Temper

Worldwide economic growth is slowly beginning, which is leading to rising demand for petroleum products, but high inventories of energy products will temper prices, especially those for natural gas, Moody’s Investors Service said Tuesday.

Strong commodity prices overall have continued to temper the negative impact of higher oilfield costs, but several factors could disrupt the relatively “benign” environment in the exploration and production (E&P) sector through the rest of the year, according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P) credit analysts.

Strong commodity prices overall have continued to temper the negative impact of higher oilfield costs, but several factors could disrupt the relatively “benign” environment in the exploration and production (E&P) sector through the rest of the year, according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P) credit analysts.

Storage overhang isn’t enough to temper the optimism of EnronOil &amp Gas Chairman Forrest Hoglund when it comes to the outlookfor gas this year and next. With demand expected to grow andproduction expected to fall – 3% according to Hoglund – on softdrilling activity, the coming months are shaping up to be good onesfor producers.

Storage overhang isn’t enough to temper the optimism of EnronOil & Gas Chairman Forrest Hoglund when it comes to the outlookfor gas this year and next. With demand expected to grow andproduction expected to fall – 3% by Hoglund’s count – on softdrilling activity, the coming months are shaping up to be good onesfor producers.

Chevron and Arco both said yesterday they will be chopping $500million from their costs for 1999. “To successfully weather thebusiness conditions of low crude oil, natural gas and commoditychemicals prices, we have to continue to find ways to minimize thecost of operating our business,” said Ken Derr, Chevron’s CEO.