2008-10-29 16:35:23 - London, Report Buyer, 24.10.2008:

70% of production volume of new oil comes from just eight companies, ExxonMobil, BP,
Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Chevron, Petrobras, Gazprom, and Aramco. So a better investment could be in oil services companies like Halliburton and Norway's Petroleum Geo-Services ASA, says new report.

70% of production volume of new oil comes from just eight companies, ExxonMobil, BP,
Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Chevron, Petrobras, Gazprom, and Aramco. So a better investment could be in oil services companies like Halliburton and Norway's Petroleum Geo-Services ASA, says new report.

A new document from MoneyWeek, 'Why you should be buying foreign stocks - and how to go about it'

which is available as a free download from www.reportbuyer.com/go/MOW00004 finds that the important investment issue is not how high oil prices can go from the current drop, but where future oil production will come from.

Up until recently, says the study, oil has been about the one market in the world that investors could rely on to go up. Now however, the price of black gold has dropped sharply after running up to record highs of $147 a barrel in July. Investors who have watched its seemingly unstoppable surge, are wondering if this is the end of the bull run.

Analysts say that while the obvious first step is to want to invest in the companies likely to be producing the most new oil over the next decade, it is not quite that simple. 70% of production volume of new oil comes from just eight companies, ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Chevron, Petrobras, Gazprom and Aramco. From the list, it is not possible to invest in Aramco at all. Also, although investment in Gazprom is possible, it is a risky proposition, given the Russian government's lack of attention to property rights. The other six firms on the list are good stocks, but well-known.

The study says a better way to invest in the drive to find and produce more oil might be through oil services companies. This is because it is certain that as the big players work to expand global oil production in the next five years, oil services firms will make good money as a result.

Halliburton and Norway's Petroleum Geo-Services ASA, which has just won its biggest contract ever, a $200m award from Petrobras for high-density, four-dimensional marine seismic survey work in Brazil's Santos, Campos and Espirito Santo Basins, are both tipped to be good buys. Among the other nine firms in the sector tipped as good investments are Baker Hughes Intl., Diamond Offshore Drilling and Nabors Industries, says the study.

'A long-term bull market in the oil sector is a near certainty, so watch for the correction, then buy Oil Services ETF and benefit from oil's next big move up,' said an analyst at MoneyWeek.

'Why you should be buying foreign stocks - and how to go about it' is one of a series of industry short reports available as free downloads from ReportBuyer.com

For more information, see:
www.reportbuyer.com/energy_utilities/oil_gas/oil_prices.html

ReportBuyer.com product ID: MOW00004

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