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To: Broken_Clock who wrote (14311)	7/9/1998 7:11:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116779

Right.. Irag can again invade Kuwait :) On a serious note if unrest hits Russia the World would have to worry a whole lot more than rising oil prices...

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (14311)	7/9/1998 7:22:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116779

"One final concern is Yeltsins health. His death could leave a leadership vacuum in Russia that would be difficult to fill and make the political situation in eastern Europe unstable, many analysts argue. " infoseek.com

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (14311)	7/9/1998 7:25:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116779

''An extra $15 billion could give Russia an extra 10-12 months at most, maybe less... This system is a dead end which day by day is making Russia poorer not richer.'' infoseek.com

To: Broken_Clock who wrote (14311)	7/9/1998 8:35:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116779

IEA says Russia new blow to oil market rescue 09:07 a.m. Jul 09, 1998 Eastern By Richard Mably LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's foundering economy is the latest blow for a world oil market already suffering a severe downturn at the hands of Asia's financial crisis, the International Energy Agency said Thursday. A deterioration in Russia's finances had forced more oil onto glutted markets in the west in recent months, the IEA said in its Monthly Oil Market Report. Net oil exports from the former Soviet territories, mainly Russia, hit 3.1 million barrels daily in May, a record for post-Soviet times, the agency said. ''The Russian government is determined to collect taxes, leaving cash-strapped oil companies to turn to high exports for hard currencies,'' the IEA said. ''The economic situation has had, and will continue to have, a dampening effect on consumption with the original expectation of an acceleration in economic growth in 1998 now severely dented.'' Low world crude prices are regarded as one of the major causes behind Russia's latest financial crisis but nationwide non-payments mean exports remain the only reliable means for cash-strapped Russian oil companies. Rising Russian exports come despite Moscow's pledge to play its part in an unprecedented international effort by oil exporters to revive their market by cutting supplies. Oil prices remained under severe pressure from record inventories, slow demand growth and an onslaught of crude approaching western markets, the IEA said. Large volumes of oil in transit, built up from overproduction earlier in the year, were blocking a price recovery. ''Absorbing the oil slowly on its way to market could prove as difficult as staunching the daily flow of overproduction,'' the IEA said. ''The potential arrival of these barrels in the third quarter could confound efforts by producers to run down onshore excess stocks and rebalance the market.'' OPEC producers agreed in June with non-OPEC nations on a second round of output cuts in the space of three months in a bid to raise oil prices from 10-year lows. OPEC agreed to cuts totalling 2.6 million barrels a day from the 75 million barrels daily market and non-OPEC suppliers Mexico, Norway and Oman chipped in with their own supply cuts. But the output reductions will take some time to make an impact on the market. Benchmark Brent blend was valued at just $13.22 a barrel Thursday, $6 lower than on average last year. ''Oil now slowly making its way to the market must be absorbed (and) the enormous inventories accumulated by consuming countries must be run down,'' the IEA said. ''The onslaught of waterborne crude oil produced in the second quarter will hit the market this quarter,'' it added. The extent of oversupply earlier in the year meant commercial oil inventories held in Organization for Economic Cooperation Development countries hit record levels at the end of May. OECD industry stocks rose by 2.24 million barrels a day (bpd) in May, ballooning to 2.63 billion barrels by the end of the month, the highest level on record at the Paris-based IEA. ''Industry stocks are now at levels that are challenging existing available storage capacity, especially in the U.S.,'' it said. A slowdown in world petroleum demand growth has not helped producers' market rescue plans. The IEA's estimate for world demand this year was revised lower to 74.9 million bpd, marking annual growth of 1.1 million compared with 2.1 million last year. Low Japanese demand in the power generating sector also exacerbated the slide in oil consumption among Asian economies. ''Japanese deliveries decreased year-on-year of the eighth successive month, reflecting a continuing decline in oil use in the power generation sector and an increasingly apparent slowdown in economic activity,'' the IEA said. The IEA said last month it was expecting zero oil demand growth this year from Asian economies with the exception of China. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.