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

To: Snowshoe who wrote (28240)	8/24/1998 3:25:00 PM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 95453

Top Stories: Killer Oil Lease Sale Not Expected This Time Around By Mavis Scanlon Staff Reporter (TheStreet.com) 8/24/98 2:33 PM ET Last August, the excitement and expectation surrounding the Western Gulf Lease Sale was palpable. And the biannual federal sale of oil and gas exploration leases in the Gulf of Mexico, viewed as a barometer of long-term drilling demand, was a resounding success. The record number of bids was taken as a sign that the good times would continue. This summer, however, the steep drop in crude oil prices -- down 34% from a year ago -- has dealt a severe blow to the oil patch and has reduced expectations for Wednesday's sale. Low oil prices are impacting oil companies' cash flow, which in turn is crunching future oil and gas exploration expenditures. Full story... thestreet.com

To: Snowshoe who wrote (28240)	8/24/1998 3:28:00 PM
From: Mike from La.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Monday August 24, 2:43 pm Eastern Time Richardson mulls buying oil for strategic reserve WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - New U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson said on Monday that he would consider buying oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), given current low world oil prices. Richardson said he hopes the House of Representatives will pass a bill, already cleared by the Senate, which contains a provision allowing the Department of Energy to spend $420 million to purchase oil for the reserve. ''I think that it is important that at a time when there are declining world oil prices, we consider stocking up on the reserve. I think that is good energy policy,'' Richardson said in his first press briefing since being sworn in as Secretary of Energy last week. The country's strategic oil reserve, which was set up 25 years ago to cushion against oil price shocks, has dwindled steadily from a 1994 peak of 592 million barrels as Congress has withheld funding. It currently stands at 563 million barrels, leaving about 117 million barrels of spare storage capacity. The Department of Energy has looked for novel ways to pay for the reserve, the most recent of which was a tender to oil companies to lease spare storage capacity in return for oil. However, that offer got a cool response from the industry. The oil market worldwide has been in glut for nearly a year, forcing prices down about 40 percent since last autumn to levels not seen since before the first oil price shock in the mid-1970s, when inflation is taken into account. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE Mike from La. Copyright c 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights