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

To: Tomas who wrote (36720)	2/4/1999 7:35:00 AM
From: Platter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

R&B Falcon Corporation Announces Deepwater IV Contract with Texaco HOUSTON, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- R&B Falcon Corporation (NYSE: FLC) announced today that it has confirmed a three-year drilling contract with Texaco for its newbuild 10,000-foot water depth dynamically positioned drillship Deepwater IV, as a substitute for the previously contracted Peregrine VIII. Texaco expects to begin a drilling program offshore West Africa shortly after the vessel's delivery, which is scheduled for the third quarter of 2000. Steve Webster, R&B Falcon's President and CEO, stated, "We are very pleased to work with Texaco on its ultra-deepwater drilling program. This contract commitment, recently following the commitment by another deepwater operator for our 5th generation ultra-deepwater semi-submersible RBS8-D reaffirms our view of the relative strength of the deepwater sector of the offshore drilling industry. The Deepwater IV, which is being built by Samsung Heavy Industries of Korea, is an enhanced design similar to the three Deepwater series design drillships to be delivered by Samsung. The first of these ships, the Deepwater Pathfinder, was delivered on schedule and has recently begun its program in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with Conoco. Based on the outstanding performance of Samsung with the first three ships, we are confident the Deepwater IV will be delivered on time and on budget." R&B Falcon Corporation operates the world's largest fleet of marine-based drilling rigs servicing the international oil and gas industry. Its fleet is composed of 136 marine-based drilling units including the industry's largest fleet of barge rigs and jackup rigs and a fleet of semi-submersibles and drillships which is among the most capable in the world. R&B Falcon also operates mobile production units, a leading fleet of towing vessels, internationally based land drilling rigs and provides turnkey and integrated services. SOURCE R&B Falcon Corporation

To: Tomas who wrote (36720)	2/4/1999 7:36:00 AM
From: Platter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

PARIS, Feb 4 (Reuters) - French oil stocks climbed strongly on Thursday with traders attributing their rise to higher U.S. oil shares after the withdrawal of U.N. personnel from Iraq raised the possibility of further military action. But analysts said the rise was probably more due to bottom-fishing than any real conviction the news could lift oil prices, noting that Brent crude prices had not reacted. At 1202 GMT shares in oil services companies Coflexip <CXIP.PA>> were up 6.31 percent and Bougues Offshore <BOS.PA> rose 6.35 percent. Oil firms Elf-Aquitaine <ELFP.PA> and Total <TOTF.PA> gained 3.32 percent and 2.74 percent respectively, while the benchmark CAC-40 was up 1.79 percent at 4,263.76 points. "Given that the price of crude oil is not responding in any way to the news, I would say this was an excuse for some bottom-fishing," said Jeremy Hudson, oil analyst at Salomon Brothers. "There is a slight trend for outperformance in oil stocks across European markets today, as people try to judge at what point the underperformance of the last 18 months will turn around. The news from Iraq is just a pretext to buy," he said. Brent prices bucked attempts to rally on Wednesday after news that the United Nations had ordered its U.S. and British staff to leave Iraq, saying it could not guarantee their safety. Around 1258 GMT on Thursday, March Brent was barely changed at $10.90 a barrel. Shares of U.S. oil companies Chevron Corp <CHV.N> and Exxon Corp. <XON.N>, both components of the Dow Jones index, rose $1-1/16 and $1-11/16 respectively on Wednesday.

To: Tomas who wrote (36720)	2/4/1999 9:21:00 AM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Financial Times, February 4: Sharp rise seen in North Sea output By Robert Corzine Oil output from the North Sea is expected to grow strongly this year in spite of low crude prices, according to a new forecast by Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh-based industry consultants. Total North Sea production this year is expected to average 6.81m barrels a day, a 13 per cent increase on the 6.02m b/d average for 1998. UK output is expected to rise by 14 per cent to a record 2.99m b/d, including 100,000 b/d from onshore fields. Wood Mackenzie says upstream revenues from most UK and Norwegian fields "still exceed the marginal cost of production even at $10 a barrel". It said operators were keen to maximise output to boost cash flows, and doubts whether any North Sea fields will be shut down in the short term. The slump in oil prices has caused some high cost production to be shut-in, especially in the onshore US, where the closure of low volume "stripper" wells is straightforward. But the closure of offshore platforms would be complicated and costly. In addition, many North Sea operators have slashed operating costs in recent years. Shell, one of the biggest North Sea operators, says its operating costs in the UK are less than £2.50 ($4.12) a barrel. That is three times less than a 1990 estimate of what they would be for this period. The Wood Mackenzie study suggests that much of this year's projected production growth will come from fields that have come onstream since 1996 and that are approaching full or plateau production. A separate Wood Mackenzie study shows that oil demand in western Europe is likely to remain flat to 2005, with average annual growth rates of 0.6 per cent.