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

To: Platter who wrote (36254)	1/29/1999 4:27:00 PM
From: Platter	Respond to of 95453

Sorry computer locked up...here is the full article.."LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices made gains in late deals on Friday as traders waited for signs of new efforts by producers to haul the market out of the mire. International benchmark Brent was up 36 cents at $11.36 a barrel by the close of trading, well below last year's $13.34 average, itself the lowest yearly level for over two decades. An early January rally has petered out, dashing producer hopes that a long, cold northern hemisphere winter could boost their oil revenues. A Saudi Arabian politician on Friday showed the depth of producer concern in calling for a summit of leaders of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a rare move by a Saudi politician not directly involved in oil policy. Abdel-Aziz Ismail Daghestani, a member of the Majlis al-Shoura (consultative council) said that oil prices could fall below $10 a barrel unless OPEC took new action. Another heavyweight in the OPEC producers' club, Venezuela, also spoke out on Friday for new efforts to boost oil prices. "We are going to work energetically in the search for mechanisms within OPEC and with non-members to stop the slide in oil prices," Venezuela's energy minister-designate Ali Rodrigues said in Caracas. He told reporters he would seek agreement with other producers before the next OPEC meeting on March 23. Analysts believe OPEC must shed up to a million barrels per day (bpd) more output - in addition to the 2.6 million bpd austerity package already in place - just to push prices back up to last year's lowly average. Yet the cartel is only managing to stick to around 70 percent of its current pledges, and has shown little sign of new efforts ahead of its the March meeting. "OPEC is bleeding badly yet at the moment it seems absolutely catatonic," said Leo Drollas of London's Centre for Global Energy Studies. The grouping has to wait for the inauguration of Venezuela's president-elect Hugo Chavez on February 2 before it can work towards further measures. Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi may meet Chavez when he attends next week's presidential inauguration. Yet analysts say action is still unlikely before a visit by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Saudi Arabia in March. That will be the best chance for the two producer powers to resolve their dispute over Iran's production quota - one of the issues that paralysed an OPEC meeting last November. Prices have continued to bump along at little more than a dollar above December's historic lows and oil product inventories have remained stubbornly large. Prices in dollars per barrel: Jan 29 Jan 28 (close) (close) IPE March Brent $11.36 $11.00 NYMEX March light crude $12.78 $12.45