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

To: Lucretius who wrote (2925)	11/14/1997 8:05:00 AM
From: Bob (Hijacked)	Respond to of 95453

Lehman sees higher upstream oil spending in 1998 NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers oil drilling stocks analyst Paul Chambers said that he believed that worldwide exploration budgets for oil companies will rise in 1998. ''We believe that upstream expenditure will have a greater emphasis on deepwater and international markets in 1998,'' Chambers said. Some traders and analysts said comments from Lehman on Chevron Corp's (NYSE:CHV - news) capital spending plans had accounted for a sharp fall in the price of oil drilling and service stocks. Chambers said this was not true. ''I seem to be the fall guy for the decline in stocks,'' Chambers said. Chevron chief executive Ken Derr told journalists at the American Petroleum Institute annual meeting on Monday that its capital spending this year would be $5.7 billion instead of the $6.0 billion planned, with the shortfall due largely to the inability of the Nigerian government to fund its share of a project. In 1998 Derr said that Chevron would spend an additional five to 10 percent. Most analysts said that demand for rigs and oil services remained strong and that rig utilization was close to 100 percent. Derr even said that there was no rig available in the Caspian Sea which was capable of drilling its Ashberon holding, which is as deep as 2,000 feet. Drillers and service companies were among the biggest losers on the New York Stock Exchange by late afternoon. Among the drillers, Global Marine Inc (NYSE:GLM - news) fell 15/16 28-15/16 and Reading & Bates Corp (NYSE:RB - news) 1-11/16 to 39-1/6, while in the service sector, Baker Hughes Inc (NYSE:BHI - news) fell 1-1/16 to 44-5/8 and Halliburton Co (NYSE:HAL - news) lost 2-1/6 to 54-1/4. Driller Santa Fe International Corp (NYSE:SDC - news), which has a strong presence in the Caspian, was off 1-7/8 at 48-1/8. ''There is not any fundamental reason. Chevron's underspend has become a focus for some, yet demand for rigs remains strong,'' said Carol Lau, analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. Salomon Brothers oil services analyst Geoff Kieburtz said that he also saw no fundamental reason behind the decline in service stocks.