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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 (87340)	2/15/2001 7:39:28 PM
From: excardog	Respond to of 95453

Oil slips for fifth day as bearish signals mount LONDON OIL prices slipped for a fifth straight day today as traders weighed up mounting signals that a global economic slowdown will hit energy demand. Benchmark Brent Blend slumped to $27.00 a barrel, down 28 cents on the day and more than three dollars below the two-month peak of $30.05 the North Sea marker hit just last week. Traders said bearish data showing gains in US energy stockpiles and indications that Opec will not trim output again when it meets next month fueled further selling. “The barrage of bearish economic news has worked its way through to the oil market,” said Peter Gignoux, the head of the London energy desk at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. Since Monday, when the International Energy Agency cut its 2001 demand growth forecast by 140,000 barrels per day to 1.5 million bpd, the market has been seen little reason to buy oil. The American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Information Administration — the statistical arm of the US department of energy — later both showed the nation’s weekly crude stocks had risen last week. The API put crude stocks at 290.74 million barrels, almost eight million above year ago levels. Both the EIA and API also reported a rise in stocks of distillates, which includes heating oil, by some 800,000-900,00 barrels. The distillate stock build, coming in the middle of winter, countered market predictions for a one million barrel drawdown and exacerbated concerns over faltering demand. Comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan that downside risks predominate in the world’s largest economy lent a further bearish tone to the market. “Whether its the IEA, the EIA or the Fed, they are all playing the same tune: demand will be curtailed a bit because of global economic circumstances,” Schroder Salomon Smith Barney’s Gignoux said. Bullish sentiment was also dampened by fading hopes that oil cartel Opec would consider production cuts when the group next meets on March 16, after slashing output by 1.5 million bpd at its last meeting in January. Opec president Chakib Khelil said on Wednesday he saw no need at present for further output cuts. He said he was satisfied with current prices, reaffirming Opec’s adherence to the average $25 a barrel price for the group’s basket of crudes. Khelil said Opec’s decision on whether to cut production further in March would depend, among other things, on the US economy. “It will depend on many factors. One is the US economy. It doesn’t look good. It’s sick. The second issue is demand for the second quarter. Usually it’s lower but the third quarter is supposed to pick up,” Khelil said. “It seems to me that it will be very difficult to justify another decrease in March in view of the information we have now,” he said. — Reuters