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

To: Richard D who wrote (26509)	7/25/1998 2:36:00 PM
From: VLAD	Respond to of 95453

Saturday July 25, 6:19 am Eastern Time FOCUS-Mobil, Amoco, Conoco report lower earnings (Adds Amoco, Conoco results) NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - Mobil Corp., the nation's second-largest oil company, Wednesday reported a 25 percent plunge in profits for the latest quarter, but the slump was in line with Wall Street's lowered earnings expectations. Amoco Corp. and Conoco Inc., DuPont Co.'s petroleum subsidiary, also posted lower earnings, as the oil industry felt the sting from a big drop in worldwide oil prices. Fairfax, Va.-based Mobil said its second-quarter operating earnings dropped to $655 million, or 81 cents per diluted share, from year-earlier profits of $870 million or $1.06 per diluted share. The results were in line with analysts' expectations for earnings of 80 cents a share. Revenues rose to $16.74 billion from $13.23 billion. Following the news, Mobil's stock was up 62.5 cents at $73.94 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The company said earnings fell as crude oil prices fell $5 a barrel and production decreased due to output cuts by major oil producing nations. Oil prices fell to $11.50 a barrel in mid-June due to a global surplus of crude. Prices have since rebounded to $13.50 amid efforts by worldwide producers, including the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, to remove the surplus. Mobil said its results held up fairly well, considering the bearish market fundamentals. ''This year's collapse of crude oil prices is evidence of the continuing volatility in industry conditions to which Mobil is subjected,'' said Chief Executive Officer Lucio Noto. ''These factors include economic conditions in Asia, which have resulted in the deferral of LNG cargoes from Indonesia, and cutbacks in OPEC quotas, which primarily impact our Nigerian operations,'' he said. Meanwhile, Amoco Corp. said its earnings dropped to $287 million, or 30 per share, from $622 million, or 63 cents a share, in last year's second quarter. Revenues fell to $7.77 billion from $8.62 billion. The Chicago-based company said lower oil prices and a charge of $214 million to write down an unprofitable project in Colombia cut its earnings. Excluding these items, which included favorable tax adjustments of $106 million related to its Canadian operations, Amoco had earnings of $395 million, or 41 cents a share. Amoco's stock was off 37.5 cents at $40.56 on the NYSE. DuPont said the second-quarter earnings of its oil and natural gas subsidiary, Conoco, plunged 27 percent to $180 million. The chemical giant said Conoco, which is to be partly sold later this year, saw earnings from production fall 46 percent to $85 million due to weak oil prices. Marketing and refining earnings rose 8 percent to $95 million as stronger results in Europe offset a 24 percent drop in the U.S. operation.

To: Richard D who wrote (26509)	7/26/1998 4:29:00 PM
From: Mike from La.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Richard, I was addressing mainly the effect Andrew had on oil prices. The rigs I was referring to were not drilling rigs, but production platforms. when Andrew showed up, all the platforms pumping oil and gas had to be evacuated, and shut down to avoid the risk of oil spills. This took their production off the market both for the hurricane and for the clean-up and restarting period. That removal was enough to jump start oil and gas prices, although the underlying fundamentals were just showing up. If that were to happen again, the higher prices would benefit all drillers. Not that I would ever hope of a hurricane just so I could make money. No, not me. Nope. Mike