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

To: Tomas who wrote (67803)	6/7/2000 11:30:00 AM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Richardson is going to keep his mouth shut? I don't believe it!! Richardson will Not Announce U.S. Position on OPEC slb.com

To: Tomas who wrote (67803)	6/9/2000 1:20:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 95453

Deal making on oil patch has just begun - The oil patch is about to catch fire. The Globe & Mail, June 9 An already busy round of mergers and acquisition activity seems ready to explode, with the strongest energy companies poised to snap up weaker rivals. Well-run oil companies are heading into this period with the luxury of being able to use either their own strong stock as the currency for deals, or deploying cash reserves that have hit unexpected heights on the back of strong sustained prices for oil and gas. With crude oil continuing to fetch more than $28 (U.S.) a barrel, well above what experts were predicting last year, most oil companies find themselves awash in money. One oil stock trader predicted: "One of the themes you're going to hear over and over again when the oil companies start reporting second-quarter earnings is that cash flows are far stronger than anything the Street expected." All this money has to be put to use, and we're already seeing companies opt to channel their cash into acquisitions that add to their oil and gas reserves. The pace is already torrid. Statistics collected by FirstEnergy Capital in Calgary show that through the first six months of the year, we've seen a dozen major deals with a total value of $5.1-billion (Canadian). Through all of 1999, a decent year for mergers and acquisitions, there were 19 deals valued at $7.5-billion. Senior companies being touted as buyers of smaller fish include PanCanadian Petroleum and Burlington Resources, which picked off Poco Petroleum for $3.6-billion in last year's biggest takeover. Both companies are seen as potential bidders for Ranger Oil, which is fending off a hostile bid from Petrobank Energy. Another probable buyer is market darling Alberta Energy, which added to its war chest with a $230-million financing this week. And at the top of everyone's list of targets is Gulf Canada Resources;institutional shareholders are getting restless over the stock's performance and rumours that a U.S. energy company is stalking the company have bounced around the market for weeks. Renaissance Energy's name also comes up in any discussion of companies with solid reserves and soft stock prices. To really heat things up, there continues to be speculation that PanCanadian could be put in play if parent Canadian Pacific decides that its future no longer includes an 87-per-cent stake in this senior producer. A full-scale takeover of PanCanadian would be an $8-billion-plus proposition. ...