The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 27

THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN 27 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1 998 AOL-Netscape Deal wJz Former Soviet Oil Tap I American Bonds 31 I American 30 Chicago Stocks 30 cnicago stocks mi jm ti May Spawn Change gssEEEf Tough Turn, Expert Says Livestock 28 Markets Glance 31 Nasdaq Small Cap 30 National Market System ...30 New York Stocks 29 New York Bonds 30 Oil and Gas 27 Precious Metals .31 Treasury Bonds 31 Dow Average U.S. stocks ended higher Friday, driven by gains in shapes of oil companies and Internet retailers in a holiday half-session that was the lightest trading session this yeari The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 9,333.08. The stock market closed early, a day after the Thanksgiving holiday. In the broader market, advances led declines by a margin of 1,469 to 1,190 on very light volume of 256.8 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The oil futures market was closed Friday, even as shares of 'major oil companies leaped after the industry's biggest V.S.

companies, Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp.i confirmed they were discussing a possible merger, sparking widespread speculation about which companies could pair up next. Nasdaq 3153 2,016.44 5.42 1,192.29 NYSE: 1.96 583.00 Wilsnire 63.43 10,900.39 Regional Stocks Stocks that did not trade are listed by bid. ing the plants functioning has been unpaid electric bills. "We had to teach the Georgia power company how to collect bills," Langenkamp said.

A pilot project was set up with "real meters" and a collection process initiated. Georgia has a pipeline that can carry 100,000 barrels per day from the huge oil fields near Baku in neighboring Azerbaijan to the Black Sea and its access to Western markets, Langenkamp said. There isn't enough oil in the pipeline to alter the world's petroleum market. Although Langenkamp sees less opportunity for Ameri- See OIL, Page 28 puters. Now PC sales are slowing even though fewer than half of U.S.

homes own computers. That limits the ability of businesses like AOL to sign up subscribers and sell more advertising, its biggest revenue sources. Case's short-term goal is to dominate the main existing Internet sites where people get information and buy goods and services. He wants to do thats in part, by giving the 14 million subscribers of AOL's online service easy links to Net- company under contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

From 1977-81, Langenkamp served in a similar post for oil and gas in the Carter administration. The two countries are vastly different. Georgia, which is smaller than South Carolina, primarily is an agricultural society that is in financial straits. Since Nov. 1, it has limited electric power in its capital to three hours per day and generally none elsewhere even though it has 80 hydropower plants.

Only 20 of those plants are functioning. Part of the problem in keep for futuristic gizmos have been made before. So far, few have become reality. But AOL is hoping that its purchase of browser pioneer Netscape and an alliance with computer maker Sun Microsystems Corp. may allow introduction of the products faster than competitors, especially the company likely to become their biggest foe Microsoft.

America Online has given access to the Internet to millions of people, but almost all through personal com NEW YORK (AP) If America Online Chairman Steve Case delivers on his promises, his company's merger with Netscape could lead to new ways of navigating the Internet. One of the most ambitious goals of America Online Inc's $4.2 billion takeover of Netscape Communications Corp. is to speed creation of a slew of Net-surfing gadgets, including wireless hand-held computers and smart phones with screens. Similar promises By Larry Levy State Correspondent TULSA Only companies with deep pockets should consider investing in an oil patch of such former Soviet republics as Kazakstan, said R. Do-bie Langenkamp, an attorney, oilman and former Energy Department official under two administrations.

Langenkamp left his post in March as deputy assistant secretary of energy for the Naval Petroleum Reserves where he headed the team that sold the Elk Hills, naval reserves for $3.65 billion. The consultant since has visited Kazakstan and Georgia for an Arlington, scape's popular Netcenter site, a portal to services and information geared toward businesses. Together, Netscape's and America Online's sites reach 70 percent of all Americans who access the Internet, accord-i to NetRatings, a research See AOL, Page 28 BUSINESS IN BRIEF Oil Merger's Effects Not Seen at Pump Vital statistics of Exxon the world's second-largest oil company: Chief Executive Officer: Lee R. Raymond Headquarters: Irving, Texas Sales (1997): $137.2 billion Profit (1 997): $8.5 billion Number of service stations: 32,000 Number of Employees (1997): 80,000 Vital statistics of Mobil the second-largest U.S. oil company: Chief Executive Officer: Lucio A.

Noto Headquarters: Fairfax, Va. Sales (1 997): $65.9 billion Profit (1 997): $3.3 billion Number of service stations: 1 5,000 Number of Employees (1997): 42,700 Company Last Chg. AAR Corp. 25V8 AMR Corp. 677i6 Va AMS 2V4 Vis AldWst 191V16 -Vi6 AvCorSv 3V2 BOKFin 4513vs BancFst 40 BankOne BankAm 66Va 3i6 BayardDrill 5V4 -V2 CDWarhse 18 5 CMI' 834 Ve Chesapk T16 Vw Conoco 24lsi6 7i6 Devon' 33Vi6 V16 Dilldrds 345s 7a DukeEnergy 63Vi6 -Va Eats 53i6 Vw Fleming 9 Va GavlordEnt 29'A 3, GothicEngy 1332 V32 Groupl Auto 17V4 Ve Halliburton 31Va -13i6 Harold's 7 3i6 183a -V2 HertiCorp.

373i6 -Vi6 Homeland 3 Kerr-McGee 4034 'i6 Klnark 2V2 LSB Ind 3V4 LabSpec 6V2 '4 Local Fed 8 Louis Drey 133i6 Lowrance 27e Lucent 887i -1V4 Matrix 4 Vs NYBagel Vu Vm Noble Aff 7i6 Noble Drl 12V76 -l'4 NEW YORK (AP) If Exxon and Mobil merge to form the world's biggest oil company, don't expect higher prices at the pump. Even a combination of the nation's two biggest oil and gas companies wouldn't have the power to reverse slumping prices caused by a worldwide oil glut. But while drivers may not be affected, an Exxon-Mobil marriage could leave as many as 20,000 employees out of work as the companies seek to slash costs, one analyst says. Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp.

announced Friday they are in merger talks, confirming reports that surfaced this week. At a price near Mobil's value of $67 billion, it would be the richest merger ever. A combined Exxon-Mobil would vault past Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos. as the world's biggest energy company. It would have 47,000 gasoline stations and operations in more than 100 countries.

It also would surpass General Motors Corp. as the largest U.S. company of any kind, with combined revenue of $203 billion last year. ON SCHEDULE Seminars Monday: Oklahoma Society of CPAs presents "Advanced Fraud Auditing," 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 50 Penn Place, 5000 Pennsylvania Ave.

Fee: $25 Plus Pass, $125 members, $265 nonmembers. Contact: Amy Renteria, 841-3800. University of Central Oklahoma Small Business Development Center presents "Charting Your Course for New Business," 2 to 4 p.m., Small Business Development Center, 1 15 Park Ave. Fee: $20. Contact: Dena Moutray, 232-1968.

Tuesday: Oklahoma Society of CPAs presents "Cash and Tax Basis Financial Statements," 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 50 Penn Place, 5O00 Pennsylvania Ave. Fee: $90 Plus Pass, $220 members, $270 non-members. Contact: Amy Renteria, 841-3800. National Association of Women Business Owners presents "Show and Share NAWBO Christmas Shopping Extravaganza," 5:30 p.m., Women's Business Center, 234 Quadrum Drive.

No fee. Contact: National Association of Women Business Owners. Meetings Monday: McEvoy's McComics Toastmasters Club, 7 p.m., Church of the Servant, 14343 MacArthur Blvd. Speaker: Ed Tapp on "A Life to Remember." No cost. Contact: Page Waller, 722-6628.

Speakeasy Toastmasters, 7 p.m., United Life Church, 3332 Meridian. Speakers: Richard Amend, Michael Brown; Gayle McCartney and Judy Wilburn-Davis on "Only 24 More Days Til Christmas." No cost. Contact: Anita Baker, 722-7394. At the meeting in Paris hosted by the parent company of the French stock exchange, exchange officials agreed to form a committee to discuss issues such as a trading schedule for the market, coordinating trading rules and technologies and the ways that stocks would be listed and valued. Net Retailers Rise on Holiday Predictions Shares of several companies selling goods over the Internet rose as investors bet that more consumers will do their holiday shopping online, boosting sales: Online music retailer CDNow-Inc.

rose 9-78 to 26-78. Software merchant Inc. rose 10-316 to 31-58. Internet auctioneer Onsale Inc. rose 37-58 to 97-58.

Fellow auctioneer eBay Inc. rose 13-12 to 218. Books-A-Million a book merchant that introduced an enhanced Web site this week, soared 26 to 38-1516. Leading online book merchant Amazon.com Inc. rose 6-516 to 216-58.

Egghead.com, which closed all of its bricks-and-mortar retail stores and added to its name earlier this year, said it plans to introduce a redesigned Web site on Monday that will allow it to offer products beyond software and personal computers. Too Many Yucks Irving, Texas-based Kimberly-Clark Corp. agreed this week to stop using the phrase "The yuck stops here" in ads for its tissue paper, after a tiny cleaning products company sued one of Kimberly-Clark's units in federal court, alleging trademark infringement. Finazzle Corporation USA of Georgia said it had dibs on the slogan, which it uses to sell its wildflower-scented bathroom floor grout cleaner. Finazzle's president, Pete Finazzo, said he reluctantly filed suit in federal court in Atlanta on Nov.

6, after Kimberly-Clark officials failed to return his calls. "This is a clear degradation of our mark," Finazzo said. "We can't have people thinking of what's in a tissue after a sneeze every time they see or hear our slogan." From SKI) and Wlra nporU Silverado Foods Delisted From AM EX Tulsa-based Silverado Foods Inc. consented to the removal of its common stock from the American Stock Exchange and will begin trading over the counter, officials said Friday. Dec.

11 will be the last day the company will trade its common stock on the exchange. It no longer fully satisfies all of the guidelines for continued listing. The company is divesting its operating businesses and plans to explore opportunities for a business merger or an acquisition. Silverado officials expect divestiture of its Nonni's Biscotti business to close by the end of the year. Silverado agreed to sell its biscotti business to certain affiliates of Swander Pace Capita! LLC.

Weekly Rig Count Unchanged The number of oil and gas rigs operating nationwide remained the same at 686 this week, Baker Hughes Inc. said. There were 1,005 rigs operating in the United States during the same week last year. Houston-based Baker Hughes' rig count represents the number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas. Of the rigs running this week, 507 were exploring for natural gas and 179 for oil.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Oklahoma increased by four, Wyoming increased by two and Texas rose by one. Alaska was unchanged. Louisiana and New Mexico each lost two, and California declined by one. Europe Moves Toward Stronger Stock Market Hoping to keep up with Wall Street, eight of Europe's most powerful stock exchanges agreed Friday to support moves to build a regional stock market. The agreement comes four months after the Frankfurt and London exchanges announced plans to form a joint market.

The French had criticized the Anglo-German plan at the time, but since then, Paris has been seeking a way to get in on the proposed alliance. biggest player, a combined Exxon-Mobil would account for only 4 percent of world oil production, said George Gaspar, an analyst with Robert W. Baird Co. in Milwaukee. In their short joint statement, Mobil and Exxon said they could not guarantee a deal would be reached.

They declined further comment. The talks are driven hy a desire to boost profits by reducing expenses in a time of slumping oil markets. Analysts predict thousands of layoffs from the See MERGE, Page 28 "The last thing either party would have considered is the effect on the consumer, but as it happens, it's pretty benign," said Alan Marshall, an energy analyst with Robert Fleming Securities in London. Oil prices are hovering near 12-year lows. A plentiful global supply and an Asian economic crisis that has crippled demand from that region have hammered these prices.

The Energy Department predicts prices will remain depressed well into the next decade. Even as the industry's -516 OGE Energy 28 Plans Shed 'Blue Cross' to Grow O'Reilly 44 Oneok 35V8 Vi Pan Rbvl 24 Parker Drl 4Vi6 -Vm PhllllpS 44V2 1316 PremPrks 27i6 -V2 Prepaid Lgl 24Va V16 Questa 3 Va SBC Com 50 -Va Seagate 31 Va 7i6 Seven Seas 87i6 3M Silverado V32 Sonic 19 7i6 SWAIR 22Vs V16 SWBanc 27V4 Va Stage Stores 11 Vb Tower SVe V32 TrammellCro 233i6 -V2 UICI 20 Ve 1 USXMrlhon 2913i V2 UnitCrp 47e -Vi6 United Vid I8V4 V4 UCOR 5V4 -Vs VlaUnk 5Va -3a Vintage ll'vs V16 Wal-Mart 76ia Will bras 6'i6 V16 Williams 29Ve Xerox 111V2 -3s XETA 18 -Va ZymeTx AVa Vi6 Shield of Virginia, which now operates from Maryland through the Carolinas. Because other Blues plans have moved into Virginia, he said the only way to ensure his company's survival is to develop a regional presence to satisfy multistate employers. As a result of this strategy shift, the independent Blues plans which for decades acted as respectful partners look increasingly like McDonald's or Subway franchises battling for customers at lunch. The changes have left consumers and employers with the task of sorting out a mishmash of Blues coverage nationwide.

The New York Blues plan also covers New Jersey. New Jersey Blue is moving in See BLUE, Pago 28 NEW YORK (AP) Over the past 50 years, more health insurance policies have been sold under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield brand name than any other. Now, a dozen companies reluctantly are giving up this trademark, second only to Coca-Cola in public recognition, to move beyond their traditional geographic boundaries. In the increasingly competitive health insurance business, executives from Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates from Oregon to New York have concluded that if growth means impeding on other Blues' turf, so be it. "It's a free market," said Norwood H.

Davis chairman and chief executive of Trl-gon formerly Blue Cross and Blue DOWN ON THE FARM Markets at a Glance -Page 31 Futures Cattle Wheat .10 .00. Merc Dec. KC Dec. $63.35 contracts: $3.14 tnjnjrn Business news milMiM and stock quotes also are available on The Oklahoman Online at www.oklahoman.com. a.m.

Speakers and an advanced marketing and farm financial management seminar are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. National Feed Group to Meet in Fort Worth sides of chromium-tanned hides to give them a uniform thickness. About 60,000 metric tons of shavings end up as waste each year, the USDA said. USDA chemists wore able to break down the chrome shavings with alkaline protease, an enzyme from a common laundry detergent. Thoy wore able to produce a high-value grade of gelatin protein that Is ideal for making adhesives, industrial films for packaging and encapsulating agents for industrial and agricultural chomi-cals, the USDA said.

USDA scientists have boen granted two patents for their research, the USDA said. Bryan PainterStaff Writer fflTTHW Bryan Painter can bo reached mJLUtt by o-mall at Additional bualnoss news and staff contacts ore available on The Oklahoman Online at www.oktnhoman. com. Deep discounts and special deals before dawn drove millions of people to the nation's stores and malls Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. Lines began forming at some stores In the middle of the night.

Even with the big crowds, it won't be clear Immediately how much they spent. In recent years, consumers have done more browsing than buying the day after Thanksgiving, Retailers hope the crowds will get even bigger In the weeks leading up to Christmas, thanks to the recent rise In consumer confidence and sharp gains In the stock market. According to the group, the top 10 shopping days in 1997 wore: 1. Saturday, Dec. 20.

2. Monday, Dec. 22. 3. Tuesday, Dec.

23. 4. Saturday. Dec 1 3. 5.

Sunday, Dec 21 6. Wednesday, Deo, 24. 7. Friday, Nov. 28.

(day after Thanksgiving) 8. Friday, Dec. 1 9. 9. Saturday.

Dec. 6. lO. Thursday. Dec.

18. cessful feed mills and country elevators," association officials said. New Use Found for Hide Shavings A common laundry detergent enzyme is boing used to transform leftover shavings from cattle hide tanning Into a protein that can be used in adhesives and packaging films, the U.S. Agriculture Department recently announced. "This is an innovative process that puts to good use a waste product that now must be hauled off to landfills at a price," said USDA Secretary Dan Gllckman.

From 100 pounds of cattle hides, tannors got 50 pounds of leather and 50 pounds of waste. Tannors use nontoxic chromium-Ill sulfate to turn hides into leather, the USDA said. Then, tlioy shave the bottom Comanche Farm Bureau Rated Tops Comanche County Farm Bureau has been recognized as the top county Farm Bureau in Oklahoma. The John I. Taylor Award is the highest county recognition presented annually by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau.

It is named after the organization's first president. Annual Wheat Convention Planned in Enid The Oklahoma Wheat Growers annual convention and trade show is scheduled Doc. 11 at the Cherokoo Strip Conference Center In Enid. Trade show booths open at 8 The use of specialty grains in the feed business, strategic business alliances and technological innovations feed manufacturing will be the focus when the National Grain and Feed Association conducts its socond annual Feed Industry Council conference Doc. 6 in Forth Worth, Texas.

The meeting will be conducted in conjunction with the association's 27th annual Country Elevator Council conference, Dec. 7-0. A trade show also will be hold and will foaturo products and services for oporating "profitable and suc OIL AND GAS ACTIVITY Oklahoma crude oil prices, posted as of 5 p.m. Friday: Oklthom 8vrati Sun Koch Oil Co, Oklahoma Souri Sun llonnliiR W1.2S.