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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 (36940)	2/5/1999 4:41:00 PM
From: Platter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday after unseasonably mild weather in the northern hemisphere unleashed market bears, traders said, International benchmark Brent futures ended the week with a whimper, falling 16 cents to close at $10.44. The contract struggled in vain to halt a price slide which has knocked $1 off Brent this week and nearly $2 since an early January rally. Bulls ran for cover in the face of growing petroleum product supplies in major consuming centres, where mild weather in the northern hemisphere has robbed heating oil markets of normally robust January demand. Further denting the market, oil refiners in the U.S. who recently announced cutbacks in their operations because of diminishing margins, ultimately took heart from declining crude costs and turned out more product than expected last week. "For now the complex remains fundamentally defensive, with U.S. refinery runs creeping up last week despite poor margins, and the weather is too mild," said Leslie Nicholas in a GNI Research market report. Private forecaster Weather Services Corp on Thursday forecast temperatures in the U.S. Northeast, the nation's main heating oil consuming region, would remain above normal for the next 10 days. Chronic price weakness has led the U.S. government to unveil a plan aimed at providing relief for low-volume oil producers suffering from diminished revenues. The plan would allow producers to suspend operating their oil wells located on federal lands for up two years without losing their leases. The relief would apply only to so-called "stripper" wells that produce less than 15 barrels of oil a day. "This will help to alleviate the economic impact low oil prices many have on small federal stripper oil operations," Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said. Behind the scenes, ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have been working with limited success to achieve a consensus on how best to prop up prices. Venezuela's new Minister of Energy Ali Rodriguez warned on Thursday that his country would not continue to cut output if other producers did not comply with promises to do the same. "We are noble but not stupid. If there is not collective compliance with the agreements, we are not going to be stupid and be the only one to make the sacrifice," he said. The new government of Hugo Chavez has vowed to abide rigorously by the previous administration's agreement to cut 525,000 barrels per day (bpd) as part of a producer cutback pact. Industry sources estimate Venezuela has about 150,000 bpd of reductions left to meet its pledged curbs. Rodriguez has said he will send delegations to all OPEC countries, and some producers outside the cartel, before the scheduled March 23 OPEC ministers' meeting. Rodriguez has also said producers should consider additional cuts to try and lighten an oversupplied market. Prices in dollars per barrel: Feb 5 Feb 4