Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Thean who wrote (14142)	3/9/1998 8:32:00 AM
From: Lucretius	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Monday March 9, 6:31 am Eastern Time FOCUS -Oil sinks as Saudi shun quick-fix OPEC meet (expands) LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - World oil prices sank to fresh four year lows on Monday after Saudi Arabia killed off the possibility of a quick OPEC meeting aimed at propping up glutted global oil markets. Brent crude, the world benchmark, opened at $13.45 a barrel on London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE). This compared with an average price of about $19 during the 1990's and some analysts believe prices may soon dip below $12.90 to their lowest level since November 1988. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer on Sunday warned OPEC quota cheats that it would not allow them to snatch customers who buy the Kingdom's oil. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said that any OPEC rescue plan was being delayed by member countries that ''are not prepared to reduce their production.'' ''This means that coming up with a joint solution within OPEC to restore stability to the market would be difficult indeed,'' he said. He said Saudi Arabia did not want to cut output only ''to find out that other countries, especially those who do not adhere to their quotas, (are) flooding the market, undermining prices and taking our valuable customers.'' Venezuela is OPEC's biggest quota buster and its oil minister Erwin Arrieta has said the country would not cut output ''even by one barrel.'' Nigeria and Qatar are also pumping more oil than their OPEC quotas. The $12.90 a barrel low hit on Brent crude during the winter of 1994 ''has to be under threat,'' said John Toalster, analyst at SG Securities in London. He said oil market were currently facing the ''worst fundamentals since 1995...simply because no one is accepting responsibility.'' Underlying the current price weakness are several factors including quota busting by OPEC. The group raised its self-imposed production ceiling by 10 percent to 27.5 million barrels per day (bpd) last November but is overproducing by more than a million bpd. Venezuela is pumping some 780,000 bpd above it quota while Nigeria and Qatar are also overproducing. In addition to quota busting, Naimi highlighted weakness in Asian oil demand, warm winter weather in the West and rising non-OPEC oil production as factors that had undermined oil markets. Traders and analysts also cite rising Iraqi oil exports and ballooning oil stocks as pressuring prices. The United Nations has proposed that an ''oil-for-food'' deal with Iraq should be more than doubled, a move that could trigger a rise in Baghdad's exports just as peak winter demand for oil is waning. The West's oil watch-dog, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last month that there was too much oil on the market this year despite slashing its forecast for non-OPEC supply. Toalster sees oil markets oversupplied by about 1.75 and two million bpd on average this year. The IEA also said that commercial oil stocks held in industrialised nations finished last year at the highest level for two decades apart from 1994. This has begun to affect sentiment among oil dealers, many of whom can't find space to store oil not wanted because of faltering Asian demand. ''There is no storage available in Rotterdam,'' said Jim McLaren of Rotterdam-based trading company Alimar BV. The shift of oil sales from East to West has also depressed forward prices. Dealers have sharply discounted the price of ''real'' cargoes of Brent crude compared to futures trading on the IPE. The average price for 1998 was around $15 a barrel for IPE futures on Monday morning but the price of Brent cargoes for the same period was nearer $14.50. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Thean who wrote (14142)	3/9/1998 9:13:00 AM
From: Ronald J. Clark	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Ranger Oil is reducing its exploration budget and included in the reduction is the gulf of mexico. Friday March 6, 8:36 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Ranger Oil Limited Ranger Oil Reduces 1998 Capital Expenditure Program CALGARY, March 6 /CNW-PRN/ - Ranger Oil announced today that its 1998 Capital Expenditure Program has been reduced by US$50 million in light of lower oil prices. The revised program of US$235 million includes continuation of the major development activity in the North Sea and Angola scheduled for 1998. High-impact exploration drilling in the North Sea and the Northwest Territories in Canada is also unaffected. The expenditure reduction is in North America with lower exploration spending in Canada and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and minimal expenditure for heavy oil. The revised program reflects the sharp drop in world oil prices since November 1997 and the consequent impact upon the Company's forecast revenues for 1998. In 1999 revenues and cash flow will be significantly higher as a result of the new production coming on stream in the North Sea and Angola. In addition to the capital reduction, the Board of Directors of the Company have decided not to declare an annual dividend for the year 1997. ISSUED BY: F. J. Dyment President and Chief Executive Officer Ron Clark