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

To: High Plains Drifter who wrote (5688)	12/19/1997 10:38:00 AM
From: Bob A Louie	Respond to of 95453

Conoco announces 1998 budget. Friday, December 19 9:37 AM ET HOUSTON, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Conoco expects to spend about $2.4 billion for capital projects and cash exploration expense during 1998, about equal to 1997 levels after excluding the approximately $900 million asset acquisition from TransTexas which occurred in 1997. Sixty percent of the 1998 expenditures will be outside the United States. Most of the expenditures -- about $1.7 billion -- will be spent for worldwide exploration, production and natural gas activities, about the same as 1997. Refining, marketing and transportation expenditures will total $580 million, also about the same as 1997. The company has earmarked about $120 million for its global power business, up significantly from 1997 levels. "We look forward to an exciting year of significant growth for Conoco as we bring several strategic projects onstream," said Conoco President and CEO Archie W. Dunham. "In Malaysia, we will commence operation of our new joint- venture 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery with Petronas and Statoil. We will have first production from the giant Britannia natural gas field joint development with Chevron in the U.K. North Sea, the largest undeveloped gas field in the North Sea. We also will have first production in the Petrozuata joint-venture heavy oil project in Venezuela with Maraven that will ultimately produce 120,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Orinoco region. We will also be proceeding with exploration activities on two light oil prime blocks in Venezuela. "In Southeast Asia, we expect to consummate a major project to deliver natural gas to Singapore from Conoco's Block B natural gas field in Indonesia. "In the United States, we will be drilling over 200 wells in the Lobo Trend in South Texas to develop major natural gas reserves. We also will invest significantly in the deepwater Ursa oil and gas field in the Gulf of Mexico, where Shell is the operator." Dunham said that in late 1998, Conoco will initiate drilling in the Gulf of Mexico with a first-of-a-kind, ultra-deepwater drillship capable of drilling in up to 10,000 feet of water. "This deepwater drillship, along with a second one under construction, is key to our global deepwater exploration program," he said. The Houston-based CEO said Conoco's power joint venture with American Electric Power is expected to commence expenditures during 1998 to provide energy management services and capital for major industrial and commercial customers. "We expect 1997 to be a record year for Conoco when the books are closed. We're achieving our heroic growth goals. I couldn't be more pleased with the performance of our people and their expectations for the future," Dunham said. Conoco is the energy subsidiary of DuPont. This press release contains forward-looking statements which contain words such as "should" or "expect" indicating that future outcomes are not known with certainty and subject to normal risk factors that could cause them to differ significantly from those projected. Source: Conoco Inc. Contact: Carlton Adams of Conoco, 281-293-1043 c 1997, PR Newswire