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

To: debra vogt who wrote (10909)	2/7/1998 12:51:00 AM
From: SJS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Good report. It was exactly what was said in a report on oil I saw on Nitely Business Report tonight.

To: debra vogt who wrote (10909)	2/9/1998 12:05:00 PM
From: debra vogt	Respond to of 95453

02/09 11:15 OPEC pumped more oil in January, more is on the way - survey By Richard Mably LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC oil producers boosted their output in January and supplies will rise sharply again this month despite a slump in oil prices. January production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries jumped 510,000 barrels a day from December's level to 28.05 million barrels daily, a Reuters survey of OPEC members, company officials and industry monitors found. That output exceeded the upwardly revised 27.5 million ceiling OPEC set for the first half of 1998. But for oil markets already bumping along at four-year lows, it could have been worse. Several OPEC producers simply do not have the extra capacity to pump anywhere near their export quotas, while OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia decided oil prices were too weak to risk adding too much oil to the market. However, more oil will find its way to the world market as Iraq's U.N.-monitored exports are now back at full stream, meaning that OPEC output in February will be nearer to 29 million barrels a day than 28 million, market monitors say. Saudi Arabia raised its output in January to 8.63 million bpd, keeping itself 130,000 barrels a day below its new quota. The country supplied the market with 8.49 million bpd, with the difference going to storage, a Gulf source said. Independent monitors said the Saudis are trying to support oil prices, which fell below $16 a barrel last month vs. $20 over the past two years. On Monday, oil was off 9 cents at $16.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Saudis have said they do not plan to act as a lone prop to the soggy market, having watched some of their competitors in OPEC increase supplies over recent years. Saudi Arabia in January appeared to stand by its assurance that it has no intention of flooding the market by pumping more than it can sell. ''It is some consolation that Saudi Arabia was prepared to play nurse to the market but I don't think they're in an over-generous mood and there's no guarantee it will last,'' a European oil trader said. Iran in January was unable to keep up with its new 3.94 million barrel per day quota, as capacity restrictions limited production to just 3.67 million. Iraqi exports rose as the third phase of oil-for-food sales got underway, but some reluctance among buyers kept exports lower than expected. Exports, which resumed in mid-January, totaled 15.29 million barrels. Exports should continue to rise while negotiations over aid distribution under a United Nations plan to raise Baghdad's sales to $5.2 billion from $2 billion drag on. But that could change quickly if a U.S.-led military strike on Iraqi weapons targets forces the U.N. to remove aid and oil monitors from Iraq. Other than Iran, January output from Indonesia, Libya and Algeria fell short of their recently increased quotas. But Kuwait and the UAE took full advantage of their new OPEC mandates and Venezuela showed no sign that the soft market might hamper its plans to average 3.6 million barrels a day this year. A Venezuelan official said the exporter, helped by its big U.S. refining and marketing network, had encountered ''no problem'' selling more oil this year. ^REUTERS@ Reut11:15 02-09-98 ÿ