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Gold/Mining/Energy : KERM'S KORNER -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (9135)	2/19/1998 3:02:00 PM
From: Arnie	Read Replies (7) \| Respond to of 15196

GENERAL INTEREST / "All-Natural-Gas" Home QUEBEC CITY, Feb. 19 /CNW/ - An exhibitor and sponsor of the Cocooning House at the Salon ExpoHabitat in Qu‚bec City, Gaz M‚tropolitain is proud to be associated with this major attraction in order to showcase the latest technological innovations related to natural gas in the residential sector. The Cocooning House is a full-sized dwelling built at the home show. It is equipped with a forced-air heating system and a hot water heater, both of which use natural gas. In addition, Gaz M‚tropolitain is proposing peripheral equipment and various solutions to enhance comfort with respect to construction and renovation projects. ''In recent years, we have made major inroads with respect to the development of technologies adapted to the residential sector,'' noted Marcel Laforest, Director, Sales-Partnership at Gaz M‚tropolitain. ''Whether you're looking at comfort, economy, performance, safety or appearance, we have optimum solutions geared to each consumer's needs. Visitors can see this for themselves during the five days of the home show, both at the Cocooning House and at our booth just in front of it.'' For a long time, Gaz M‚tropolitain has proposed hot water heaters, fireplaces and kitchen stoves that are completely independent of electric power supply. ''Homeowners may decide to add the equipment of their choice, such as a barbecue, a pool heater, a patio heater or even a generator. All of the appliances use natural gas and do not require a back-up system.'' ExpoHabitat is organized by the Association provinciale des constructeurs d'habitation du Qu‚bec (APCHQ). Every year it attracts over 35,000 visitors. The Cocooning House is one of the key attractions at the home show.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (9135)	2/19/1998 3:07:00 PM
From: Arnie	Respond to of 15196

NORMAL COURSE ISSUER BID / Scimitar Hydrocarbons CALGARY, Feb. 19 /CNW/ - Scimitar Hydrocarbons Corporation (ASE: SIY) announced today that it has received approval from The Alberta Stock Exchange to make a Normal Course Issuer Bid (the ''Bid'') to purchase, from time to time, as it considers advisable, up to 1,154,955 of its issued and outstanding Common Shares (''Shares'') (being 5% of the issued Shares of Scimitar) on the open market through the facilities of The Alberta Stock Exchange. The price which Scimitar will pay for any shares purchased by it will be the prevailing market price of such shares on The Alberta Stock Exchange at the time of such purchase. The Bid will commence on February 23, 1998 and will terminate on February 23, 1999 or such earlier time as the Bid is completed or terminated at the option of Scimitar. Scimitar believes that the recent and current market prices of its Shares do not fully reflect the underlying value of the Shares and that, accordingly, the purchase of Shares would be in the best interests of Scimitar shareholders. Scimitar bases this decision on internal valuation of its current development projects which, in Scimitar's view, have a net present value exceeding $50,000,000 and without taking into account Scimitar's exploration projects and other assets, cash on hand and absence of debt. Purchases by the Corporation of its Shares will increase the proportionate share interest of, and be advantageous to, all remaining shareholders. In addition, the purchases by Scimitar will afford increased liquidity to Scimitar shareholders wishing to sell their Shares. Headquartered in Calgary, Canada, Scimitar's current projects include a heavy oil development in Egypt, gas and liquids exploration and exploitation in the United Arab Emirate of Ajman, gas exploration in Mozambique, petroleum product marketing in eastern Africa and exploration in western Canada.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (9135)	2/19/1998 3:09:00 PM
From: Arnie	Respond to of 15196

CORP. / Poco Petroleums Ltd notice to Analysts & Media Poco Petroleums Ltd. will hold a briefing for analysts and media to discuss its 1997 year end results on Thursday, February 19, 1998 at 2:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Craig Stewart, President and Chief Executive Officer of Poco Petroleums Ltd. John Ferguson, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Poco Petroleums Ltd. To participate in the conference call, dial 1-800-789-0135. Please call in about five minutes early to ensure your participation. A taped rebroadcast of the call will be available to listeners for two business days beginning Thursday, February 19, 1998 at 4:30 p.m. MST, 6:30 p.m. EST. To listen to the rebroadcast, please call 1-800-558-5253 and provide the following reservation number 807228. PLEASE NOTE: A NEWS RELEASE WILL BE ISSUED AT 2:01 P.M. MST, 4:01 P.M. EST.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (9135)	2/19/1998 3:13:00 PM
From: Arnie	Respond to of 15196

ENERGY TRUSTS / Enerplus Resources Fund Distribution Notice CALGARY, Feb. 19 /CNW/ - Notice is hereby given that a cash distribution at the rate of $0.0350 (three and one half cents) per unit will be payable on March 15, 1998, to all unitholders of record at the close of business on March 1, 1998. Consequently, the new trailing last twelve month distribution paid totals $0.6125 (sixty-one and one quarter cent) per Unit.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (9135)	2/19/1998 3:14:00 PM
From: Arnie	Respond to of 15196

DIVIDEND / Imperial Oil Ltd TORONTO, Feb. 19 /CNW/ - Imperial Oil Limited today declared a quarterly dividend on the outstanding common shares of the company to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 2, 1998, payable on April 1, 1998. The cash dividend on common shares is 55 cents per share.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (9135)	2/19/1998 3:18:00 PM
From: Arnie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15196

SERVICE SECTOR / ABB to acquire August Systems ABB broadens system scope on three continents ZURICH, Switzerland, Feb. 19 /CNW/ - ABB, the international electrical engineering company, has signed an agreement with American Manufacturing Corporation, of Philadelphia, to acquire its subsidiary, August Systems, one of the world's leading providers of industrial safety systems for petrochemical and petroleum operations. August Systems, who employs 100 people worldwide with revenues of US$16 million, is based in the U.K. and has additional facilities in the U.S. and Singapore. This new acquisition will allow ABB to offer the world's widest product portfolio of industrial safety systems in petrochemical and petroleum sectors. August Systems' range of products includes process applications such as emergency and process shutdown, control of critical processes, fire and gas detection as well as equipment protection systems that are vital to the operation of petrochemical and petroleum facilities. This will complement ABB's existing Advant industrial safety system, which has a successful track record of more than 20 years. The new company will be part of ABB's Industrial and Building Systems Segment which employs 95,000 people worldwide with orders in 1996 of approximately US$17 billion. NOTE TO JOURNALISTS AND NEWS EDITORS ------------------------------------ For your information, the attached press release has been issued today in Zurich by the ABB Group. ABB in Canada is active in a number of sectors, including power generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy, steam generator systems, industrial automation, robotics, drives, measurement instruments, environmental technologies and other industrial systems and applications. Headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Qu‚bec, ABB in Canada employs approximately 2,000 people. An international group of companies active in the electrical engineering sector, ABB employs 216,000 people worldwide.

To: Kerm Yerman who wrote (9135)	2/19/1998 3:21:00 PM
From: Arnie	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 15196

EARNINGS / Amber Energy reports Year-End Results CALGARY, Feb. 19 /CNW/ - Amber Energy Inc. (''Amber'') announces its audited financial results for the year ended November 30, 1997 as follows: Year ended November 30 1997 1996 % Change -------------------------------- Financial ($ Millions except per share(x) amounts) For the year ended November 30 Oil and gas sales (before royalties) 108.6 73.9 47 Funds from operations 59.3 43.7 36 Per share (basic) 1.15 0.95 21 Per share (fully diluted) 1.09 0.90 21 Net income 12.6 11.9 6 Per share (basic) 0.24 0.26 (8) Per share (fully diluted) 0.24 0.26 (8) Return on equity (%) 10 17 - Capital expenditures 276.0 77.8 255 Finding costs ($/Boe - all capital) Proven 4.59 6.29 - Proven plus probable 1.28 4.94 - As at November 30 Working capital deficit (surplus) 22.3 (0.4) - Long-term debt 197.3 68.5 188 Shareholders' equity 161.2 82.8 95 Total assets 432.2 176.4 145 Common shares outstanding (millions) Basic 52.7 47.5 11 Fully diluted 58.3 52.2 12 Weighted average 51.6 46.0 12 Year ended November 30 1997 1996 % Change -------------------------------- Operating Production Heavy oil 5,358 1,349 297 Light oil and NGLs 2,582 2,228 16 -------------------------------- Total crude oil and NGLs (Bbl/d) 7,940 3,577 122 Natural gas (Mmcf/d) 92.9 76.8 21 Barrels of oil equivalent (Boe/d) 17,230 11,257 53 Average product prices Heavy oil 13.26 22.71 (42) Light oil and NGLs 26.84 26.00 3 -------------------------------- Total crude oil and NGLs ($/Bbl) 17.68 24.76 (29) Natural gas ($/Mcf) 1.69 1.47 15 Average production expenses Heavy oil 2.59 2.65 (2) Light oil and NGLs 6.51 5.65 15 -------------------------------- Total crude oil and NGLs ($/Bbl) 3.86 4.52 (15) Natural gas ($/Mcf) 0.24 0.18 33 Wells drilled Gross 212 100 112 Net 151.8 47.5 220 Success rate (%) 93 82 - As at November 30 Reserves - proved and probable Crude oil and NGLs (MmBbls) 221.5 22.1 902 Natural gas (Bcf) 297.6 199.6 49 Barrels of oil equivalent (MmBoe) 251.3 42.1 495 Undeveloped land (thousands of net acres) 643 409 57 (x) Per share amounts have been adjusted retroactively for two-for-one stock split on May 26, 1997. Quarterly Information (for years ending November 30) 1997 --------------------------------------- ($ Thousands except per share(x) amounts) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenues (before royalties) 27,989 22,732 25,132 32,721 Funds from operations 16,633 11,656 13,772 17,261 Net income 5,759 2,114 2,948 1,757 Capital expenditures 100,631 57,428 47,856 70,104 Per share data Funds flow: basic 0.34 0.22 0.26 0.33 fully diluted 0.32 0.21 0.25 0.31 Earnings: basic 0.12 0.04 0.05 0.03 fully diluted 0.12 0.03 0.06 0.03 Common shares o/s (000's) 52,238 52,522 52,526 52,689 Wtd avg shares o/s (000's) 48,764 52,508 52,525 52,670 Production Crude oil and NGLs (Bbl/d) 5,144 7,014 8,905 10,666 Natural gas (Mmcf/d) 88.7 94.2 90.5 98.3 Boe's at 10:1 (Boe/d) 14,014 16,434 17,955 20,496 Average product prices Crude oil ($/Bbl) 24.28 16.47 15.62 17.06 Natural gas ($/Mcf) 2.10 1.40 1.48 1.81 Average production expenses Crude oil ($/Bbl) 5.20 3.96 3.95 3.08 Natural gas ($/Mcf) 0.23 0.24 0.26 0.24 1996 --------------------------------------- ($ Thousands except per share(x) amounts) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenues (before royalties) 14,523 19,837 19,124 20,410 Funds from operations 8,554 12,531 11,107 11,510 Net income 2,623 3,752 2,953 2,530 Capital expenditures 25,644 14,742 22,534 14,926 Per share data Funds flow: basic 0.19 0.28 0.24 0.24 fully diluted 0.18 0.26 0.24 0.22 Earnings: basic 0.06 0.08 0.07 0.05 fully diluted 0.06 0.08 0.07 0.05 Common shares o/s (000's) 45,200 45,632 47,206 47,538 Wtd avg shares o/s (000's) 45,183 45,632 45,698 47,515 Production Crude oil and NGLs (Bbl/d) 2,816 3,736 3,911 3,841 Natural gas (Mmcf/d) 59.4 82.4 81.9 83.3 Boe's at 10:1 (Boe/d) 8,756 11,976 12,101 12,171 Average product prices Crude oil ($/Bbl) 21.63 25.21 23.78 27.61 Natural gas ($/Mcf) 1.66 1.47 1.40 1.42 Average production expenses Crude oil ($/Bbl) 4.87 3.76 4.24 5.29 Natural gas ($/Mcf) 0.18 0.16 0.19 0.18 (x) Per share amounts have been adjusted retroactively for both of the two-for-one share splits which occurred on April 30, 1996 and May 26, 1997. 1998 Outlook Amber's 1998 drilling program has already encountered great success. Amber has achieved a 100% success rate in two of its main growth areas by drilling 35 (35 net) horizontal oil wells at Pelican Lake and 8 (5.7 net) oil wells at Springburn. Amber also recently drilled 16 (16 net) natural gas wells and 3 (3 net) dry holes in the Wabasca area resulting in an 84% success rate. These recent drilling results have contributed to Amber's current production levels of approximately 20,000 Bopd and 105 Mmcfd of natural gas. The construction of the Pelican Lake Heavy Oil Sales Pipeline will be completed in May 1998 and be fully operational by June 1, 1998. Amber will complete its entire 1998 winter drilling program in March 1998 with the drilling of 100 wells at Pelican Lake and twelve wells at Springburn. The Company is currently expecting its 1998 average production volumes to be approximately 27,000 Bopd and 120 Mmcfd of natural gas. Amber is an independent Canadian oil and gas exploration, development and production company with common shares trading on both