To: Harold S. who wrote (62256 ) 3/16/2000 11:37:00 AM From: Terry D Respond to
Hope everyone took advantage of the recent slide. Bill Richardson - he's sharper than OPEC. Has them running scared. Guess he'll be Vice President when OPEC ups production less than 2 million bbls. a day and crude stays above 30 - forever.Baker Hughes released the international rig count for February, which was 562, up from 560 in January. The annual Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale was held yesterday and it provided a more bullish signal for future spending on oil and gas exploration and production. While the downward slide in the international rig count is over, upward momentum is not yet visible. We continue to have a bifurcated market, recovering sharply in North America and in the Gulf of Mexico (led by the independents) and recovering slowly outside of North America (led by the major oils). We continue to believe that the international rig count will be climbing steadily by April or May. Conversations with oil service companies and drilling contractors continue to reveal a brisk upturn in orders that will translate into revenues in 2H 2000. The Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale showed that the independent oil and gas producers are hungry for Gulf of Mexico drilling prospects. Compared with last year's Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale, this year's bidding was far more aggressive, portending a further upturn in Gulf of Mexico drilling. High bids (apparent winning bids) totaled $300 million, vs. $171 million last year. Bids were received on 344 offshore lease blocks, up from 207 a year ago. Independents such as Anadarko, Vastar Resources, Kerr McGee and Murphy Oil dominated the lease sale. Our message is still that the fundamentals are positive and that spending on oil and gas drilling will rebound impressively in 2000 as a whole compared with 1999.
