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To: dfloydr who wrote (36264)	1/29/1999 5:19:00 PM
From: Platter	Respond to of 95453

Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson will lead the American delegation attending the inauguration next week of new Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, the Energy Department announced on Friday. Venezuela is the largest supplier of petroleum products to the U.S. market. Other members of the U.S. delegation include John Maisto, U.S. ambassador to Venezuela and Peter Romero, acting assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs. The delegation will leave for Venezuela late on Monday and return on Wednesday afternoon. Richardson will meet with Chavez, Venezuela's new oil minister Ali Rodriguez and other officials of the new government. In addition, Richardson will meet with American leaders and attend a state dinner hosted by Chavez honoring the various foreign delegations.

To: dfloydr who wrote (36264)	1/29/1999 5:21:00 PM
From: Platter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

And this is the last one.."Jan 29 (Reuters) - Crude oil futures and products on the New York Mercantile Exchange chalked up hefty gains Friday, aided by refinery production cuts and maintenance that are expected to cut down inventories for the short term. Gasoline led the market's advance in the morning on talk of a shutdown next week at BP Amoco's fluid cat cracker in Belle Chasse, La., for unplanned maintenance. That came on top of refiners' recent moves to cut output because of poor margins. NYMEX March crude settled at $12.75, up 30 cents, after last trading at $12.73. In the early afternoon, crude futures got a lift from news from Venezuela that its new Minister of Energy and Mines Ali Rodriguez would seek agreement with other oil producers soon to stop the slide in oil prices. The March crude contract broke through resistance around $12.65 in the early afternoon, shortly after the news from Venezuela hit the wires. March crude climbed to an intraday high of $12.80. In earlier trade, it dipped to $12.35. The February heating oil and gasoline contracts, which expired at the end of the session, held on to most of their day's gains. February heating oil exited at 33.16 cents a gallon, up 0.61 a gallon. The March heating oil contract ended at 33.42 cents, up 0.61 cent, after last trading at 33.35 cents, near its session high of 33.65 cents. It traded as low as 32.60 cents. February gasoline went off the board at 36.88 cents a gallon, gaining a hefty 0.82 cent, trading between 36.10/37.10 cents. The March gasoline contract settled at 38.35 cents a gallon, up 1.14 cents. It traded between 37.20/38.45 cents. In London, March Brent last traded at $11.36 a barel, up 35 cents, on the International Petroleum Exchange. Venezuela's new oil minister Rodriguez said he would seek agreement with other producers on ways to stop the plunge in oil prices before the next meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on March 23, so that new steps could be taken at that meeting. "It was welcome news, and the market hopes something comes out of it, but we need to see how the Venezuelans follow up on it," said a NYMEX trader. Last year, Venezuela teamed up with fellow OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia and Mexico, a non-OPEC producer, to craft producers' agreements to slash output by 3.1 million barrels per day (bpd), including 2.6 million bpd from OPEC members. The effort was intended to help ailing oil prices, but some members have failed to fully comply with their output-cut pledges, causing oil prices to remain depressed. Analysts believe it will take another production cut of around 1.0-1.5 million bpd to rebalance the market. In the U.S. refinery runs have steadily dropped by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) since the beginning of the year year to 14.2 million bpd, according to the latest data, for the week ending Jan. 22, from the American Petroleum Institute (API). However, the rates are still 1.0 million bpd above last autumn's lowest rate of 13.5 million bpd, when refiners last reduced output and carried out a heavy maintenance program. As of Thursday, the U.S. refiners that have reported run cuts include Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp.; Tosco Corp.; Sunoco Inc. and Valero Energy Corp. But analysts worry that short-term gains for heating oil and gasoline futures stemming from the refinery cuts could later boomerang on the market. As refineries cut their demand for crude, the currently large stockpile of crude would grow even larger. For the next six to 10 days, temperatures will be above normal in the U.S. Northeast, the nation's biggest market for heating oil, according to Weather Services Corp., a private forecaster. "