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

To: PnclNk who wrote (16944)	3/28/1998 1:20:00 AM
From: Czechsinthemail	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

3/27/98 Crude Oil Futures, Products Settle Lower Ahead Of Output Meeting NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Crude-oil and petroleum-product futures finished slightly lower New York Mercantile Exchange Friday, ahead of Monday's OPEC meeting. May crude oil lost 7 cents to end at $16.76 a barrel. June crude oil also shed 7 cents to $17.01 a barrel. April unleaded gasoline closed down 0.24 cent to 53.58 cents a gallon. April heating oil finished down 0.28 cent at 45.45 cents a gallon. May natural gas settled down 2.8 cents at $2.352 per million BTUs. The few attempts to drive prices higher in the morning fizzled and values drifted off and posted a slight loss by the close. "We ended down 7 cents, after gaining more than $2.30 a barrel since last Friday. It's not significant," said a trader in the crude oil pit. "Traders were happy to take a break after a very choppy trading week." Statements from Norway's Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik that a majority of Norway's parliament will back a proposal to reduce the country's oil output sparked a morning surge in May crude oil to $17. But a lack of follow-through buying allowed light selling to knock the contract lower. The government's ruling minority coalition is pushing for a 3%-6% reduction in output, which works out to a cut of 90,000-180,000 barrels a day. But, according to reports from Norwegian News Agency NTB Thursday, the proposal is likely to meet strong parliamentary opposition. "We ran a little higher on the Norway news. But enough people got burned by Norway's mixed signals yesterday that traders are content to sit the day out," said a trader. Norway's ruling government will consult with the rest of parliament and try to get backing for its proposal ahead of April 3, when the proposal is scheduled to be put before Norway's king and council for approval. Statements from Venezuela's oil minister Erwin Arrieta that non-OPEC oil producing countries Norway, Egypt and Oman are very likely to attend OPEC's extraordinary ministerial meeting in Vienna Monday had little impact on values. Mexico's attendance has already been confirmed. Traders noted that the market has been factoring in the likelihood that oil producers' pledges to cut production will be enough to sop up much of the extra oil in the market.