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

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (32238)	11/29/1998 3:53:00 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Respond to of 95453

Sunday November 29 9:21 AM ET UAE Calls For Adherence To Oil Output Cuts By Michael Georgy DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) urged fellow OPEC members Iran and Venezuela Sunday to abide by pledged oil production cuts to rescue battered petroleum market. ''I think it is in their interest to cooperate to reach a consensus with the others,'' The UAE minister of petroleum and mineral resources, Obeid bin Saif al-Nasseri, said. ''Without cooperation among (OPEC) member countries, there will be no agreement and that will rule out any improvement,'' he told reporters on the sidelines of a gas conference in Dubai. Nasseri was responding to a question about reports that Iran and Venezuela had failed to stick to oil output reduction pledges. Finger pointing at oil giants Iran and Venezuela has deepened divisions within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which is facing one of its worst crises ever. Bickering between OPEC members marred a meeting of the cartel this week in Vienna that put off any tough decisions on new measures to save collapsed prices until next March. OPEC had reached two accords earlier this year to shave total output by 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) or some 10 percent of production but several countries desperate for cash have been cheating, according to independent monitors. ''All options are open, and the UAE will back any joint effort by member countries (to improve prices),'' Nasseri said. OPEC Secretary-General Rilwanu Lukman played down reports that Venezuela and Iran were violating production cut pledges. ''What violations? We have over 90 percent compliance. What are you talking about,'' he told reporters at the gas conference. Adjusted for inflation, oil prices are at 25-year lows. World benchmark Brent crude oil futures had clawed back 14 cents at the end of trade Friday to stand at $11.14 a barrel. Lukman said OPEC would be satisfied with oil prices if they stood at between $15 and $20 a barrel. ''We will continue to try and balance supply and demand in such a way as to move the price in that direction. OPEC has been successful in reducing more than two million barrels per day over the last six months and we will continue to cut,'' he said. When asked why OPEC did not prolong existing output cuts at the Vienna meeting as expected, Lukman stressed that an agreement was already in place until June next year. ''When March comes we will consider it,'' he said, in reference to an OPEC meeting scheduled for that month. ''You want us to have two agreements at once?'' ''By buying time, this will give us more opportunities to come up with, I hope, a better solution,'' said Nasseri. The UAE oil minister urged non-OPEC oil producers to cooperate with the cartel to rescue the market. ''If they don't cooperate with OPEC members, any position taken will not be enough to cope with this, to rectify the prices,'' he said. OPEC's new president, Algerian Energy and Mining Minister Youcef Yousfi, has urged swift action and called for an immediate output cut of between one million and 1.5 million bpd. Earlier Stories UAE Urges Adherence To Oil Output Cuts (November 29) OPEC's Yousfi Urges Immediate Output Cuts (November 29) Unruly OPEC Proves Unfit To Fight Oil Slump (November 27) OPEC Splits Leave Oil Producers Defenseless (November 26) OPEC Pact Fails More Action On Oil Crash (November 26) Sat Nov 28 \| Fri Nov 27 \| Thu Nov 26 \| Wed Nov 25 \| Tue Nov 24 \| Mon Nov 23 \| Sun Nov 22 Index \| Top Stories \| Business \| Tech \| Politics \| World \| Local \| Entertainment \| Sports \| Science \| Health Questions or Comments Copyright © 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (32238)	11/29/1998 4:02:00 PM
From: Big Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Here is another view on oil company consolidation... The bigger a company is, the bigger the fields they must go after...to explore and develop. Big companies are not efficient at developing and exploiting "small" plays. The smaller oil companies...including independants...will have the opportunity to snag some of the crumbs left in the wake of consolidations. The big company will want to get rid of the small stuff so focus on "impact" prospects. So a case may be made that drilling would increase since the guys that pick up the cast off leases will be more apt to drill and exploit than when those crumbs were owned by the behemoth. Make sense? big loosbrock.com