European benchmark Brent crude oil futures rose to a 15-month high of $30.70 a barrel Monday amid growing fears of a U.S. attack on Iraq and a continuing general strike in Venezuela.

"At the end of the day, it is pretty much as it has been for the past month the two driving factors being Iraq and Venezuela," said Orrin Middleton, oil analyst at Barclays Capital.

Two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups, each with about 10,000 sailors and Marines, are within striking distance of Iraq. Two others were ordered last week to prepare for departure on 96 hours' notice, as were two amphibious warfare groups.

Meanwhile, oil exports from Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil producer, have plummeted to 340,000 barrels a day from 2.3 million barrels a day due to a crippling four-week strike.

At 12:52 GMT, Brent crude for February delivery was up 49 cents at $30.65 a barrel. The Brent crude price is not far off the Sept. 11, 2001 high of $31.05 a barrel.

Monday also saw highs in early electronic trade of U.S. crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange. February crude hit a new two-year high of $33.17 a barrel after smashing through the psychological barrier of $33 a barrel.

Over the weekend, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would consider meeting to discuss hiking output if oil prices remain high for a prolonged period, The Times of London reported Monday.

"I can assure you that OPEC will meet if the price stays high," the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Under OPEC's output mechanism, an increase in production can be triggered if the price of its benchmark basket of crudes remains over $22-$28 a barrel for 20 consecutive days.

The basket price has been above $28 a barrel for nine consecutive trading days.

Monday, December 30, 2002 Posted: 1014 GMT

LONDON, England -- Crude oil prices hit new two-year highs on Monday as concern grew over a possible U.S.-led attack on Iraq and a strike in Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, dragged on.

Brent crude oil for February delivery, the London benchmark, was up 44 cents to $30.60 in early trading.

The main U.S. oil futures contract was trading at $33.17 in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That is the highest level for crude since December 1, 2000.

"Iraq, North Korea, surging oil prices... [means] global equities will likely remain under pressure until war begins next year,'' Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments, told Reuters.

Oil prices soared after the arrival at the weekend of U.S. troops, aircraft and ships in the Gulf as preparations continue for a possible war against Baghdad.

The escalation of tension comes as U.N. weapons inspectors continue to search for evidence that Iraq has biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. (Full story)

At the same time, North Korea is being criticised for reactivating a nuclear power plant -- which is capable of producing enough weapons-grade plutonium to make two or three nuclear bombs per year -- and telling U.N. inspectors to leave the country. (Full story)

Fatal attacks in Chechnya and the West Bank on Friday added to global tension and concerns that any military action could disrupt oil shipments.

A month-old strike in Venezuela -- the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the U.S. -- has also put upward pressure on oil prices.

Opponents of embattled President Hugo Chavez planned more protests against his government as Venezuela began importing petrol to break an oil workers' strike.

The first shipment arrived on Saturday from neighbouring Brazil. The move has enraged Chavez's opponents, who accused Brazil of interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs by helping the leftist leader to break the strike.

The strike has led to mile-long queues for fuel in Caracas and other cities. (Full story)

Tens of thousands hit the streets in Caracas on 28th day of strike ALEXANDRA OLSON Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets demanding the resignation of President Hugo Chavez on Sunday, the 28th day of a nationwide strike that has virtually halted oil exports and evaporated domestic gasoline supplies.

The protesters poured out of nine areas of the capital to converge on an avenue chosen for its name: "La Victoria," or victory. Politicians, businessmen and labor leaders prodded the crowd with a long list of arguments why Chavez should quit.

It's a scene that has been played out many times during the strike -- so far without success.

Chavez refuses to go and insists the government is regaining control of the state oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela, where most managers are on strike. He says he will use the protest to downsize the mammoth corporation and has already replaced many strikers.

"It's a struggle to save the country between us patriots and the traitors," Chavez said during his weekly television show, held Sunday outside a gasoline distribution center where the government has replaced striking managers.

At the rally in Caracas, his foes threatened more civil disobedience, including not paying taxes. Many also want to march on the presidential palace. The last time that happened, 19 people were killed in the clash between Chavez foes and followers. The April 11 violence provoked a coup that ousted Chavez for two days.

By ALEXANDRA OLSON Associated Press Writer

Leaders of a strike against Hugo Chavez urged citizens not to give up on a four-week protest that has depleted gasoline supplies in the world's No. 5 oil exporter but failed to force the president from office.

"The strike will continue until the last consequences," said Carlos Ortega, president of Venezuela's largest labor confederation. "This regime is only prolonging its agony. Venezuelans, your indignation is just. The people never give up."

Ortega's comments Sunday came after hundreds of thousands of Chavez opponents marched through the street of Caracas - the latest in countless of protests that have accompanied the strike since it began Dec. 2.

Opposition leaders are threatening more civil disobedience, including urging citizens not to pay income taxes.

On Sunday, Chavez again vowed he wouldn't quit. He insisted he was foiling a strike that has slashed oil exports from 3 million barrels a day to 160,000 and forced Venezuela to look abroad for food and fuel.

"I think I'm never going to leave. I feel so loved that I am never going to leave," Chavez said during his weekly television show.

"It's a treacherous oligarchy that wants to break the government and break the Venezuelan people."

Chavez's popularity has slipped to about 30 percent, as discontent grows over a wrenching economic recession and political turmoil. The former army paratrooper, however, still counts on almost 45 percent support from the slums that ring Caracas, where many still consider him the first leader in generations to stand up for their interests.

Chavez hosted the show outside the Yagua gasoline distribution center in the western state of Carabobo, and applauded every time a gasoline truck left the installation. Two hundreds trucks left, said Chavez, who replaced striking managers at Yagua.

Gasoline shipments were coming from Venezuela's La Isla refinery in Curacao and Trinidad, Chavez added. One oil tanker has already arrived from Brazil.

Mile-long lines persisted at service stations. Many Venezuelans were doing without products like fresh milk, soft drinks, beer and tissue paper.

Ali Rodriguez, president of PDVSA, said Venezuela is currently producing between 600,000 and 700,000 barrels a day. Striking PDVSA executives saying it is producing less than 200,000 barrels a day. Production is normally about 3 million barrels a day.

Venezuela's largest labor confederation and business chamber called to demand Chavez accept a nonbinding referendum on his rule. Many in the opposition now demand early elections - which constitutionally can only take place if Chavez resigns.

They accuse the president of running roughshod over democratic institutions and wrecking the economy with leftist policies. Chavez says opponents should wait for a possible recall referendum midway through his term, or August 2003, as permitted by the constitution. He was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, and his term ends in 2007.

Negotiations sponsored by the Organization of American States, which have produced few results, were to resume Jan. 2 after a brief break for the holidays.

By NIKO PRICE Associated Press Writer December 30. 2002 2:43AM

Latin Americans have spent the past few years getting rid of entrenched systems that have failed them. But some are beginning to realize their new leaders aren't making life any better than the old did.

With much of the region gripped by uncertainty over struggling economies, the social unrest that is now paralyzing Venezuela could foreshadow wider threats to newfound democracies across the region.

After President Bush promised to make this "the century of the Americas," the U.S. government's focus has shifted to the war on terrorism.

But the major concern in Latin America harks back to Bill Clinton's mantra: "It's the economy, stupid." Without a strong recovery in the United States, whose economy dominates the Americas, there is little Latin American leaders of any political stripe will be able to do.

For two decades, the region has been replacing authoritarian regimes with democratic governments in a U.S.-oriented, free-market mold. The problem has been that new policies haven't done much to improve people's lives.

So voters have begun to opt for something else - anything else. Economic woes led to the 2000 election in Mexico of Vicente Fox, a conservative businessman who toppled 70 years of single-party rule with promises of huge economic growth and first-world status for the country.

Discontent in Brazil led to the election this year of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leftist former union boss who promised to make fighting hunger his top priority. His victory was seen as a rejection of the free-market policies of the defeated government, which had curbed runaway inflation but left the economy stagnant and millions in poverty or jobless.

Ecuadorans just elected as president Lucio Gutierrez, a former army colonel who led a short-lived coup in 2000 aimed at ending endemic corruption and halting the spread of poverty. Argentina has seen a revolving door of presidents since the country defaulted last year on much of its $141 billion foreign debt. A presidential election in April will determine whether the country continues on the free-market path or moves to the left.

Venezuelans, meanwhile, are learning unconventional leaders may not fulfill hopes either.

The radical populist Hugo Chavez was elected president in 1998 and again in 2000, promising to remake society after a 40-year alternation of power between two corrupt, centrist political parties. But he has been unable to make the once envied oil-based economy grow and has seen unemployment and poverty rise.

A powerful but confused opposition movement briefly ousted Chavez last April only to see him return two days later. The country is now a month into a general strike and sometimes violent street protests aimed at ousting him.

The protesters demonstrate in the name of democracy, despite the fact that Chavez's term lasts until 2007 and the constitution doesn't allow a referendum on his reign until August.

"We all thought he'd bring prosperity, but he's making us poorer," said Eliezer Chavez, a 20-year-old computer consultant who voted for Chavez but has joined the demonstrations demanding his removal.

He said the opposition movement is "totally democratic," because democracy for him means people can oust an elected leader they feel isn't doing a good job - whether the constitution allows it or not. Part of the threat to the region's young democracies is that democracy in Latin America is largely superficial. There are elections, but leaders often do not serve all the people. The idea of a civic spirit is not deeply ingrained.

"These societies have adopted some of the more superficial aspects of democracy and market economies," said Steve Johnson, a Latin American policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington. "You have electoral democracy, but you're basically still electing an autocrat." There is no indication that the region will reverse its economic slide - or that its institutions can stand up to the challenge.

"I think things will get worse in Latin America, and the problems will deteriorate further," said Sidney Weintraub, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, another Washington think tank.

"I think you'll get breakdowns in democracy, and as the economies fail people will experiment in ways that will only hurt them more."