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To: Wallace Rivers who wrote (94099)	8/30/2001 1:35:42 PM
From: kodiak_bull	Respond to of 95453

Wallace, From the 8-K "On August 29, 2001, the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Nabors Industries authorized the continuation of Nabors' share repurchase program and increased the amount of Nabors common stock authorized for purchase by Nabors to up to $400,000,000, in the aggregate. As of the date of this filing, Nabors has repurchased approximately $145 million of its common stock, or 3,582,700 shares. These shares are now held in treasury. In addition, Nabors has entered into two separate private transactions with a counterparty in which we sold 2.0 million put options which, upon maturity during September 2001, will result in our purchase of 2.0 million shares of our common stock or settlement in cash. If we purchase our common stock, we will pay an aggregate of $86.9 million for such shares." At today's prices, NBR is now underwater $36,440,000 on this put transaction. For a company with earnings of about $187 million, that's not a happy transaction, is it? Well, maybe Gene Isenberg doesn't walk on water, after all. You're supposed to be selling equity at the top, not buying it. Otoh, maybe there's something in the transaction which makes it a wash, or even an NBR gainer. If not, Gene should remember this for the future, sell puts on stocks which go up, not down. Kb