Oil Gains A Dollar On Easing Iran Tension - July 19, 2008

LONDON: Oil prices rose a dollar on Friday, reversing a little of the sharp fall of this week. Crude had briefly touched a 6 week low earlier in the session as speculation grew of a more conciliatory tone ahead of talks between Iran and diplomats from major powers on Saturday on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

US light crude was $1.11 higher at $130.40 a barrel by 23:00 pm IST. It had dropped down to $128.54, the lowest since early June. London Brent crude was 91 cents up at $131.98. US crude fell $15 in the previous three days, putting it on track for its biggest weekly fall since the contract started trading in New York in 1983.

Olivier Jakob with Petromatrix said the expected US presence at the Geneva talks with Iran was a significant factor that the oil market could not ignore. “We will stay neutral on that meeting and would expect to see some book squaring ahead of it,” he said.

The US said this week it was sending an envoy to Geneva to join nuclear talks with Iran for the first time, to underline to the Islamic Republic and others that Washington wanted a diplomatic solution to the impasse.

Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Friday he saw almost no possibility of Israel or the US attacking his country over its disputed atomic programme.

The standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme has sparked speculation about a military confrontation with the US or Israel, helping to push up oil prices to above $147 last week.

A five day strike of Brazilian oil workers will end on Friday after limited disruption to production but oil workers in Brazil said they would expand a strike to all production and refining units of state-run Petrobras if they resume action. They will meet on July 25 to discuss their next move.

Sabotage attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria continue to shut nearly a fifth of output in the world’s eight largest oil exporter, cutting some production from one field as soon as output from others is restored.

World Must Brace For Oil Beyond $150 - July 5, 2008

LONDON: Oil's meteoric rise since the start of the year to nearly $150 has distressed consumers and policy makers the world over, but the stark reality is prices are likely to rise higher still. For two decades, prices were relatively stable, but then they rose seven-fold from a trough below $20 in 2001.

Since breaching the $100 mark on the first trading day of this year they have risen around 45 percent. Given such momentum, politicians' efforts to bring the price down could well be a waste of energy. "It rose so fast it's got a bubble feel, but bubbles can go on for very sustained periods, and underlying that is an extremely tight fundamental position," said Stephen Thornber, head of global energy research at Threadneedle Asset Management.Global demand of some 86 million barrels per day is almost level with supply, and production growth is not keeping pace with soaring demand from emerging economies such as India and China. Citing the strength of Asian demand, investment bank Morgan Stanley last month predicted oil would reach $150 a barrel by the Fourth of July holiday in the United States, usually one of the busiest US travel days.

Their target proved just out of reach, with US crude stopping short at a record of $145.85. But the bulls have not gone away. Goldman Sachs, the biggest investment bank in the commodities sector, has tipped prices to hit $200 a barrel within two years.

Budget Good, But Important To Deliver: Swraj Paul

LONDON: Lord Swraj Paul, founder chairman of the Caparo Group of Industries, praised Friday's budget as "very good" but said the need to deliver to the farmer was even more important than the promised loan waiver.

"P Chidambaram is a very experienced finance minister and he has done a very good job," said Paul, who is a leading Britain-based NRI industrialist.

He particularly praised the budget's focus on what he called "India's two most pressing problems - how to reach the ordinary man and attend to education".

"But at the end of the day, writing off debt is never going to be a solution to the problem of farmers," he told IANS.

"We still have to find long-term solutions. The government will need to deliver to the people. Enough attention needs to be placed to delivery," said Paul, who is also a well-known philanthropist in Britain.

Britain Urges Companies To Look For Opportunities In India

LONDON: Britain has urged companies in the west Midlands to look beyond established economies and exploit export opportunities offered by India and China.

British Trade Minister Lord Digby Jones, who visited India in January with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, regretted that too many companies in the region were content to do business with established markets such as the US and Europe.

"There are enormous opportunities available and we don't want to look back in five years time and say 'I wish I had done something then' because it could be too late by then," Jones said at a conference yesterday on international trade.

"We are a diverse region and I urge local companies to take advantage of the immense export potential being generated by the new high growth markets, not only China and India but also Mexico, Turkey, South Africa and Saudi Arabia," he said.

"These markets, among others, are expected to be a major source of both trade and foreign direct investment in the future. The economies of the emerging countries are growing at a much faster rate than established markets."

He said manufacturing companies, especially those in the automotive and aerospace sectors were best placed to benefit, while those involved in new technology and telephony could also do well.