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

To: Lucretius who wrote (25816)	7/15/1998 6:57:00 PM
From: P.Prazeres	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

New York, July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a five- week high, reaching $15 a barrel for the first time since early June, after the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. stockpiles fell more than unexpected last week. ''The consensus is that the API stats were good,'' said Alan Struth, chief economist at Phillips Petroleum Co. in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. ''Probably a move back to $14 (a barrel) is more justifiable than a move to $16, but if it did (rise), we wouldn't complain.'' The API report said crude inventories fell 6.3 million barrels to 334.7 million. Analysts polled by Bloomberg News expected a 180,000-barrel decrease. Demand for crude surged to the highest in at least 19 years as refiners took advantage of wide profit margins brought on by a steeper drop in crude prices this year than gasoline. August crude oil rose 32 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $14.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest closing price since June 5. Prices rose as high as $15.02 a barrel in early trading. In London, August Brent crude fell 9 cents to $12.93 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. Refineries operated at 100.2 percent of their rated capacity last week, as they processed cheap barrels that were bought as crude fell as low as $11.42 a barrel, a 12-year low, in June. Crude is down about 16 percent so far this year while gasoline is down 11 percent. Refineries can run above their rated capacity by opening units they don't normally used. ''Refiners will increasingly turn this inexpensive crude into product as fast as they can for a real rosy quarter,'' said Abe Glass, a trader at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg in New York. ''Soon, they're going to be locking in fabulous margins for all of this oil in storage.'' August gasoline fell 1.06 cents, or 2.2 percent, to 46.94 cents a gallon on the Nymex after the API said stockpiles unexpectedly rose last week. Gasoline stocks rose by 2.8 million barrels to 221.4 million barrels, while analysts' expected a decrease of 1.56 million barrels. ''Product stocks are still very, very ample,'' said Scott Ryll, a trader at GSC Energy Corp. in Atlanta. ''There's an awful lot of distillate and gasoline out there. That means refineries will slow down and their appetite for crude will be down, too.'' Refiners today were buying crude oil futures to insure against steep price increases for their raw material, and selling gasoline futures before prices can fall lower, said Tim Evans, an analyst at Pegasus Econometric Group in New York. August heating oil rose 0.46 cent, or 1.2 percent, 39.32 cents a gallon. The 7 percent rise in crude prices since Friday could be too much, since promised production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil-exporting nations will take months to reduce stockpiles. ''Stocks are high and the pOPEC cuuts won'ts very ssignificantly affect the overhang until probablyy the fall,'' said Phillips' Struth.

To: Lucretius who wrote (25816)	7/15/1998 7:01:00 PM
From: P.Prazeres	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Venezuelan Oil Workers Threaten Strike Over Firings Caracas, July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's largest oil workers' union said it will decide today whether to strike to protest a wave of firings at the state oil company. About 3,000 workers are expected to be fired at Petroleos de Venezuela SA as the company scales back production to comply with cutbacks that were part of an agreement by producers to boost oil prices. Fedepetrol represents about 60,000 workers. ''A strike cannot be ruled out,'' said Fedepetrol President Carlos Ortega at a press conference. ''One thousand workers were let go earlier, and now we're expecting more firings.'' A decision is expected at 3 p.m. Venezuela has agreed to reduce its output by 525,000 barrels a day, following agreements among oil producers, cutting its production to 2.845 million barrels a day. PDVSA said earlier this month that the final cuts would be in force by Aug. 1. ''PDVSA plans to shut down 40 drilling rigs, and each one employs 50 to 60 workers,'' said Ortega, who is also on the company's board of directors. ''They also plan cutbacks in the refineries.'' A prolonged strike could disrupt oil production in Venezuela, which is the U.S.'s largest foreign supplier of oil. An oil workers' strike would also hurt the government, which is trying to keep the deficit at 4 percent of gross domestic product, or $4 billion. Last week, a one-day strike scheduled by oil workers to show solidarity with striking petrochemical workers was canceled after the labor ministry created an arbitration board to achieve a new two year collective contract. ''Of course, petrochemical workers won't participate in this as they have already been ordered back to work,'' said Ortega. Besides the firings, another issue is work benefits. Ortega said the union is opposed to company proposed changes in rules regulating work benefits.