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Strategies & Market Trends : Graham and Doddsville -- Value Investing In The New Era -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (770)	9/15/1998 3:37:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Respond to of 1722

Integrated Oil May Shift from Commodities to Services "Traditional Oil Companies May Soon Be Extinct-Texaco CEO" By Jeff Franks -- Tuesday September 15 6:37 AM EDT HOUSTON (Reuters) - The days of the traditional oil company are numbered, Texaco Inc. (TX - news)'s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter Bijur said Monday. Energy firms must learn to deal with new political and technological realities or face extinction, Bijur said, in a speech to the World Energy Council's 17th Congress here. ''I believe that we are living through the last days of the traditional oil company,'' Bijur said. Bijur said he expects nations, especially those with emerging economies, to ''exert more control over their own natural resources,'' which will mean a new role for oil firms. ''While nations have long desired the ability to develop their own resources and for their own companies to gain the expertise to run the fields, we see this becoming a practical reality,''he said. ''We must accept that they will be maintaining greater possession of their destinies and resources in the progression towards economic development. He said oil companies will address this by offering technical expertise ''without insisting upon ownership interest. ''An oil company's value will shift from the value of its reserves to the value of its knowledge...the oil company of the future is a company providing technology and information, management, capital financing and networking,'' Bijur said. He also predicted changes in the way oil companies sell their products, including a move away from the traditional service station. ''In the U.S., Wal-Mart buys everything else in bulk with razor-thin margins for suppliers. Why not gasoline? Just because oil companies have distribution networks does not guarantee us that customers will continue to patronize their brands,'' Bijur said. New transportation technology, such as the use of cars powered by fuel cells instead of gasoline, will also force change on the oil giants, he said. ''This industry knows how to explore for deposits of oil. I believe we also need to explore new ways of thinking and operating, because these are the reserves that will determine our success in the years ahead,'' Bijur said. On Monday, Texaco's stock fell 12.5 cents to $60.56 a share in composite New York Stock Exchange trading.