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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: upanddown who wrote (104322)	7/2/2008 6:04:33 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206325

Repsol Triples Brazil Spending Plan After Second Oil Discovery By Anthony DiPaola and Francine Lacqua July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Repsol YPF SA, Spain's largest oil company, tripled the amount of investment earmarked for developing crude oil deposits discovered with partners in Brazil as industry spending accelerates to meet rising demand. The Spanish company raised its spending forecast to at least $1.5 billion to develop resources off Brazil's coast after a second discovery there last month, Chairman Antonio Brufau said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Madrid today. ``We will put a significant amount of money there,'' Brufau said referring to discoveries in Brazil's Santos Basin. ``Being very conservative, $1.5 billion will be the minimum,'' he said. Repsol and partners BG Group Plc and Petroleo Brasileiro SA discovered the Carioca and Guara fields in the Santos Basin in the past year. Carioca may hold 33 billion barrels of oil, a Brazilian regulator said this year. If confirmed by further drilling, reserves there will be triple those of Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, the largest U.S. field. ``It will take time to quantify the reserves'' in the Brazilian fields, Brufau said. He added the company was ``very optimistic'' about the amount of oil they contain. Repsol shares fell 2.6 percent to 24.39 euros in Madrid today. The stock is about level with its price at the start of the year, making it the fourth-best performer in 2008 on Spain's 35-member benchmark Ibex 35 Index, which has lost 22 percent. Crude producers worldwide and countries owning deposits are aiming to bring resources online to profit from oil prices that have risen to records. Yesterday, crude touched a high of $143.67 a barrel and has more than doubled in the past year. Three Times The forecast Brufau gave today is three times as much as Repsol had initially expected to spend on the Carioca discovery alone, Brufau said. Repsol plans to spend 32.8 billion euros ($51.9 billion) through 2012 in a bid to accelerate profit growth, the company said Feb. 28. Petrobras, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, plans to invest about $33.5 billion in projects this year to ramp up production and explore the offshore fields. That would be the world's largest investment program in the oil and gas industry. Guara and Carioca are ultra-deep deposits beneath a salt layer under the seabed. These fields lie below as much as 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) of ocean and seabed, forming a new province of Brazilian oil reserves beneath shallower existing fields. Production at the Carioca field in Brazil's Santos Basin won't start before 2012, Brufau said at a press conference May 13. Repsol controls 25 percent of the field. Brazil's national oil company Petrobras owns 45 percent and BG holds 30 percent. Gulf of Mexico Repsol, which has pledged to almost triple profit by 2012, expects to gain more oil-exploration licenses in the Gulf of Mexico, Brufau said today in a second interview. The Madrid-based driller and refiner also anticipates acquiring more stakes in wells in that region, where it has interests in the Genghis Khan and Shenzi fields, he said. The company aims to increase production in the Gulf of Mexico to about 40,000 barrels a day by 2012 compared with an estimated 15,000 barrels a day now, the chairman said. Repsol has been shifting its reliance on earnings to the U.S. and North Africa from Latin America. The company may announce new production or cooperation agreements in countries where it already operates in the coming ``few weeks,'' Brufau said, without giving any details. Oil companies are seeking to expand production at the same time as the cost of projects is rising. That means some projects seeking to exploit heavy oils can only be profitable with oil prices stable at near $100 a barrel, Brufau said. Oil prices at that level would promote investment needed to reach a more stable cost of oil with supply sufficient to cover demand, he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony DiPaola in Madrid at adipaola@bloomberg.netFrancine Lacqua in Madrid at flacqua@bloomberg.net

To: upanddown who wrote (104322)	7/2/2008 6:11:42 PM
From: chowder	Respond to of 206325

Re: SPY ... >>> What would you be looking for here to indicate a price reversal? <<< Price hit a low in January at $124.76 and then had a short covering rally. What often happens when price hits a new low, is that the shorts will take some profits. The short covering then becomes fuel to help incite a rally. The buy the dip crowd will often times come in and help fuel that rally. That low will then become near term price support. In March, price came down to that low, almost to the penny ($124.82), and rallied again. Shorts are trained to cover at price support levels, just as longs are taught to buy them. So, you may be correct. We may get another short covering rally in the next day or two. This would be the logical point for one to appear.