Hunts forced to sell oil holdings

Press, 2 April 1980, Page 9

Hunts forced to sell oil holdings

NZPA , . New York The Hunt family of Texas, which made its money in oil and lost hundreds of millions last week speculating m silver, has begun selling off its oil properties to make up its silver losses. Engelhard Minerals and Chemicals Corporation announced that Nelson Bunker Hunt and W. Herbert Hunt had .agreed to transfer •jig-; nifleant interests in big Canadian'oil and gas properties in the Beaufort Sea in order to pav off a huge silver debt. The announcement came; as Government probes of last week’s collapse of silver prices began and as a big brokerage, firm, the Bache group,'said it might lose as much as $35 million as a result of its dealings with the Hunts: . ’ , i Silver, . which had risen l

above SUSSO an ounce' in , January, tumbled as low as SUSIO.B.O an ounce last week. ; Yesterday the price’ recovered’ to SUSI4I2O an ounce from Friday’s SUSI2 close, on the New York Commodity Exchange. y . The Hunts had agreed to] buy 19 million ounces of silver yesterday from Engel- : hard at a price of about ISUS3S .an ounce, In return ■ ! for cancelling that obligation, the Hunts agreed to: • transfer 8.5 million ounces 1 ■ of silver and the oil and gas 1 ; Interests to Engelhard- . • : ii Engelhard said -the- silver . ’ and oil assets about equal the difference in value, bs- ; tween rite current value of i the 19 jnilFon ounces of-sil-i ver and the contract sales ■ price. Based on yesterday’s; 1 closing . price, that indicates: The oil properties were ■ worth about SUS27S million.