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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 (38033)	2/23/1999 1:32:00 PM
From: pz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Tuesday, February 23, 1999 Oil forecast: dark By ANTHONY WILSON Staff Writer Clayton Williams' forecast for West Texas oilmen is as dark as the crude that once flowed so freely in these parts. Speaking at the West Central Texas Oil and Gas Association's 66th annual meeting, the legendary wildcatter warned that: -- Freefalling oil prices aren't likely to rebound much from $9 a barrel. -- Lawmakers probably won't lift the industry with tax breaks, owing partly to the sinister J.R. Ewing stereotype stuck on its leaders. -- The biggest oil companies are bolting American shores for new reserves opened up by the Cold War's end. OPEC will continue to depress oil prices in an effort to slow worldwide production, he said. -- Rising risks are causing banks to back away from the oil business, making venture capital scarce. The Midland oilman even advised the youngest members of his audience to put their professional prospects under a microscope and consider another line of work. "I don't like to tell you that," he said, "but it's what I believe.'' During a 45-minute speech, Williams offered only one dim glimmer of hope: For the most able entrepreneurs, those who operate more efficiently and creatively, the opportunities could be limitless. Just don't ask Williams what they'll be. "Crisis brings the opportunity to change," he said. "From the ashes rises the phoenix. There will be opportunities. I just don't know what they'll be. "If I knew all the answers. I wouldn't have been in politics, oil or banking." So went Williams' luncheon speech, a hybrid cross of Hee Haw humor and doomsday prophesy. He joked that his high school football team went 5-5, losing five at home and five on the road. He insisted his banker's glass eyeball is the one with a "hint of kindness." And he dismissed the concept of global warming by saying, "Anything Al Gore believes in, I don't." "You gotta laugh," he said afterward. "You can't cry all the time. "Course, I'm the first to admit there's no room for jokes in politics," he said with a grin, needling his failed 1990 gubernatorial bid, when a crude rape joke sank what looked to be a certain Williams victory. His assessment of the oil industry, however, was nothing to laugh about. He urged his fellow wildcatters to admit the business is in crisis, saying denial delays solutions. Williams has scrapped his most severely wounded ventures, downsized, improved his company's efficiency and finances, and brought promising peripheral projects to fruition. Though he has lost money before by hedging his oil interests, he did so again in late 1997 after taking note of some potentially dangerous signs in the industry. His exclusive focus on mining natural gas has boosted his production ahead of larger companies such as Conoco and Fina. "This industry is not going to support as many people as it does today," Williams said. "There's no way. You're going to have a totally reformed industry." Bill Core, WeCTOGA's president, called Williams' address "sobering but realistic." "Bound together, we will face this," Core told the crowd. "We'll wake up tomorrow morning and the morning after that."