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To: Big Dog who wrote (41821)	4/8/1999 3:38:00 AM
From: ForYourEyesOnly	Respond to of 95453

Oil & Y2K: Have you heard any rumblings about how the oil industry will be ready for Y2K? Some recent news article show that there may be serious issues.... Best regards, THC gold-eagle.com A recent headline in Criminal Politics magazine presented the following frightful specter: "No Gasoline After 2000." The article stated: "cBecause of the potential for massive explosions, the local press [in Houston, Texas] has been forced to come clean about a grave crisiscwhich has not been discussed in any publication that we are aware of. That is, the potential for sabotage of petrochemical plants. These facilities are some of the most complex engineering facilities ever produced by man. They are exceeded only by the National Power Grid. Some of them are two football fields in size, including massive storage tanks for petroleum and the resulting products of gasoline, heating oil and other items. "Because of the danger to the local population, the Houston Chronicle finally let loose with a horrible, shocking release of Sunday, February 14th—cover story—warning the population of grave risks after the 2000 period arrives: 'Officials Race Computer-Driven Clock to Avert Disaster at Local Plants.' "The article describes the grave danger of explosions after the 2000 period and much life has already been lost in Texas and other states due to explosions over the decades. The article goes on to explain that Herculean efforts will have to be undertaken to provide reasonable safety for workers at the plants (who may not even want to show up)—and the surrounding neighborhoods. Each one of these plants could turn into a fireball the size of a mini-atomic bomb! "To avoid this, the article explains that they are going to drain the tanks to make sure that this does not happen and that, therefore, storage facilities will not be able to provide the public with the assurance of either crude oil supply or the resulting product supplies. In other words, scarcity is guaranteed no matter what happens—simply because of safety preparations and precautions to protect the workers at the plants and the surrounding neighborhoods which may be endangeredc "cThe Oil and Gas Journal, a leading trade periodical, last fall called the Y2K bug, including safety ramifications, 'a problem of unprecedented scope.'" Notwithstanding the emotive tone of this article, it cannot be denied that the points made in it are of real concern. Since much of the nation's fuel comes from the Houston area, a shutdown of petrochemical plants would certainly have an adverse affect on Internet stock prices as well as the delivery mechanism for the Internet in general. To what degree these affects would be felt is still unclear. And since stock prices tend to anticipate and discount such events well in advance, we could reasonably expect a downturn in Internet stock prices sometime in the next few months. Monitoring for such a downturn is now one of our top priorities and we will warn you in advance as soon as our indicators detect these changes (if indeed they occur).