Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: SliderOnTheBlack who wrote (32877)	12/16/1998 8:37:00 AM
From: Captain James T. Kirk	Respond to of 95453

Iraq jitters push oil market higher (Adds weapons inspectors leaving Baghdad HQ, comments by British foreign minister, updates prices) SINGAPORE, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Oil prices in Asia ticked higher on Wednesday as the prospects of military action against Iraq came back into the spotlight. Chief U.N. arms inspector Richard Butler said in a report to the United Nations Security Council that Iraq has not fully cooperated with the inspectors, despite a promise to do so after it narrowly averted air strikes last month. In Baghdad, witnesses said that staff of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), charged with the weapons inspections, left their Baghdad headquarters in three buses heading for Habbaniya airport. At 0822 GMT, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) January crude contract was last traded on the after-hours ACCESS system at $11.87 per barrel, up 32 cents from the New York close. The price had been down three cents on the day when the news of Butler's report was announced. Brokers said the rise was prompted by short covering -- where traders cover previous bets that the market will fall -- but so far had not sparked fresh buyers into the market. Iraq promised unconditional cooperation with the inspectors on November 14. The promise was made under the threat of two U.S. military strikes, which were aborted in mid-air. But Butler's report said ''Iraq did not provide the full cooperation it promised on November 14.'' He said ''no progress was able to be made in either the fields of disarmament or account for its prohibited weapons programs.'' In Washington, state department spokesman James Foley said: ''This is a very serious matter. I can't speculate what decision the president will make, but the United States has stated before that we believe we have all the authority we need under relevant Security Council resolutions to act. All options remain on the table.'' Britain's foreign minister Robin Cook told BBC radio said it was clear Iraq had not kept its commitment to cooperate with the weapons inspectors. ''This is a very serious report and we are taking it very seriously. We said last time we would not be giving further warnings to Saddam Hussein,'' he said. The Iraq jitters provided fresh impetus to an 80-cent oil price rally in the past two days, sparked by plans by OPEC's Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, plus non-OPEC Mexico to meet in Madrid on Thursday to discuss ways to get the devasted oil price higher. The trio were the main architects of agreements earlier this year among producers to cut 3.1 million barrels per day from world supplies. Oil prices are still dangerously close to 12-year lows in absolute terms and more than 20-year lows in terms of average prices. Overnight stock data from the U.S., which often provides market direction, failed to impress. A build in U.S. crude stocks of one million barrels, and builds in distillates and gasoline amounting to some 1.7 million barrels, were in line with the oil market's expectations.