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

To: Aggie who wrote (45295)	5/22/1999 12:43:00 PM
From: hdrjr	Respond to of 95453

OT Aggie, It is nice to here from one that truly knows. I am not in the industry, the story was sent to me by another oil field investor. I have been involved in construction on land for thirty years and am very interested in learning the various drilling processes. If you know of any sites that might explain to an educated lay person I would greatly appreciate. Oft times several of us sit around having a brew and speculate how certain rigs function. Please don't hold it against me that I am a teasip. I hold the aggieland engineering school in high regard and one of my fathers best friends was an aggie.(vbg) TIA hdr

To: Aggie who wrote (45295)	5/22/1999 11:53:00 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95453

Oil industry on road to recovery, says Halliburton supremo Dick Cheney Aberdeen Press & Journal, May 21 HALLIBURTON supremo Dick Cheney said yesterday the oil and gas industry downturn had probably bottomed out and that recovery had begun. Speaking in Aberdeen yesterday, the group's chief executive officer said further large scale lay-offs from its UK North Sea and worldwide operations were unlikely, unless driven that way by a further market deterioration. Mr Cheney said Halliburton remained committed to its operations in Britain, including the North fabrication yards which, in the group's opinion, were competitive, even against Korean companies at the high technology end of the market. But he also warned that what happened regarding future developments in the North Sea would have a bearing on the future of Nigg and Ardersier run under the Halliburton Brown & Root/McDermott joint venture Barmac. An upbeat Mr Cheney said it was vital that Halliburton struck the right balance between slimming down through necessity and being able to respond effectively to improving opportunities. He pointed out that the more than 9,000 or so jobs lost over past months was not just because of the merger with Dresser, but also the oil industry downturn. Reorganisation continued. This had been completed in more than 100 locations around the world, another 167 were in progress and more than 100 remained to be dealt with. Some consolidations might not be completed until next year. "When we announced the merger, our objective then was that we would be able to achieve at least $250million per annum by way of savings and synergies and that we would hit that rate at the end of 1999," said Mr Cheney. "I do not anticipate significant additional lay-offs unless market conditions change. We've told our people that we think we have done what we needed to do to adjust to this down cycle in the market. An indication of the effect that the prolonged oil price slump has had is that Halliburton will not be exhibiting at Offshore Europe. Mr Cheney said he was impressed by the determination of Opec to hold with the latest quota cuts agreement and that South-east Asian economies like Korea had also turned the corner. "All of these things lead me to believe that, as we go into 2000, circumstances will be better than they were at the beginning of 1999. That in turn is likely to lead to decisions by companies that want to invest more." Worst hit of Halliburton's various interests by the downturn has been the upstream side, through Brown & Root Energy Services and Halliburton Energy Services. They were cash cows that had been suffering pain to a greater extend than anyone else. This included the fabrication yards at Ardersier and Nigg. "A lot of that (future) is going to turn directly on what happens in the North Sea. Obviously our preference is to continue to operate there. But, ultimately, how active those facilities are, how much work we put through them and how large the workforce is going to be will be directly related to the overall trend of developments in the North Sea." Mr Cheney added that, while rising oil prices would encourage the market, the various oil company mega-mergers would in part counter that because of streamlining. pressandjournal.co.uk