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

To: RGinPG who wrote (16655)	3/26/1998 11:23:00 AM
From: Czechsinthemail	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

3/26/98 Crude Oil, Products Rise On Nymex As Output Pact Gains Credence NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Crude-oil and petroleum-products futures were modestly higher Thursday morning on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as the market gave greater credence to the oil production pact. Shortly before 10 a.m. EST, May crude oil was up 32 cents at $16.80 a barrel. June crude oil was up 28 cents at $17.04 a barrel. Among oil products, April unleaded gasoline was up 0.67 cent at 53.25 cents a gallon. April heating oil was up 0.63 cent at 45.75 cents a gallon. May natural gas was down 0.1 cent at $2.403 per million BTUs. Traders noted a renewed faith in the accord among oil producers to cut production after Norway, the world's largest oil exporter next to Saudi Arabia, and Russia suggested Wednesday that they would consider production cuts. In the latest news, Norway is still considering possible cuts in oil output in an effort to boost sagging oil prices, an official at the Norwegian oil and energy ministry told Dow Jones Thursday, but will take unilateral action if it decides to do so. The official added the government is assessing the situation day by day. Furthermore, he said Norway won't be attending the OPEC meeting in Vienna on Monday, where the concerted effort at boosting prices will be discussed. Indonesia's decision to join most of its OPEC cohorts in agreeing to make production cuts also helped push the market higher. Jakarta pledged to cut 70,000 barrels a day of production. The countries said earlier in the week that they wouldn't participate in the agreement, which seeks to cut between 1.6 million to 2 million barrels a day of OPEC and non-OPEC production. These comments made many observers doubt prospects for the plan's success. OPEC's decision to convene an extraordinary meeting in Vienna Monday, most likely to officially implement members' pledges to cut production, and reports that the cartel invited non-OPEC members to attend were also viewed as supportive, said an analyst. All this news Wednesday served to scare out some bears and prompted some fresh buying by players who see a temporary market floor at $15.70. The floor was revealed after it held a test despite a weak close Tuesday and the release of very bearish oil inventory data Wednesday. "If we couldn't push lower yesterday (Wednesday) amid decidedly bearish inventory data and a weak settle the day before, then you have to expect that the market wants to push higher," said an analyst.