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

To: The Perfect Hedge who wrote (19863)	4/21/1998 3:28:00 PM
From: waverider	Respond to of 95453

It's happening again. A late day surge in FGII. Rick Hydrocarbon

To: The Perfect Hedge who wrote (19863)	4/21/1998 3:28:00 PM
From: Czechsinthemail	Respond to of 95453

Oil Higher As Cheap Prices Stoke Demand LONDON, April 20 - Petroleum prices tiptoed higher on Monday as traders read oil market tea-leaves for signs that prices are on the upturn. Benchmark Brent blend for June loading closed just four cents higher at $14.40 a barrel on the London futures exchange, well off an intra-day high of $14.59. So far this year, Brent has run $5 a barrel lower than the average of $19.80 over the past two years, keeping the pressure on producers to stick by pledged output cuts which came into effect on April 1. Scepticism among oil traders that Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries producers, committed to 1.25 million barrels a day (bpd) of reductions, will do as they say has held back a market buoyed by a raft of supporting factors. ''I get the impression that this market is beginning to strain at the leash, but OPEC behaviour is difficult to calculate,'' said a trader in London. Market analysts say a surge of demand when oil prices hit a nine-year low has helped raise refinery profit margins in Western markets. Statistics released last week also showed that Germany rushed to buy cheap heating oil in March when prices dipped. The big jump in demand from Europe's largest petroleum importer helps to explain why primary oil stocks in industrialised nations have fallen when global oil demand is running well below supply levels. Low oil prices in March also pushed up demand for petroleum products in the United States. The U.S. Department of Energy said this week that March petroleum consumption in the world's biggest oil importer went up 3.8 percent on the year. The upshot, said analysts, was that the global stockbuild was not as large as expected earlier this year. Germany last week surprised with a tender to buy 22 million barrels of North Sea crude over the next six months. NYMEX Crude, Products End Lower In Range-Bound Day NEW YORK, April 20 - NYMEX crude and refined product futures fell in thin, range bound trading Monday, ahead of the May contract's expiration on Tuesday. ''It was all quiet with very little movement up or down,'' said a NYMEX floor trader, adding traders sidestepped fresh news about Iraq, which last week demanded the lifting of U.N. sanctions. NYMEX May crude, which expires tomorrow, settled at $15.41 a barrel, off 5 cents. It broke above $15.50 early and hit a high of $15.59, but slipped in lackluster trading, reaching a low of $15.37. May heating oil settled at 43.67 cents a gallon, down 0.90 cent. May gasoline closed at 52.42 cents a gallon, down 0.60 cent. Concerns about U.S. refinery glitches, which lifted gasoline and the market last week, continue, a trader said, as there was still uncertainty over when some of the units affected will be restarted. In any case, gasoline traded sideways. One trader said gasoline was ''maybe overdone'' last week and was due for a slight correction. In London, IPE Brent crude slipped into negative territory by late trade on Monday before closing a touch higher as traders shrugged off bearish and bullish news about Iraq. IPE June Brent closed four cents up at $14.40 a barrel, close to the day's $14.35 low. The United States on Monday accused Iraq of failing to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors despite an agreement with the U.N. that defused threats of a U.S. military attack. This means the time was ''far away'' when the U.N. sanctions on Iraq could be lifted, said U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin. Last week, U.N. weapons inspectors reported having made virtually no progress over the past six months in verifying that Iraq had destroyed any remaining weapons of mass destruction after the Gulf war, a key condition for lifting sanctions. Meanwhile, Iraq's foreign minister said in New York on Monday that a distribution plan for aid in the U.N./Iraq oil-for-food deal will be submitted to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in about 10 days. Annan's approval of the distribution plan will trigger a 18-day period in which Iraq's oil exports will be increased by about 50 percent. Currently, Iraq can sell up to $2 billion in oil every six months. The U.N. has approved increasing exports to $5.2 billion every six months, but Iraq has said it can not reached that ceiling. It previously said it could only export up to $4 billion because of its damaged oil infrastructure. Annan, in a report last week proposing that $300 million be used to repair Iraq's oil facilities, said Iran can only export $3 billion worth of oil in any given six month in 1998 even if emergency repairs were undertaken. Funds for the repairs are being considered this week by the Security Council and its adjunct, the Iraq sanctions committee. exchange2000.com

To: The Perfect Hedge who wrote (19863)	4/21/1998 3:29:00 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Everything was looking good for a strong finish then oil just fell off the table 5 minutes ago. EVI might get you some money back yet Glen. Over 50 today.

To: The Perfect Hedge who wrote (19863)	4/21/1998 3:41:00 PM
From: Gator II	Respond to of 95453

Below "offshore" excerpts were published 4/19 in _Tulsa World_ (on-line). Haven't seen any reference to this article here but if I missed it, I'm sorry for reposting it. OT Big Dog, there are several references to your employer's domicile country. Site address is: tulsaworld.com Excerpts follow: CHEAP DRILLING MAY CREATE ERA OF BARGAIN FUEL [HEADLINE] > a revolution in the way big oil companies find and produce their crude has more quietly been keeping prices lower and expanding the pool of oil available for future generations. > Adjusting prices for inflation, the cost of finding a barrel of oil offshore in the United States was $24.81 at its peak in 1981, but had slipped to $5.21 by 1996, according to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. >The total cost of producing oil, both onshore and offshore in the United States, dropped from $14.61 in 1981 to $4.12 in 1996, the EIA said. >But oil companies improved three technologies -- horizontal drilling, floating production and electrical submersible pumps -- and, eventually, the Captain Field was looking like less of an ugly duckling. >Tim Davies, a project manager who runs 30 North Sea wells for British Petroleum, said his company produces more oil from horizontal wells, where the drilling equipment can move at a shallow angle through oil formations, finding the best places to extract the crude. >Often the oil can be pumped from several places along the line, getting more out at the cost of drilling just one hole. Oil companies can never hope to get every drop of oil out of a field, but now they can get a greater proportion. >"Whatever the shape of the reservoir under the ground, you just follow it," Davies said. "You can steer up, down, sideways or whatever way you need to go." >Since the mid-1980s, three- dimensional seismic studies have helped the seven biggest oil companies reduce the number of dry holes, or wells that produce no oil, by 28 percent, according to Leo Drollas, chief economist at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London. >Meanwhile, the cost of that technology has fallen by 60 percent over the last four years. >Drollas said offshore production costs also are plunging. He compares two Norwegian projects -- the Heidrun Field and the Norne Field. >The Heidrun Field uses what is known as a tension oil platform, which was floated into place and has produced oil at a cost of $6 per barrel. >The Norne Field uses a state- of-the-art floating production system, where a ship kept in place by a satellite controls drilling equipment. The cost per barrel: $3.30. >"Ten years ago, that would have been unheard of," Drollas said. "Twenty years ago, you wouldn't have even dreamed of it." >Using the satellite-guided ships is considerably cheaper in start-up costs, and the equipment is easier to dismantle when production stops. Even technology can't do anything when a field runs dry.<eom>