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

To: marc chatman who wrote (15089)	3/17/1998 2:48:00 PM
From: Teddy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Not that anyone cares, but here's a few snips from my gal pal Mavis: Gulf Lease Sale Attracts Solid Number of Bids By Mavis Scanlon Staff Reporter 3/17/98 1:40 PM ET The bids have all been submitted and the basic statistics are in. The Minerals Management Service (MMS), an arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil and gas reserves, announced Tuesday it received 1,790 bids on 794 tracts in the latest Central Gulf lease sale. Closely following the news, companies that would most likely by affected by the auction results showed little enthusiasm. Most of the oil service and drilling sector was already trading lower, primarily due to persistently weak oil prices.... ...Oil companies submitted closed bids on 794 blocks of submerged land offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, or about 19% of the blocks offered. The bids will be opened at the lease sale, which takes place in New Orleans on Wednesday morning. The last Central Gulf lease sale garnered high bids on 1,032 tracts, or 20% of the tracts offered for sale, for a total of $824 million in high bids. The most recent sale was last August's Western Gulf lease sale, which garnered bids on 804 tracts, or 17% of the acreage up for sale... ...Investors have typically looked at these sales as indicators of the long-term demand for drilling services and equipment to outfit rigs, drilling platforms and subsea infrastructure. This week's sale, however, is concurrent with nearly a 10-year low in crude oil prices.... ...Bulls view the oil price downturn as a temporary impediment to long-term earnings growth for companies in the sector. This year's Central Gulf sale covered 4,180 blocks, encompassing about 22 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Five-year leases were offered on 903 blocks in water depths less than 400 meters, eight-year leases were offered on 116 blocks in water depths between 400-800 meters and 10-year leases were offered on 3,161 blocks in water depths greater than 800 meters....