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

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (36477)	2/1/1999 6:37:00 PM
From: Platter	Respond to of 95453

New York, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell 3 percent as refiners slowed processing amid ample supplies of gasoline and heating oil, with little sign cold weather will significantly boost heating fuel demand during the final weeks of winter. ''Refineries are cutting runs and that's pulled the plug on crude oil,'' said Rod Hamilton, a broker at Amerex Futures in London. Traders estimate refinery production slowed last week for a fourth straight week, trimming inventories of both gasoline and heating oil, while leaving crude oil supplies higher. U.S. refinery utilization fell to 91.7 percent of normal capacity during the week ended Jan. 22 from 99 percent at the start of the year as low product prices narrowed profit margins. Crude oil for March delivery fell 38 cents to $12.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, March Brent crude fell 47 cents to $10.88 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. While frigid weather has boosted heating oil demand in Europe, and temperatures recently have dropped to about 20 degrees Fahrenheit in the Northeast, the biggest U.S. heating oil market, the cold spell isn't expected to last long enough to significantly erode supplies, traders said. Gasoline Retreats Gasoline was pulled lower by crude oil, traders said, giving back some of the 7.8 percent gain posted from Wednesday through Friday last week. The price rise reflected expectations that refinery slowdowns would help trim gasoline inventories. BP Amoco Plc was scheduled to idle a gasoline-making unit at its 255,000-barrel-a-day Belle Chase, Louisiana, refinery today for unplanned maintenance, Platt's Global Alert said Friday. BP- Amoco officials wouldn't comment on refinery operations when asked today. March gasoline fell 1.08 cent, or 2.8 percent, to 37.27 cents a gallon on the Nymex. March heating oil fell 0.92 cent, or 2.8 percent, to 32.50 cents a gallon. ''After having gained a few cents, giving back one penny is not that big of a deal,'' for gasoline, said Dominick Caglioti, a futures trader at ABN Amro Energex in New York. ''You have to expect a little sell off.'' Traders expect that tomorrow's weekly inventory report from the American Petroleum Institute will show U.S. supplies of crude oil rose last week, the second weekly increase, amid a further slowdown in refinery processing. ''If we have an increase in the crude situation, it could overwhelm the complex,'' said John Kilduff, senior vice president of energy risk management at Fimat USA Inc. Ali Rodriguez, who will become Venezuela's new oil minister tomorrow, said he would meet today with his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Ali Al Naimi, and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Secretary-General Rilwanu Lukman to study the possibility of further cuts in oil output. The news didn't influence prices, traders said, because most market participants doubt OPEC members are ready to agree on which producers should bear the brunt of any further reductions. The 11-member group is scheduled to meet on March 23.