Active Oil/Gas Rig Count rises by 11

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The following article was in my Sunday paper: Fair use,etc,etc: HOUSTON: AP The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and naturdal gas in the US rose this week by 11 to 774. Of the rigs running nationwide, 150 were exploring for oil, 622 for gas, and dtwo were listed as miscellaneous, Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday. During the same week last year, 684 rigs were operating in the U.S. Baker Hughes has kept track of the count since 1944. The tally peaked at 4,530 on Dec.28, 1981, during the height of the oil boom but set several record lows this earlier year, bottoming out at 498 on April 9th. Of the major oil and gas producing states, Louisiana gained nine rigs, and New Mexico and Oklahoma gained four each. Oklahoma's count rose to 73."

RC, Gordon, Dog Gone: have you had anymore news from the Mideast?

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), November 14, 1999

Answers

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only

In our local newspaper on Saturday:

Oil well erupts; about 500 evacuated

MARENGO, Ohio (AP) --

Workers drilling for oil hit a pocket of natural gas, sending explosive furmes into the air. They did not ignite, but 500 people were evacuatied overnight as a precaution.

A huge plume of gas vaporized over the well after the pocket was punctured Thursday, but there was no fire or explosion, said Joe Edwards, Morrow County Emergency Management Director. The drilling crew works for Chisholm Exploration of Abilene, Texas.

Marengo is about 30 miles north of Columbus.

FYI. Ellen, yuno@watching.eyes

-- Ellen (yuno@watching.eyes), November 14, 1999.


The rig count will probably change a bit as we go into the rollover. hehe

No news from the Mid East except this little Sadamm Hussein game. He is not delivering his normal oil for food, and looks set to stymie any deals...according to rumor. The rumor goes like this, Sadamn is long crude futures, the Opec meeting takes place on the 2oth and Sadamn announces the UN should go pound sand he is not exporting any oil for a while.

Then, crude goes bonkers 27 dollar wti and our inflation looks like a coronal mass ejection.

You would never know it to see the release below for education purposes:

Friday November 12, 7:56 am Eastern Time Iraq seen set to renew UN oil sales-Iraqi official By Peg Mackey

LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Iraq looks certain to accept another six- month renewal of the United Nations humanitarian oil sales deal after the current tranche expires on November 20, a senior Iraqi government official said on Friday.

The Iraqi official said Baghdad ``eventually will accept'' a rollover of the oil-for-food deal, especially since Iraq's long running demand for a full lifting of international trade sanctions looks unlikely to be met at this time.

Whether Iraq might first make a political stand before accepting another 180-day phase of oil sales remained to be seen, he said.

Only a minor gap is expected in Iraq's 2.3 million barrel per day (bpd) oil export programme when the current sixth phase ends, but oil traders still have not completely ruled out the possiblity that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein might pull the plug on oil sales.

The U.N. at the end of next week is expected to craft a technical resolution renewing the $5.26 billion humanitarian package in the final hours of the oil-for-food deal's current sixth phase.

Diplomats and oil traders alike are anticipating a fairly fluid transition between phases, as was the case last spring when the fifth phase expired.

Baghdad moved quickly then to endorse the U.N.'s rollover and state oil marketer SOMO did its utmost to ensure only minor logistical and operational hiccups interfered with its sales.

Western diplomats do not expect the Iraqi government to interrupt oil sales by making an issue of the scheme's humanitarian aid distribution plan. That had been the case when the first few phases of the programme, introduced in December 1996, drew to a conclusion.

TRADERS EXPECT ONLY MINOR OIL EXPORT GAP

``Given the information at hand, we're building in about a week's gap in loadings, which was about the case last time,'' said a trader.

Shipping for the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan should be fairly easy to secure while vessels for the Iraqi Gulf port of Mina al Bakr could be trickier to arrange, they said.

SOMO has assembled an export loading programme which extends well beyond the current phase's November 20 expiry, market sources said.

The sources reckon the Iraqi marketer could have at least 10 million barrels worth of oil left on its books when the sixth phase ends. The U.N. has approved roughly 392 million barrels worth of Iraqi oil contracts and as of Friday, customers had loaded about 360 million barrels of that volume, said traders.

Some major lifters of Iraqi barrels already have nominated cargoes for dates between November 20-30. At least one big buyer is believed to have a ship secured to load Basrah Blend from the Iraqi Gulf port of Mina al-Bakr in that date range, they said.

Customers are now keen to learn whether Iraq's current November official selling prices will be extended to cover the remainder of the month during the seventh phase.

Kirkuk loading from the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan is priced at Dated Brent -$1.35 per barrel for November, Basrah for the U.S. at second line WTI -$3.55 per barrel and Basrah to the Far East at Oman/Dubai +30 cents.

The United Nations Security Council this week has been attempting to cobble together a text for a resolution easing sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

But an agreement is unlikely before the current phase of the oil-for- food deal expires next week.



-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), November 14, 1999.


I don't mean to throw mud - I mean water - on the party, but we are having a little gas industry boom here in my county in WV. They struck a biggie, oh in the summer sometime. A real biggie. We even got a call to lease our rights, which no one had been interested in for years. And we are probably 20 miles from the strike. I don't know that we would account for all 11, but a field as big as this one is is going to generate a lot of interest.

-- Becky (rmbolte@wvadventures.net), November 14, 1999.

Oh, and guess what I spent the extra money on?

That, and I'm gona but a new toilet plunger and cut holes in it for laundry in the bathtub.

-- Becky (rmbolte@wvadventures.net), November 14, 1999.


If you don't mind my asking Becky, in which county in WV was the new find discovered?

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), November 15, 1999.


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