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

To: Teddy who wrote (3767)	11/25/1997 8:51:00 AM
From: Lucretius	Respond to of 95453

Costilla Announces 1998 Drilling Budget MIDLAND, Texas., Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Costilla Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: COSE - news) reported today that the Company's exploration and development drilling budget for 1998 is projected to be $70 million. Of the new budget, the Company has allocated approximately 40 percent for exploration, with emphasis in South and East Texas and the Rocky Mountains, and 60 percent for development efforts, primarily in the Permian Basin region. Costilla's total developed and undeveloped leasehold acreage has grown to 1,044,833 gross, or 723,733 net acres. As of September 30, 1997, the Company has amassed 649,381 gross, 596,700 net, undeveloped acres. This acreage compares to 242,541 gross, 147,742 net, undeveloped acres at December 31, 1996. Additionally, as part of its ongoing 3-D seismic program, the Company has surveyed or acquired by purchase in excess of 1,500 square miles of 3-D data. Of the 400 square miles of data that has been fully evaluated using 3-D analysis, Costilla has identified approximately 300 drilling locations out of a total of the more than 600 locations the Company has identified for drilling. ''We intend to take maximum advantage of our acreage position and seismic inventory to continue an aggressive drilling program throughout 1998, and beyond,'' said Mike Grella, Costilla's President and CEO. ''The opportunities to create and add value to our properties are significant, and we intend to continue to use our technological edge to explore and exploit these properties to the advantage of our shareholders.'' Though the nine months ended September 30, 1997, the Company had invested approximately $44.8 million in exploration and developmental drilling, approximately 23 percent of which was for exploration, and 77 percent was for development. Projected to year-end, total exploration and development drilling expenditures are expected to be approximately $48.1 million. Costilla Energy, Inc. is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, acquisition and development of oil and gas properties, with operations primarily in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, South and East Texas, and the Rocky Mountain regions. The Company and its predecessors have been in business since 1988. Certain statements in this news release constitute ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Costilla Energy, Inc. to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement. Such factors include, among others, the following: the volatility of oil and gas prices; the Company's ability to replace its oil and gas reserves; the availability of capital resources; the reliance upon estimates of proved reserves; operating hazards and uninsured risks; competition; government regulation; and the ability of the Company to implements business strategy. These factors are discussed in more detail in the Company's prospects for its initial implement its business strategy. These factors are discussed in more detail in the Company's prospectus for its initial public offering of common stock. SOURCE: Costilla Energy, Inc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Teddy who wrote (3767)	11/25/1997 8:54:00 AM
From: Lucretius	Respond to of 95453

Angola seen announcing new oil operators mid-Dec LUANDA, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The operators of three offshore blocks in Angola are expected to be announced by early December amid INTENSE BIDDING following recent world-class finds, an oil executive and industry analyst in Luanda said on Tuesday. ''The government should be announcing the new operators by the first few days of December,'' an oil industry analyst told Reuters. He asked not to be identified. Interest in Angola's deep water blocks has intensified since the French oil company Elf Aquitaine (ELFP.PA) made enormous finds in Block 17 at the Girassol and Dalia fields over the past year. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CHV - news) has also made an encouraging discovery in deep water in Block 4, company officials say. Esso Exploration Angola, a subsidiary of Exxon (NYSE:XON - news) recently discovered oil in Block 15, described as encouraging by competing oil company executives in Luanda. One oil executive also said the operators should be announced soon. ''I would think the government will make the announcement within two to three weeks,'' he said. Hectic competition has characterised the bidding for the operatorships of the new blocks, known as Blocks 23, 24 and 25. ''After the Elf finds and the others, the bidding for these last blocks was very intense,'' the analyst said. He added many foreign oil companies had offered bids, including the Italian company Agip (AGIS.CN), Exxon, BP Exploration (BP.L) and the Norwegian firm Norse Hydro (NHY.OL). Representatives of these companies in Luanda declined to say if they had bid on the blocks, saying company policy prohibited them from doing so. The analyst said the recent finds and a signature fee of more than $40 million paid recently by the Australian company Broken Hill Pty (BHP) for Block 21, had undoubtably driven up the price for the last three blocks. ''The companies will be paying a lot of money, that is for sure,'' he said. ''And the government is also expecting a signature fee in the neighbourhood of the $40 million one that BHP paid.'' West Africa's oilfields, including Angola and the Republic of Congo, are at a water depth of 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) or more and up to 150 km (93 miles) from shore. Angola's oil output is around 720,000 barrels per day. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Teddy who wrote (3767)	11/25/1997 8:59:00 AM
From: Lucretius	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

DID FIDELITY SPARK THE OIL SERVICES SELLOFF? ÿ FIDELITY WATCHER David O'Leary has another possible cause for the recent steep decline in energy services: the fund giant is selling them, he says. Before Fidelity started selling, Fidelity owned as much as "14% of the float" of many of these companies, says O'Leary, who blames much of the decline on Fidelity. O'Leary says Fidelity started to sell the stocks for three reasons: the firm was overweighted in the sector, Fidelity analysts had come to believe that earnings growth had peaked, and because everyone else who owned the stocks was positive on them. Fidelity's energy services weighting was about triple that of the S&P's, and O'Leary thinks they will end up cutting back two-thirds from their original position to get in line with the market. "When Fidelity starts selling, it usually takes three months," O'Leary says. "They go to one end of the market...wait for Wall Street to start recommending the stocks, pounding the table...then move back in the other direction." O'Leary's Alpha Equity Research, which alerts other investors to Fidelity's moves, reports that as of Friday Fidelity owned this much of the float of the following companies: 13% of McDermott International (MDR), 11% of Atwood Oceanics (ATW), 10% of Dresser Industries (DI), and 10% of Western Atlas (WAI). Fidelity declined comment.