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Gold/Mining/Energy : XON - Exxon Corp. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (176)	9/30/1998 4:55:00 AM
From: Kevin G. O'Neill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 242

Report: Saudis Contact US Oil Cos. Wednesday September 30, 3:49 am Eastern Time WASHINGTON (AP) -- Saudi Arabia has asked U.S. oil companies to submit proposals for helping the kingdom explore and develop existing and new oil and gas fields, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. The invitation was extended by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in a private meeting Saturday with executives from seven oil companies at the McLean, Va., home of Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, the newspaper said. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest petroleum producer, nationalized its oil industry upon the Arab oil embargo in 1973 and has excluded foreign companies from its production operations ever since. Abdullah has held the reins of the Saudi government since 1995, when his half-brother, King Fahd, had a stroke. Abdullah told the executives Saturday that U.S. oil companies were ''the bedrock'' of U.S.-Saudi relations for half a century and that the Saudi government wants them involved again in a new strategic energy partnership, the Post quoted industry and government sources as saying. Those attending the meeting included senior executives from Mobil Corp. (NYSE:MOB - news), Exxon Corp. (NYSE:XON - news), Texaco Inc. (NYSE:TX - news) and Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CHV - news) -- one-time partners in the Arabian American Oil Co., Aramco, begun in the 1930s but later nationalized by the Saudi government. Executives from Atlantic Richfield Co. (NYSE:ARC - news), Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum Co. (NYSE:P - news) also attended, the newspaper said. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who met with Abdullah on Monday and is headed to Saudi Arabia in December, told the Post the two governments want to ''rekindle an energy relationship for both countries that is enormously important.'' Saudi Arabia has the world's largest oil reserves -- more than 260 billion barrels -- the lowest costs of extracting oil and the most production of any country in the world -- 8 million barrels a day. But it has lost market share over the past decade to Mexico, Venezuela and Canada and has been forced to slash production recently because of the collapse of Asian economies.