To: Big Dog who wrote (83628 ) 1/6/2001 1:50:39 PM From: Area51 Read Replies (3) | Respond to You raise some interesting points, and I think it raises some general concerns about the OSX and E&P business models. I'll excerpt from a Bryan Dutt in a recent the street.com article thestreet.com since they express it better than I can But more importantly, and let's talk about the [exploration and production] companies and the oil services industry. They have not, at least recently, returned or earned a reasonable return on capital. Investors still vividly remember the shock they experienced in late 1997-98, when the stocks absolutely collapsed. That's very fresh in their minds, and they're not willing to go back as eagerly and as vociferously as they have in the past. It's going to be a show-me situation. Investors are going to have to believe commodity prices are going to stay up and that these companies will not overbuild and attempt to overcapitalize themselves. And, on the E&P side, they're not going to leverage up and create another disaster scenario like late 1997, early 1998. And, remember, that was only a year and a half or so ago, so investors still remember that.
