61.   Political pressures are mounting as major oil companies prepare to decide where they want to lay the main export pipeline for their Caspian crude.

62.   Price gains could be limited though, some traders said, because of large increases in heating oil inventories during the summer as oil companies prepared for increased demand.

63.   Sales were so good that the company is preparing to open a copying and packaging plant in Shanghai.

64.   Security threats aside, many companies are preparing to execute elaborate precautions affecting employees, suppliers and customers.

65.   Rubbermaid also has a plant in town, but the Lance Inc. snack food company is preparing to close its distribution center this summer.

66.   Several other companies are preparing to sell debt.

67.   Several companies are already preparing for such a hybrid world.

68.   Setlin said the company is preparing to refute the FTC charges.

69.   So now the card companies are preparing to get even tougher, with credit cards available at higher interest rates, more fees, and with fewer benefits.

70.   Some analysts said the company might be preparing to spin off the food business, as the financiers, Carl C. Icahn and Bennett S. LeBow, have demanded.