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To: Jamey who wrote (31601)	11/9/1998 12:32:00 AM
From: pz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 6, 1998 offshore-data.com Take a look at the table....the trend is not good Worldwide offshore rig count falls by three HOUSTON: The worldwide offshore rig count decreased slightly since last week, according to Offshore Data Services' weekly mobile offshore rig count. This week, 525 of the world's 611 mobile offshore drilling units are under contract, a net loss of three from last week's count. Worldwide offshore rig utilization is 85.9 percent. The European offshore rig count is unchanged from last week, with 107 of region's 113 offshore mobile drilling units under contract. European offshore rig utilization stands at 95.6 percent. In the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, fleet size increased by one with the addition of a jackup drilling rig from South America. The contracted rig count declined by two rigs compared to last week. Gulf of Mexico drilling fleet utilization is 76.3 percent; 135 of the region's 177 offshore drilling rigs are under contract.

To: Jamey who wrote (31601)	11/9/1998 9:43:00 AM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Respond to of 95453

Western Allies Closer To Iraq Strike Than Thought Reuters Photo By Ashraf Fouad KUWAIT (Reuters) - U.S.-led military strikes against Iraq for refusing to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors may be closer than ordinary people in the Gulf region think, military sources said Monday. ''The (unannounced) U.S. decision in September on possible military action was coupled with the need to move quickly if the crisis deepened, as it has in the past few days,'' said one Western officer, speaking of preparations under way. The latest standoff between Iraq and the United Nations started in August, but has escalated rapidly toward a possible military confrontation with U.S. and British forces in the Gulf in the last few days as U.N. inspectors left Baghdad. ''The Americans said (in September) that this time they would not allow things to drag on... countries given time to state their opposition and argue the point, envoys start going to Baghdad to try to find a way out for them...'' a senior officer said. British Defense Minister George Robertson, who arrived in Kuwait Sunday night, has said the current crisis would not be allowed to drag into the new year. The last crisis with Iraq over arms inspections started in November last year, and was resolved in late February through an accord with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Defense ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are due to meet later Monday in Riyadh, where they are expected to review the crisis and assess the varying levels of support for the military option. The six states, which fought in the 1991 U.S.-led Gulf war over Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait, have in the last few days given Washington permission to use some of their military infrastructure for strikes against Iraq, Gulf and Western military officials said. Not all of them did so during the previous crisis with Iraq. ''I don't think this time you will see all the hoopla (warning) of (Iraqi) chemical weapons attacks and VX gas...once the final decision is taken it will be quick,'' said a Western officer. In the last crisis, fear of Iraqi counter-attacks swept Kuwait. Some Western embassies evacuated dependants, gas masks were rushed in and residents stockpiled basic goods. Although Iraq has not been given a clear deadline for reversing its decision to halt cooperation with U.N. arms inspectors, military experts said a ''window of opportunity'' for activating the military option was only a few days away. They said key factors include the weather pattern over Baghdad and the birth of a new moon in about 10 days. Other factors include the scheduled rotation at the end of November of the U.S. aircraft carrier group in the region, the annual GCC summit in Abu Dhabi in early December and the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in mid-December. The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. Baghdad has demanded the U.N. Security Council review sanctions imposed on Iraq after its occupation of Kuwait and dismiss Richard Butler, the head of the U.N. team monitoring and dismantling Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------