Nirmal Om newsline

OPEC Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri has been authorised by Saudi cabinet to convene Oil meet of producers and chief consumers,with those investor in oil sector to have thread bare discussion reasons responsible surge in global oil price. OPEC's reference basket of crudes from 13 countries was $130.87 per barrel on Monday, compared with $126.11 the previous Friday, the oil cartel said on Tuesday. In use since 1987, the basket is calculated from the crude prices of: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and BCF 17 (Venezuela). The chief executive of Russia's energy giant Gazprom told a European business forum in France that oil prices could reach $250 per barrel in the longer term. News agency AFP quoted Alexei Miller as saying that rivalry for hydrocarbon resources wi...

Traders at Madrid's main food wholesale market said supplies of fresh food would start to run out soon. Portuguese drivers have joined the strike and there were also protests in France over the impact of record oil prices, now at highs of more than $US139 per barrel. One striking truck driver was killed when he was hit by a van near a market in Grenada in southern Spain. In Portugal, a picket died as he tried to stop a truck on a road north of the capital Lisbon. Diesel has risen to 1.30 euros/litre from 0.95 euros a year ago, pressuring European Union (EU) governments to help heavy fuel users such as truck and taxi drivers, fishermen and farmers. In Asia, governments are struggling to prevent rising prices making the burden on the public so heavy that it threatens political stability. South Korea's Cabinet offered to resign in the face of huge street protests about the policies of its unpopular President Lee Myung-bak. European countries face their road transport protest after...