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

To: BigBull who wrote (65647)	5/3/2000 9:46:00 AM
From: BigBull	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Getting better, faster and sooner than anyone thought"... Oil service stocks on the rise By Lisa Sanders, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 4:52 PM ET May 2, 2000 Movers & Shakers ? Stock Discussion ? Sector Indexes ? Market Snapshot DALLAS (CBS.MW) -- The Oil Service Index added more than 4 percent Tuesday lifted by gains from individual companies as crude rose above $27 a barrel. Reports from the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston reiterated a bullish outlook for the rest of the year, said Jim Wicklund, an analyst covering oil services for Dain Rauscher Wessels. The index ($OSX: news, msgs) rose 4.30 to close at 120.60 in recent trading. During the earnings season, oil service companies performed well, either matching, Schlumberger (SLB: news, msgs) and Halliburton (HAL: news, msgs), or exceeding expectations, Cooper Cameron (CAM: news, msgs). Most companies said they began to benefit from recovering energy markets during the first quarter of the year. "After February, all the companies looked at their flash reports and knew that March would be worse," Wicklund said. "In the meantime, the rig count bottomed in February, which is the only time it's bottomed and started to move up that early in the year. When they looked at March, it was a much stronger month than was expected, and the rig count was significantly stronger." For March, the rig count had been estimated at 670 but came in at 803, Wicklund noted. For the year, the rig count was expected to be up 17 percent over last year but revised estimates have it topping 30 percent. "It's getting better faster and sooner than anyone thought," Wicklund said. "Weatherford announced that most of its operating income for the quarter was made in March." Weatherford, which was up 7.5 percent, or 3, to close at 43, reported last week that its first quarter income improved 166 percent, reflecting higher activity levels in North America where the average rig count rose 48 percent. See company statement. Elsewhere, shares of Schlumberger added 2 9/16, or 3.4 percent, to close at 77 9/16 on volume of 4 million. Halliburton advanced 3 1/8, or 7.1 percent, to close at 47 3/8, and Cameron rose 2 5/8, or 3.5 percent, to close at 77 1/4. See index. Meanwhile, oil futures settled up $1.02 to $26.89 a barrel Tuesday ahead of an update on U.S. petroleum supplies which is expected to reveal a decline in last week's crude inventories. See full story. Lisa Sanders is a reporter at CBS MarketWatch.