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

To: A. Geiche who wrote (35686)	1/23/1999 3:21:00 AM
From: Box-By-The-Riviera™	Respond to of 95453

Saturday January 23, 12:58 am Eastern Time Fewest U.S. Oil Rigs Since '40s By PAULINE ARRILLAGA Associated Press Writer HOUSTON (AP) -- With oil prices at their lowest in more than a decade, domestic oil drilling and exploration has plunged to its lowest level in more than half a century. The number of oil and gas rigs operating in the United States dropped to 588 this week -- the lowest count since a well-known industry watcher began keeping score in 1944. The decline below the previous record low of 596 set in June 1992 was a new danger signal for an industry that has been walloped by a sharp decline in the price for crude. During the same week last year, 996 rigs were operating. ''When it's as low as it is now, we're a pretty anemic industry,'' said John Bell, owner of a small independent oil company in the West Texas town of Kermit. ''We're about as unhealthy as we can get.'' Houston-based toolmaker Baker Hughes Inc. has kept track of the count since 1944. The tally peaked at 4,530 on Dec. 28, 1981, during the height of the oil boom. Tony McAloon, director of market research at Baker Hughes, said there are probably fewer rigs looking for oil and gas in the country now than at any time since the heady oil boom town days of the early 1900s, when accurate counts were not available. McAloon said he expects the U.S. oil industry to bottom out some time this year. ''To find oil in the United States is more expensive than to find it in various international markets, and so although international locations can survive with low oil prices, many U.S. producers cannot,'' he said. In the United States, the second-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, the crisis has prompted companies to lay off workers, slash expenses and cut back or completely eliminate drilling projects. In the Houston area alone, about 4,200 oil industry workers lost their jobs in 1998, including 2,500 positions in exploration and production, Texas Workforce Commission data shows. ''All of the service industries -- people selling pipe, mud, engineers, geologists -- all of these people are working when the rigs are running and they're not when the rigs stop,'' said Morris Burns, executive vice president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.

To: A. Geiche who wrote (35686)	1/23/1999 10:33:00 AM
From: Gary Burton	Respond to of 95453

re SCSWF--They loaded up on debt mid 98 to overpay for an acquisition. Net of the likely goodwill created, the adjusted book value is probably now in the order of 4.50 and the balance sheet cleanliness at Nov 97 is now 'ruined' imo. That and the lack of quarterly financials and a poor investor relations effort make it more risky now. One wonders if all the analysts with strong buys out on it really are clued in as to what the company is currently experiencing, with downgrades to come. At least, that is the risk with this particular stock. Go to yahoo thread and read the various notes going back a month or so to get a flavor. I have no way of 'knowing' what the current picture is and as such I have a sense of unease. This of course may all be wrong and the stock may zoom back up soon. It's just that i am more comfortable with U.S financials and timely data. I also am astounded as to what they paid last June/July for the ceanic takeover. my 2c