prices. On Wednesday, President Clinton announced that $125 million in federal funds would be used to help poor families pay heating oil bills. Richardson was scheduled to speak in Austin, Texas later on Thursday, and make appearances in Greenville, S.C., and Atlanta on Friday before heading to Mexico City. He will also visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Norway during the next few days and meet with his Venezuelan counterpart in Miami on March 4.