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

To: Nello Filippone who wrote (37157)	2/9/1999 7:18:00 PM
From: JungleInvestor	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 95453

This is much more than a little surprise - this is a huge 10 Mln Bbl swing from the forecasted 3 Mln Bbl rise!! Distillate stock (including heating oil) was also down, in spite of the above average warm weather. Hopefully this will give the OSS a little boost similar to effect of the 15 Mln Bbl rise back in early January. Especially interesting is that US oil inventory is now lower than this time last year!! What was the price of oil this time last year?? Bet it was a little higher than it is now.

To: Nello Filippone who wrote (37157)	2/10/1999 12:27:00 AM
From: Douglas V. Fant	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Nello, API's ascertaining proper crude supply figures appears to be a "slippery business" heh-heh .. Note on WFT.. "Looking for Love" per the CEO- now on the prowl for acquisitions.. I can guess a couple of likely targets.... Also note initial "kick up" in profits on the WFT-GE compression JV for 1999. As I stated before energy area JV's between the bigger market shareholders in an area are cash making machines. Indeed I think that Duroc's $6.4mm estimate of additional profits from the JV in 1999 is conservative....Hmm and the JV is based in Irving. Now that wouldn't right next to Exxon-Mobil's Irving, Texas World HQ would it? My guess is just a coincidence.... Finally folks don't forget, the Big Piney Lodge in Karnack, Texas about eight miles north of I-20 on Caddo Lake about 15 miles west of the Lousiana Border and Shreveport about 7-7:30 on friday night if you want to eat some fresh succulent crawfish baked, breaded, fried, and etoufee'd in about a hundred different scrumptious ways and kibitz with some drilling people from Yale E. Key and Nabors Drilling.... "Weatherford Intl Considers Spending $150 Million on Acquisitions in 1999 Weatherford Intl Could Spend $150 Mln on '99 Buyouts (Update1) (Updates with international strategy.) New York, Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Weatherford International Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. oil-services company, said it may spend $150 million this year to acquire interests in companies hurt by spending cutbacks caused by low oil prices. Chairman Bernard Duroc-Danner said Weatherford identified prospects valued at $300 million to $500 million and plans to pursue them in April. ''I will be surprised if between now and the end of the year if we don't spend $150 million,'' Duroc-Danner said at PaineWebber's 12th annual energy conference in New York. The shares of Houston-based Weatherford fell 3/4 to 18 1/8. Weatherford wants to expand internationally, said Duroc- Danner. The company, excluding its Grant Prideco drilling and manufacturing units, reaped 37 percent of its revenue from international operations in 1998 and the chief executive said he wants to boost that to 60 percent. The company has 120 offices outside of North America, including Norway, Congo, Malaysia and Australia, a network Duroc- Danner said is the most extensive of any oil services company. Weatherford will start pursuing acquisitions in April after it completes the purchase of rights to technology to boost oil and natural gas production for $20 million, Duroc-Danner said. In addition to acquisitions, Weatherford expects growth from its business of compressing natural gas to boost production. ''All gas wells will eventually require compression,'' he said. Last week, Weatherford formed a joint venture with General Electric Capital, the largest non-bank finance company, to sell compressed natural-gas services and products to exploration companies. The venture, called Weatherford Global Compression Services, will be based in Irving, Texas, outside of Dallas. Weatherford owns 64 percent and a unit of GE Capital, the finance arm of General Electric Co. of the U.S., 36 percent. The transaction will add $6.4 million to earnings in 1999, Duroc-Danner said."