Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Wallace Rivers who wrote (36843)	2/5/1999 9:55:00 AM
From: Platter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Oil at 11.85, BUT OSX up .55 points

To: Wallace Rivers who wrote (36843)	2/5/1999 9:58:00 AM
From: Platter	Respond to of 95453

London, Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil was little changed after falling 3 percent yesterday as traders watched OPEC for signs of whether the group would act to shore up prices that are down more than 30 percent in the past year. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in January made only 74.1 percent of the 2.6 million barrels of planned cuts in oil output, down from a revised 78.3 percent compliance in December, a Bloomberg survey said. OPEC in March will reconsider production, though some members have called for greater compliance before more cuts are taken. ''After yesterday's move (in prices) it's wait-and-see time because nobody wants to take a bet until they see what OPEC might do next,'' said Bruce Evers, a broker with Henderson Crosthwaite Ltd. Brent crude oil for March delivery traded 7 cents lower at $10.50 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange in London. March crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange traded 13 cents lower at $11.89 a barrel in electronic trading. Traders also await the Paris-based International Energy Agency's monthly oil report, a closely watched measure of global supply and demand. ''Many (traders) could be waiting for the IEA to comment on the glut,'' said Leslie Nicholas, an analyst at GNI Ltd. Little Restraint OPEC production, which accounts for about a third of the world's oil supplies, from all 11 members reached 27.43 million barrels a day in January, up from a revised 27.33 million barrels a day in December, according to the survey. OPEC's lack of restraint ''isn't going to help the market'' clear a surplus, said Philip Oxley, a broker with Credit Lyonnais Rouse Ltd. Excluding Iraq, whose oil output is regulated by the United Nations in the aftermath of its invasion of Kuwait, OPEC produced 25.06 million barrels a day in January. The 10-member total was still 673,000 barrels a day above target, the survey said, even after repeated calls for full compliance by Persian Gulf leaders. Demand for oil fell amid turmoil in Asian markets that cut industrial growth and the region's energy needs. Also, demand for oil products such as heating fuels has stagnated amid a warmer-than-expected winter in the Northern Hemisphere during the last two years. January was the third straight month that compliance fell shy of 80 percent, after OPEC achieved more than 90 percent between August and October. January's compliance level was the lowest under the program since 66 percent compliance in July, when members were still in the process of adjusting output after they reached agreement on cuts in June. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------