PICKENS SEES CONTINUED SLUMP IN WORKING RIGS

  T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman and
  financier, said he believes the heady days the oil service
  industry had in the early 1980s, when over 4,500 oil rigs were
  once reported operating, will not return in his lifetime.
       Pickens told Reuters he expects the rig count to drop to
  below 600 before recovering. He added that oil prices will
  eventually rise to 35 dlrs, then to 50 dlrs after 1990.
       Currently, some 700 oil rigs are operating in the U.S.,
  down sharply after oil prices slipped from 30 dlrs in late 1985
  to around 10 dlrs in 1986. Prices are now around 18 dlrs. The
  highest number of working rigs was 4,500 in December 1981.
       "The rigs won't go back to work until the price of oil
  gets above 30 dlrs," he said, adding that while he expects to
  see 50 dlr a barrel oil, he does not expect to see 2,000 rigs
  operating in his lifetime. Pickens is 58.
       Pickens, who is currently touring the country promoting
  his autobiography "Boone," said he does not believe the U.S.
  should impose an oil import fee in order to stimulate the
  domestic oil industry.
  

