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SINGAPORE - Oil futures fell nearly a dollar, dropping below $58 a barrel, as forecasters predicted warmer weather early this week in the U.S. Northeast, the world's largest heating oil market, easing fears of a spike in fuel demand. Light, sweet crude for January delivery slipped 86 cents to $57.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in electronic trading late afternoon in Singapore. In London, January Brent crude rose 29 cents to $55.30 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. "The market's reacting to forecasts that heating oil demand will be 20 percent below normal this week, giving...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Oil dipped to a four-month low under $57 a barrel on Wednesday as dealers braced for a fresh increase in U.S. oil inventories amid unseasonally warm weather. U.S. crude fell as low as $56.82 a barrel in electronic trading, its weakest since July 21. It was trading down 2 cents at $56.96 a barrel by 0746 GMT, extending an 11-week slump that has wiped 20 percent or nearly $14 off prices. London Brent crude was down 3 cents at $55.15. Although some analysts continue to predict a turnaround once temperatures fall and if OPEC opts to cut...

IT IS FINALLY HAPPENING--the much-predicted bursting of the bubble. Surprise: It is the gasoline price bubble that has burst, not the house price bubble. Prices of regular unleaded last week averaged about $2.34 per gallon, below the levels prevailing immediately before Katrina struck, and well below the $3.04 peak reached in early September. Crude prices also headed down from the $70 per barrel level to $57, a six-month low.That did not stop indignant senators from hauling the CEOs of the major oil companies to public hearings, at which they were excoriated for "price gouging" and for failing to reinvest their...

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Crude oil futures drifted lower Tuesday as an International Energy Agency official said high pump prices have hurt fuel demand. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 6 cents to US$57.63 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract Monday rose 16 cents to settle at US$57.69. In London, December Brent crude fell 8 cents to US$54.65 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. High oil prices have started dampening global demand and the slowdown in consumption growth could in turn push prices lower, Noe Van Hulst, the International Energy Agency's...

SINGAPORE - Crude oil futures opened the week slightly higher, briefly rising above $58 a barrel, on predictions a cold snap was headed for the northeastern United States, the world's biggest winter heating fuel market. Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose as much as 57 cents to $58.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before slipping to $57.78. The contract fell to $56.93 a barrel last week before closing at $57.53 Friday. December Brent crude on London's International Petroleum Exchange was 20 cents higher at $55.19 a barrel. Friday's close was the benchmark contract's...

SINGAPORE - Crude oil futures slipped further below $58 a barrel Friday amid reports of rising supply and falling demand. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 9 cents to $57.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in electronic trading in Singapore. On Thursday, the contract fell to $57.80, the lowest level for the front-month contract since July 21. The U.S. Energy Information Administration released data that showed natural gas in storage grew more than expected last week, surpassing a level that many analysts believe is necessary to meet winter demand. The Paris-based International Energy Agency said in...

House suspends Alaska drilling push Leaders drop Arctic oil proposal from budget bill Thursday, November 10, 2005; Posted: 10:41 a.m. EST (15:41 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- A solid phalanx of Republican moderates drove House GOP leaders to drop a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wilderness area to oil drilling as a sweeping budget bill headed toward a vote Thursday. A plan to allow states to lift a moratorium on oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts was also axed. Still, passage of the broader plan cutting $54 billion from federal benefit programs through the end of the...

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Crude oil prices held steady just below US$60 a barrel on Wednesday after predictions of warmer weather in the United States sparked a big drop two days earlier. Market experts said prospects for rising demand could keep prices at current levels. Light, sweet crude for December delivery gained 5 cent to US$59.90 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the contract rose 9 cents to settle at $59.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where a day earlier they had fallen nearly US$1.50 to a level about 15 percent...

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP - news), the No. 3 U.S. oil company, on Wednesday reported quarterly profit surged 89 percent, surpassing Wall Street forecasts, driven by record oil prices and sharply higher refining margins. ConocoPhillips, like other major oil companies, has reaped a windfall from soaring crude oil prices -- which touched a record $70 a barrel in the quarter -- and better refining margins, as powerful hurricanes blew through the Gulf of Mexico, severely disrupting energy operations. The Houston company's net profit in the third quarter rose to $3.8 billion, or $2.68 a share, compared with $2.01 billion, or $1.43 a...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil shed nearly a dollar on Monday, sinking below $60 after Hurricane Wilma bypassed storm-battered U.S. oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. light crude fell as low as $59.56 a barrel, the lowest since July 28. It was down 93 cents by 0922 GMT to $59.70, reversing a gain of 61 cents on Friday on fears Wilma could hinder the recovery of oil operations in the Gulf. Prices were 16 percent below the record-high of $70.85 a barrel struck in late August in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. London Brent crude lost 96...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell $1 a barrel on Tuesday as a threatened hurricane was expected to miss rigs and refineries in the U.S. Gulf and the world's top banker said record prices were eroding demand. U.S. crude lost 98 cents to $63.38 a barrel by 1125 GMT, after a gain of 2.8 percent on Monday. London Brent crude was $1.06 down at $59.51 a barrel. Tropical Storm Wilma gained strength in the Caribbean Sea and was expected to become a full-blown hurricane, but its path was set to shift east toward Florida and away from the heart of U.S....

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil climbed back above $62 on Tuesday after the International Energy Agency said it saw no lasting damage to demand that has pushed producers and refiners to the limit and could lead to fuel shortages this winter. There have been signs recently that persistent high prices are taking their toll on the economies of the world's big consumers. Hurricanes that battered U.S. Gulf rigs and refiners catapulted oil to new record highs, finally crimping fuel use. But the IEA, adviser to 26 industrialized nations, forecast demand growth would quicken to 1.75 million barrels per day next year...

Betting on shale Oil firms apply for federal permits, look to simplify extraction By Gargi Chakrabarty, Rocky Mountain News September 21, 2005 (excerpt) The Green River shale deposits in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are estimated to contain 1.5 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil, and while not all of it can be recovered, half that amount is nearly triple the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil prices fell for a fifth day on Thursday, dipping to their lowest level in two months after U.S. government data showed a drop in oil demand in the world's largest consumer. U.S. crude futures for November slid 19 cents to $62.60 a barrel, having earlier traded as low as $62.23. London Brent crude was down 32 cents to $59.80. Oil prices have fallen sharply from their August 30 record high of $70.85 on signs that soaring costs are eroding demand, offsetting fears over tight supplies in the wake of hurricanes that toppled production platforms and shut...

SINGAPORE -- Oil prices slipped Tuesday after the U.S. government indicated it might release emergency stockpiles of heating oil to combat supply disruptions from recent hurricanes. But energy futures were not expected to continue their retreat for long, analysts said, because a U.S. petroleum inventories report due later in the week was likely to show that Hurricane Rita hurt supply ahead of the coming Northern Hemisphere winter. Midmorning in Singapore, light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 16 cents to $65.31 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 77 cents to settle...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil held firm above $66 a barrel on Thursday stoked by fears that hurricane-wrecked U.S. refineries would be unable to churn out ample heating fuel to warm American consumers this winter. But Europe was riding to the rescue again, booking tankers of gasoline and heating oil to move transatlantic to help prevent a full-blown fuel crisis in the world's biggest oil consumer. Strikes in France, a leading U.S. oil products supplier, meant French refiners might sit on the sidelines. U.S. crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 6 cents at $66.41 a barrel by 1000...

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday it will deliver the first shipment of oil to the U.S. from Libyan fields since international sanctions were levied against the North African country nearly 20 years ago. Los Angeles-based Occidental resumed operating oil fields in Libya after winning nine of 15 bids for exploration in January. The first shipment by Occidental, the country’s fourth largest oil company, will bring 900,000 barrels of low-sulfur crude to the U.S. Libya was accused of involvement in the deadly bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland in 1988. The U.S. lifted a travel ban to Libya in...

U.S. President George Bush said Monday he will release supplies from the nation's strategic oil reserve to deal with hurricane-related fuel shortfalls. Speaking at the Department of Energy, Bush said Hurricane Rita's strike Saturday missed much of refining capacity along the Texas coast, but that the effect of it following last month's Hurricane Katrina was bound to affect supply. There was about 5.4 million barrels per day that were shut in as a result of Rita and Katrina, Bush said. A million of it is back up already, and we expect another 1.8 million barrels a day to get back...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil raced toward $68 on Thursday as Hurricane Rita bore down on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production and forced six refineries in Texas to shut down. Companies scrambled to close facilities and evacuate staff as Rita, now a maximum Category 5 storm, aimed her 175 mph (280 kph) winds on Texas, home to a quarter of U.S. refining capacity. It is expected to hit land by early Saturday. "Rita will remain the market's focus ... unless it unexpectedly breaks apart. But with it being such a fierce storm we wouldn't play the short side of...

 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed more than 1 percent on Monday as a new storm system appeared to be headed for the U.S. Gulf Coast, and as OPEC ministers appeared to favor leaving crude output unchanged for now.U.S. light crude rose 78 cents to $63.78 a barrel as the season's 17th tropical storm formed near the Bahamas and OPEC members leaned toward taking no immediate action on extra supply. London Brent crude jumped 93 cents to $62.74 a barrel. Those gains helped prices rebound from a near $2 fall on Friday, which took oil to its lowest close in...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil eased further below $65 on Friday on fears that record high prices are undermining global demand, overshadowing nagging worries about refined fuel supplies in the United States, the world's top consumer. U.S. light crude was trading down 26 cents at $64.49 a barrel by 0515 GMT, extending a loss of 34 cents on Thursday. London Brent crude slipped 16 cents to $63.50 a barrel. U.S. prices have fallen sharply from a record high $70.85 on August 30, just a day after Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, toppling oil platforms and shutting down refineries. Oil's...

SENATE: Katrina lifts hopes for bill that allows oil drilling. WASHINGTON -- The Senate's Republican leaders, thrown off schedule by Hurricane Katrina, are postponing their latest attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling until late October, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., announced this week. The Senate was supposed to finish work on its ANWR-opening budget measure this week. But delay does not mean defeat. In fact, drilling proponents predict the hurricane's disruptions to oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the gasoline prices, will increase congressional support for drilling in the Arctic...

Language allowing wider access to offshore oil and gas supplies may appear in House budget reconciliation language, Capitol Hill sources say, even though attempts to seek new drilling through the delayed budget process would face considerable political obstacles. Possibilities reportedly under consideration include providing long-term protections for the Florida coast in return for allowing access to a coveted area farther out in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the lease sale 181 area. "Everything is on the table. It is possible," said Brian Kennedy, an aide to House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.). Backers of wider Gulf access brought up...

WE DO NOT YET KNOW enough to make a definitive estimate of the amount of time it will take to get the pipelines pumping at full capacity, all of the refineries up and running, the port operating on a normal basis, and other parts of the Gulf Coast economic structure back into pre-Katrina shape. But we know a lot more than we did in the first days after the storm.We know that, unlike the local residential sector, the nationally important economic infrastructure will recover surprisingly quickly. This reflects, at least in part, the unambiguous incentive that the private sector oil,...

The District had the most expensive gasoline in the nation yesterday morning, but prices began dropping by the end of the day. A gallon of regular gas cost an average of $3.38 in the District yesterday, up 3 cents from Tuesday and higher than any state average calculated by AAA. New York state followed closely at $3.34, and Maryland was third at $3.26. Virginia was 15th at $3.12 per gallon. The average in Mississippi, which faced the brunt of Hurricane Katrina, the catalyst for the latest spike in gas prices, was the cheapest at $2.73. While most state averages include...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices slid in post-holiday trade on Tuesday, while Brent crude was steady as industrialised countries began to release oil from emergency stocks to make up for U.S. output disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. Fears that the aftermath of the storm could dent consumer confidence and trim U.S. economic growth also weighed on prices, while battered Gulf of Mexico refineries began to restart. U.S. light crude fell $1.03, or 1.5 percent, to $66.54 a barrel by 0508 GMT, following London Brent crude's $1.22 losses on Monday when U.S. trade was closed for a holiday. Brent crude edged...

What about simply staging a 30 day boycott of offshore oil? I read a report that said in the first 10 months of 2004, we used 20.4 million bbl/d (barrels per day). So, in a years time let's just say 24 million bbl/d. If we divide that by 12 months, we use 2 million bbl a month. (rough estimation) With 700 million barrels of oil in the reserve, we would hardly put a dent in our reserves, and at the current price of oil ($66.60 per barrel averaged of 4 oil providers on Sept 2 at 730am PST according to...

Storm disruptions to output in the Gulf of Mexico and nine weeks of falling gasoline supplies joined forces to pull regular unleaded gas prices to a fresh record -- and they're still nowhere near their peak, analysts said Wednesday. There's a "surfeit of worry over gasoline supplies to much of the U.S. and gasoline prices have acted accordingly," said John Kilduff, an analyst at Fimat USA. A truck moves through the parking lot of a Sunoco gas station in South Bend, Ind., Wednesday, August 31st, 2005, where the advertised price for gasoline was $3.50 to $3.70 a gallon depending upon...

SINGAPORE, Aug 29 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures surged more than $4 in opening trade on Monday, hitting a new record high above $70 a barrel after Hurricane Katrina forced Gulf of Mexico producers to shut in more than a third of their output. Katrina, which strengthened into a rare, maximum power Category 5 hurricane as it spun through key oil and gas fields toward New Orleans, shut in a total 633,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to company figures on Sunday. It also forced the closure of seven refineries and a major U.S. crude import terminal. Crude oil...

WASHINGTON — As consumers feel pain at the pump, record high gas prices are registering as a political problem with congressional Republicans. ADVERTISEMENT At a town hall meeting this week, Rep. Jack Kingston (news, bio, voting record) (R-Ga.) wanted to talk about Social Security and Medicare, but the session quickly turned to gas prices. When Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (news, bio, voting record) (R-W.Va.) toured a Veterans Affairs clinic Wednesday, the first question put to her was: "What are you going to do about the high price of gasoline?" And a growing number of GOP officials worry that, as the...

NEW YORK (AFX) - Crude oil futures surged to an all-time record high Wednesday of $67.30 usd per barrel in New York, as supply fears were heightened by Tropical Storm Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico. The price hit at 1830 GMT eclipsed the prior record of $67.10 usd hit earlier this month. The market was digesting a mixed set of data on US inventories showing increases in crude oil but lower gasoline stockpiles. The mixed data 'sort of canceled each other out,' said Marshall Steeves at Refco. 'The market was already up before the inventories data.' Traders were watching...

Powering a vehicle by Hydrogen is by no means a new idea, and in fact, almost all automobile manufacturers are currently developing a new generation of vehicles that run on Hydrogen as opposed to Gasoline. This new generation of vehicles are essentially electric cars that use a Fuel Cell instead of a battery to run the electric motor. Using a chemical process, Fuel Cells in these new vehicles convert the stored Hydrogen on board, and the Oxygen in the air, directly into electricity to power their electric motors. These new Hydrogen powered electric vehicles are very efficient, and in fact...

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will travel to Jamaica on Tuesday for a one-day visit to cement plans to supply cheaper oil to Caribbean countries, the island's Foreign Affairs Ministry said. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (R) and his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro arrive at Chavez's weekly broadcast, 'Alo Presidente,' in Sandino near Pinar del Rio, Cuba August 21st, 2005. Chavez, accompanied by Castro, broadcasted live from Cuba during his 13th visit to Cuba since taking power in 1999. (Handout/Miraflores Palace) * Chavez and *Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson are expected to sign an accord finalizing the PetroCaribe...

Oil products and gas condensates worth about $1bln and 71 mln were exported during the first four months of the current year (March 21st through July 22nd, 2005). Some $825 mln of the figure was spent on the purchases of the products and commodities required by the country during the period. Also, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has deposited about 13,088 million dollars of the crude oil revenues into the Forex Reserve Fund (FRF) during the first four months of the year. "If the trend in the oil exports and the prices remain the same during the next...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil rose above $62 a barrel on Wednesday, just shy of its record high, as expectations of tight U.S. supplies and disruptions added to concern over the long-term stability of Saudi Arabia after the death of King Fahd. U.S. light sweet crude for September delivery was up 16 cents at $62.05 a barrel in Asian trade, within striking distance of the all-time peak of $62.30 set on Monday, after hitting a high of $62.08. London Brent crude was at $60.83 a barrel, up 21 cents from Tuesday and also near its record high of $60.98. The firmer...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices rose above $60 on Friday to their highest level in more than two weeks as refinery fires in the United States revived fears of tight supplies. U.S. light sweet crude for September delivery was up 45 cents to $60.39 a barrel in Asian trade, off an earlier high of $60.42 triggered by news of a fire at BP's giant Texas City refinery, the country's third-largest. Prices were just 2.7 percent below record-highs of $62.10. London Brent crude was up 50 cents to $59.26 a barrel. BP said the fire at a 60,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) residual...

It's good to be a seller. Thanks to high oil and natural gas prices and depleting reserves, energy asset shoppers around the world are willing to pay more for every barrel they buy, according to the latest merger and acquisition report on the exploration and production business. Oil patch consultant John S. Herold and energy advisory firm Harrison Lovegrove & Co. teamed up to publish the 2005 Global Upstream M&A Review, which found $68 billion worth of assets and companies changed hands in 2004 -- up 50 percent over 2003. It was the first noticeable increase in transaction values since...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices slid below $59 a barrel on Monday as worries about damage to U.S. oil and gas facilities eased following the passage of Hurricane Dennis. U.S. crude for August delivery fell 75 cents to $58.88 a barrel, extending losses of $1.10 on Friday. London's Brent crude shed 83 cents to $57.37 a barrel. "People perceived that the hurricane may not be as damaging as Hurricane Ivan. That's why people are taking profits, but the true extent of the damage is not known yet," said Tony Nunan, a manager at Mitsubishi Corp.'s international energy business. Hurricane Dennis...

WASHINGTON - Oil prices fell below $60 a barrel on Friday, reversing course late in the day as traders booked profits following a runup predicated on the fear of hurricane-related supply disruptions. Early on, crude futures prices rose as high as $61.90 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with traders shrugging off the shock of the London bomb blasts and focusing instead on Hurricane Dennis' approach in the Gulf of Mexico. Traders fear a repeat of last year's Hurricane Ivan, which damaged oil platforms and resulted in months of lost production in the region.But the rally lost steam...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped to a record high above $61 on Thursday as the year's first hurricane threatened already reduced U.S. Gulf production, stoking fears that an active storm season would hamper winter stock-building. U.S. light sweet crude for August delivery hit a high of $61.63 a barrel in early Asian trade, having broken above $61 for the first time on Wednesday. It was trading at $61.51 by 0734 GMT, up 23 cents. Brent crude oil in London climbed 22 cents a barrel to $60.07 after hitting a record high at $60.26. Oil prices have gained some 9...

Oil prices rose by more than $2 a barrel on Friday in a shortened trading session ahead of the three-day holiday weekend in the United States. Traders shrugged off a rise in OPEC's official production ceiling - a move they called symbolic - and they played down the significance of a decision Thursday by the oil cartel to suspend talks on an additional ceiling hike. The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Thursday the group would raise its output target if prices rose to $60 a barrel. After Friday's rally, that level is not too far...

For decades, politicians and environmentalists have fought to keep oil and gas rigs away from Florida's sparkling Gulf of Mexico waters. But their line of defense is growing weaker as the U.S. Senate considers a bill on Tuesday allowing an inventory of oil and gas reserves in the gulf. The Senate action, part of a larger energy package, is the strongest message yet that skyrocketing oil prices and frenetic global competition for energy resources is beginning to trump one state's quest to keep domestic exploration away from its shores. "The big-picture politics have changed," said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of...

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell 4 percent on Tuesday as hedge fund speculators took profits from an all-time high above $60. U.S. crude traded $2.54 lower at $58 a barrel, having set a record at $60.95 on Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. London Brent dropped $2.02 cents to $57.28 a barrel after setting a record at $59.59 on Monday on the International Petroleum Exchange. Oil demand in the United States and Asia has held strong in the face of high fuel costs, encouraging traders to test the upper limits of what consumers will pay for. But U.S....

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices held above $60 a barrel on Tuesday as speculators sought to test the resilience of strong world demand and as Iran's presidential election sowed fresh geopolitical worries. U.S. crude futures, which hit a record $60.95 on Monday, were trading 26 cents lower to $60.28 a barrel. Futures closed above $60 the first time since trading started in 1983. London Brent crude slid 33 cents to $58.97 a barrel after hitting a record $59.59 on Monday. Dealers said markets were pausing after U.S. crude crossed the $60 psychological barrier but the bull run would resume. A...

There's no reason why $60 oil is any worse than $59 oil. Here's how to profit from the panic. The following is an "Ahead of the Curve" column published June 24, 2005 on SmartMoney.com, where Luskin is a Contributing Editor. On Thursday afternoon crude oil futures hit $60 a barrel, and investors hit the panic button. Apparently $59 was fine. $60, for some reason, was a big problem. There's nothing fundamental about $60 a barrel. There's no reason to think that the economy will do just fine with $59 oil, but will fall into a recession at $60. A one-dollar...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices leapt one percent to a record above $60 a barrel on Monday as robust U.S. demand appeared undaunted by soaring fuel costs, threatening to strain global production capacity later this year. U.S. August crude oil futures traded as high as $60.47 a barrel, up 63 cents, extending a rally that has added 12 percent to prices in two weeks and 39 percent since January. Oil was up 61 cents at $60.45 a barrel by 0216 GMT, surpassing the $60 mark for the first time since it began trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in...

The United States consumes a quarter of the world’s oil, compared to 8% for China. Even with high Chinese growth expected in coming years, the world will not run out of oil anytime soon. Over a trillion barrels of proven reserves exist, and more is likely to be found. But two-thirds of those proven reserves are in the Persian Gulf, and are thus vulnerable to disruption.In the past, rising prices had a strong effect on US oil consumption. Since the price spikes of the 1970’s, US oil consumption per dollar of GDP has fallen by half, which also reflects the...

Tel Aviv, ISRAEL -- John Brown resembles a typical American tourist, dressed in sandals, shorts and t-shirt, as he sits waiting in the tourist-filled lobby of Tel Aviv's swish David Intercontinental Hotel. Only two things betray a purpose other than sightseeing: in his hand, Brown holds a Bible rather than a street map, and his baseball cap displays the logo of "Zion Oil and Gas", instead of a typical tourist motif. Indeed, Brown, a friendly Texan Evangelist in his mid 60s, is not here on vacation. He is founder of Zion Oil and Gas, based in Dallas, Texas, and his...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices soared to a record high above $59 a barrel on Monday, extending last week's surge as a threat against Western consulates in OPEC-member Nigeria jolted traders already worried about tight supplies. Oil climbed more than 9 percent, or nearly $5, last week, drawing buying interest from trend-following hedge funds as prices surpassed the previous early April high. U.S. light crude for July delivery hit a front-month record $59.18 per barrel, before paring gains to stand up 59 cents at $59.06 at 0439 GMT. The August contract rose 62 cents to $59.80 a barrel and contracts...

FAIRBANKS -- A federal agency is developing a use plan for a section of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The plan covers 9.2 million acres in the southwest portion of the 23 million-acre reserve, which encompasses most of the western half of Alaska's North Slope. The Bureau of Land Management has opened a "scoping" period in which members of the public can identify issues and suggest how the land should be used. A public meeting will be held Aug. 10 in Fairbanks. Meetings also will be held in 13 Northwest Alaska villages and in Anchorage between July 18 and Aug. 11....