LASMO SET TO BENEFIT FROM FUTURE OIL PRICE RISES

  London and Scottish Marine Oil Plc
  (Lasmo) &lt;LASL.L> will have an advantage when oil prices rise
  again and it is confident this will happen early in the next
  decade, the company said in a statement accompanying results.
      Lasmo said its advantage comes from its reserves of oil and
  gas which at the end of 1986 stood at 210 mln barrels of oil
  equivalent, a group record. Reserves have increased every year
  since 1983 at a compounded rate of 10 pct a year.
      The company reported a 1986 pretax profit of 4.4 mln stg,
  down from 118 mln in 1985.
      It said falling oil prices caused the downturn.
      The company said it reacted swiftly to the sharp drop in
  oil prices which began over a year ago. Capital expenditure,
  which had been budgeted at over 150 mln stg, was cut to 51 mln
  stg net of disposals. Managers responded well to the demand for
  lower operating costs and this has been achieved worldwide.
      The company said had very few exploration wells committed
  for 1987 and therefore retains maximum flexibility in its
  exploration program. Even without further success, the existing
  fields and recent discoveries will contribute significantly to
  profit and cash flow for some years to come, it said.
      Lasmo shares were down 2p at 251 after the announcement.
  

