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

To: Big Dog who wrote (84841)	1/20/2001 4:18:36 PM
From: Umunhum	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

The big boys are back. It's driller time: chron.com Burst of oil and gas exploration predicted By NELSON ANTOSH Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle Worldwide spending on oil and gas exploration and production will jump about 20 percent this year, the largest increase in two decades, according to Houston-based offshore driller Global Marine. The four major oil companies -- ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and TotalFinaElf -- are finally getting back into the game after a slack period attributed to mergers. They are looking for ways to grow, says Global Chairman and Chief Execuitve Bob Rose, and increased production of oil and gas will be a focus. This makes for a bullish outlook for contract drillers such as Global, as drilling companies build on a substantial recovery in both the growing demand for their equipment and the rates they can charge per day. For jackup rigs in particular, day rates may touch the 1997 high, said Rose at a media briefing today. Rose doesn't buy the argument that 1997 will stand as a high. The current recovery promises to last longer than the prior one, which was cut short by OPEC overproduction and the financial crisis in Asia, he reasons. Compared to the 1997 high, day rates for jackup rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are now about three-quarters of the way to the peak then, while rates for semisubmersibles are approximately half as high. A profitability index developed by Global increased by 3.7 percent in December and was up by 49.7 percent from a year ago. The most profitable areas, ranked from highest to low, were the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, Southeast Asia and the North Sea, in that order.