A.M. Executive Briefing - Sept. 22
This Morning's Headlines:
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OPEC Ministers Recommend Maintaining Cutbacks Until March
The OPEC ministerial committee decided Tuesday to tell the group's oil ministers to keep production quotas until March, and if the ministers take the recommendation at their meeting today, oil prices could remain in excess of $20 a barrel. Some of the ministers say it is anticipated that this year's oil inventory will go down, but not enough to counteract the rising inventory over 1997 and 1998.Gary Ross, president of PIRA Energy, says low winter temperatures could potentially lead to oil prices near $30 per barrel. Sheik Saud Nasser al-Sabah, oil minister of Kuwait, says he may decide to extend the cutbacks beyond March.
rices could go down greatly if it appears OPEC might abandon the cutbacks, but some of the oil cartel's members do not want the prices to get any higher. Some members are afraid that non-member countries could up their production if the OPEC cuts continue. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait also fear damaging Southeast Asia's economy and hurting ties with the United States. Yesterday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) wrote to President Clinton and the Secretary of Energy, asking to allow oil to be taken from the U.S. strategic reserve.
OPEC's nearly united stance on the cutbacks could also be hurt by current arguments over which country's minister will be the cartel's new secretary general. Wall Street Journal (09/22/99) P. A4; Bahree, Bhushan; Liesman, Steve
Toll-Highway Bailout Reaches $9.4 Billion
Mexican Transportation Secretary Carlos Ruiz Sacristan announced to lawmakers on Wednesday that the bailout of privatized toll highways had reached $9.4 billion as of August. Interest rates and traffic volumes below those that were anticipated led to the failure of the highways, which were built between 1988 and 1994. After the highways' bankruptcy, the government took over both the highways and their debt. Journal of Commerce (09/22/99) P. 18Truck-Related Fatalities on the Rise in S.C.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, South Carolina was third among the 50 states in increasing truck-crash deaths between 1997 and 1998. On Tuesday, the Greenville News reported that the amount of truck-crash fatalities went up from 90 to 128 in those years. Meanwhile, the amount of truck-crash deaths nationwide saw a small drop in those years.An official at the Federal Highway Administration says that since 1994 the volume of trucks in South Carolina has gone up 100 percent while the state's number of truck inspectors went down. In some parts of I-85, trucks can only use the two right lanes, and the state Transport Police are also focusing on portions of highways where truck crashes are common.
Tom Crosby of AAA Carolinas says truckers think of South Carolina as a place where there is only a middling chance of getting caught for violations. However, Richmond Halls, who owns a trucking firm in the state, says the state's inspectors "put you out of service for any little thing." South Carolina Trucking Association President Rick Todd calls for more traffic enforcement rather than inspections, and he and Halls both advocate teaching driver safety. Associated Press (09/21/99)
Trimac Transportation Signs Ten Year Transport Contract with the BNSF, Opens Expanded Trail, BC Trans-Load Facility
Trimac Transportation Services and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway have inked a 10-year deal in which Trimac will perform trans-loading and on-road transport of ore concentrates from a Cominco Ltd. smelter in Trail, British Columbia. Trimac has also expanded its trans-load site in Waneta, British Columbia, to increase storage and throughput capacity. The Waneta facility handles ore, lead, zinc, and slag products. Canada NewsWire (09/21/99)Fresno-Based Utility Trailer Plans Northern California Site
Fresno, Ca.-based Utility Trailer Sales has purchased 22 acres in Lathrop, in the northern part of the state, where it will build a 55,000-square-foot building that will employ some 50 workers when it opens. "We selected this site because it is next to I-5, the major north-south corridor, and not far off the path of I-580, which serves the San Francisco area," says company executive Roger Irvin.The Lathrop site will also be the new location for Utility Trailer's president's office, although the company will still be based out of Fresno. Fresno Bee (09/21/99) P. C2; Cook, Bill
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