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

To: S. maltophilia who wrote (32849)	12/15/1998 8:47:00 AM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Oil holds gains in Asia ahead of Madrid meeting SINGAPORE, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Crude oil prices in Asia were holding most overnight gains on Tuesday, supported by the prospects for fresh output cuts to bolster the soggy market. New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) January crude futures, trading in Asia on the ACCESS system, were last traded at 0820 GMT at $11.26 per barrel, down three cents from the New York close. Brent crude, on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX) was untraded. Mexico fuelled hopes of a fresh round of production cuts late on Monday, saying it was prepared to consider all options in Madrid, including cutting back production further. OPEC's Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter, and Venezuela, plus non-OPEC Mexico said they would meet in Madrid on Thursday to discuss the devastated oil market. The news of the Madrid meeting pushed NYMEX January crude up 50 cents and Brent 31 cents on Monday -- a welcome reprieve for both markets which have hovered around 12-year lows for some weeks. Oil traders on Tuesday said Mexico's comments added support for the price of oil, but a fresh rally was unlikely until the outcome of the meeting was known. ''The thing is to basically sit down and analyse the situation, and everything is on the table, including more production cuts,'' a Mexican government source said, on condition of anonymity. The three oil producers were the architects of global production cuts earlier this year, which resulted in pledges to reduce output a combined 3.1 million barrels per day, including 2.6 million bpd from OPEC. But analysts were not convinced the Madrid meeting would result in fresh output cuts. Global oil stocks were at a record and OPEC was at odds over the issue of compliance to existing output agreements. These OPEC odds were heightened by comments from an Iran source earlier on Tuesday. He said Iran would not join a fresh round of output cuts until the Gulf war quota row was settled. OPEC producers increased production during the Gulf War to make up for the lost production from Iraq, which was hit with a United Nations embargo when it invaded Kuwait. However, Saudi Arabia, which had the greatest surplus capacity, made up most of the supply gap. Several oil producers have made comments in recent days urging ways to bolster the market. Saudi Arabia's King Fahd on Monday supported a recent call by Crown Prince Abdullah, the heir apparent, for producers to take action. Venezuela, long maligned as failing to meet its production quota, said it was considering fresh output cuts. During the weekend there were several calls for production cuts from porducers during a meeting of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) in Cairo. -- Singapore newsroom (+65 870 3836)