[oil&gas] anomalies of general interest

I’ve largely kept off this area and that of trade in recent weeks but a few stories are worthy of mention. 1] the Global Petroleum Club. One has to ask why? There is already sufficient consultation at management level upstream and downstream so why the need for a formal club? 2] Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel Monday in Nigeria after Nigerian oil minister and OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said the oil cartel may need to further cut its output. One threat and prices react - that’s volatility, in my book. 3] Halliburton are always news – A Halliburton subsidiary charged the Iraqi government as much as $25,000 per month for each of as many as 1,800 fuel trucks that were to deliver gasoline to Iraq after the 2003 invasion, but the trucks often spent days or weeks sitting idle on the border, says a report released yesterday by an auditing agency sponsored by the United Nations. 4] Russian-British oil firm TNK-BP, half owned by BP , came under new attacks on Tuesday as prosecutors asked to withdraw its top Siberian gas licences, which previously belonged to gas monopoly Gazprom . Reason - multiple ecological and licensing violations at the Novo-Urengoi and East-Urengoi fields, which belong to Rospan. This would have to worry western interests. 5] things like Paladin, First Calgary etc would only be of interest to afficianados, so I won’t expound on them.