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I wrongly sent an offlist post to Alanna to the list, sorry.
In view
of the increase in the pace of world events wight now, I'd be glad if listers
would show patience and discipline, and keep discussion oriented to analysing
and interpreting the flood of data.
It is evident that the 4th and final
Oil Shock continues to develop, and to bring with it the possibility of intesne
conflict in the Middle East, as some of us have long warned it would.
1820 London time: The Dow is hovering on the 10 000 barrier on news from the
Mid-East.
The worst flooding in England for years has prompted the UK government's
Environment Agency to warn today that it will be 'necessary to adapt to
the effects of climate change'.
Other news
THURSDAY, 12th October, 2000:
- REUTERS:
"Oil Prices Rocket to a 10-Year Peak" 'by William Maclean. 'LONDON
(Reuters) - Oil prices shot to a 10-year peak amid fresh Middle East violence
on Thursday as a scramble for supply pushed Brent crude above $35 a barrel for
the first time since 1990. The North Sea benchmark hit $35.30 for a gain of
$3.51 after Israeli forces attacked targets near Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat's offices in two Palestinian-ruled cities. Those attacks and a
suspected guerrilla bombing of a U.S. Navy destroyer in Yemen stirred fears
that the turmoil could ignite a wider conflict able to disrupt energy flows
from the region holding the bulk of the world's petroleum reserves. Brent's
gains later narrowed to $33.35, up $1.56. U.S. light crudes were $2.10
stronger at $35.35. Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at Palestinian
targets in the West Bank city of Ramallah and in Gaza to avenge the lynching
of two Israeli soldiers by a Palestinian mob. At least two people were hurt in
an attack on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters and
the police station where hours earlier hundreds of Palestinian youths had
stabbed the two Israelis to death, police and witnesses said. Arafat's office
in Gaza was not hit and there were conflicting reports about whether his
Ramallah office had been struck. A senior Palestinian official said Arafat was
unhurt. In Aden, four U.S. sailors were killed and 36 were injured when a
rubber raft loaded with explosives slammed into the USS Cole in the southern
Yemeni port. The White House said it was horrified by what appeared to be a
``terrorist'' attack. The latest spasm of Israeli-Palestinian violence seemed
certain to inflame feelings and threaten efforts to end hostilities in which
at least 97 people have been killed, all but seven of them Palestinians or
Israeli Arabs. Even before the latest unrest, oil markets had been rising amid
worries that low U.S. heating oil inventories may prove insufficient to keep
American households warm this winter...'
- REUTERS:
"Oil Surges; Violence Sparks Panic Buying" by Andrew Mitchell. 'NEW
YORK (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices hurtled higher on Thursday as fears grew that
rising violence in the Middle East could hit the region's oil output at a time
when U.S. energy supplies are running perilously low. November crude on the
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) up $2.95 to $36.20 a barrel by 10:45 a.m.
EDT after Israeli forces attacked Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's West
Bank headquarters and an explosion holed a U.S. Navy destroyer in Yemen.
Frantic buying briefly pushed prices up to $37 after Israeli helicopter
gunships fired missiles at Palestinian targets in the West Bank city of
Ramallah following the killing of two Israeli soldiers by a Palestinian mob.
``There's panic buying going on,'' said a NYMEX trader from ABN-Amro.
``This market is going up, but I can't tell you where it will stop, we're like
looking for war alerts now,'' the trader said, as news headlines flashed
on all corners of the NYMEX trading floor in lower Manhattan...'
- INDIVIDUAL.COM:
"Iraq may halt oil flows unless paid in euros-paper" 'BAGHDAD, Oct 12
(Reuters) - Iraq may halt oil exports unless a bank account holding its
U.N.-monitored petroleum revenues is changed from dollars into euros, an Iraqi
central bank official said in remarks published on Thursday. ``Iraq may resort
to halting its crude oil exports if the United Nations refuses to allow it to
open a bank account in the French bank in the euro currency,'' Abdulillah
Putrus, deputy governor of the Central Bank, told the weekly al-Zawra. ``All
oil (sale) contracts that Iraq is going to conclude with foreign parties
should be paid in euros.''...'
- INDIVIDUAL.COM:
"UPDATE 2-Iraq says wants euro oil payments from Nov" (Adds
diplomat, oil company comment) By Peg Mackey. 'LONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) -
OPEC member Iraq wants customers lifting its U.N.-supervised crude oil
exports to pay in euros starting in November, an oil official said on
Thursday. Baghdad, which accounts for five percent of internationally traded
crude, is consulting the United Nations about the possiblility of making the
switch from dollar payments, the official added by telephone. ``Iraq this
month has asked the U.N. to open another separate euro account in addition to
the present dollar account,'' the official contacted in Baghdad said. ``From
November all letters of credit for the exports must be opened in euros and
payment made in euros,'' the official said...'
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