www.thekcrachannel.com

POSTED: 10:11 a.m. EST January 27, 2003

Gas prices are up, an analyst says, at least in part on fears of a war on Iraq.

The cost of a gallon has risen nearly 1.5 cents over the past two weeks, according to analyst Trilby Lundberg.

The average weighted price for gas nationwide, including all grades and taxes, is about $1.52, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations.

Along with the Iraq situation, the general strike in Venezuela is contributing to the increase, as is the intense cold on the East Coast, which is prompting some refiners to produce more heating oil.

AAA's analysis says that the average price for a gallon of unleaded gas is $1.47, almost six cents higher than a month ago, and 25 cents higher than a year ago.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.27.03, 9:01 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - As U.N. arms inspectors prepared to give the Security Council a crucial report on Iraq, U.S. and British officials said they had the proof Baghdad was hiding banned weapons, laying it open to attack. Hours before the Council session in New York, due to start at 10:30 a.m. (1530 GMT), the United States made clear it would go into battle alone against Baghdad if it could not muster support among a deeply divided international community. BAGHDAD - Iraq said it was up to Washington and London to avoid a military showdown and accused U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell of lying when he charged Baghdad with developing banned weapons. DAMASCUS - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in some Arab capitals to protest against a possible U.S. war on Iraq, labelling U.S. President George W. Bush a "butcher" and his administration "arrogant".

SEOUL - A South Korean presidential envoy held talks with North Korean officials in Pyongyang in an attempt to ease the crisis over the Stalinist state's nuclear ambitions.

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing Likud party kept its commanding lead in final opinion polls published on the eve of Israel's general election, but looked set to struggle to form a stable coalition.

ABIDJAN - Gangs of youths, some swinging machetes, blocked streets in Ivory Coast's main city and pulled foreigners from cars in a third day of protests at a peace deal they say was imposed by former colonial power France.

LONDON - War fears sent stocks and the dollar tumbling and propelled gold to its highest level in six years as markets across the world fretted ahead of a key U.N weapons report on Iraq.

TEHRAN - Iran's top security body has decided to free the country's foremost clerical dissident from house arrest following fears over his health, a government source said.

BRUSSELS - Sweden said France should not invite Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to a summit in Paris next month because it would contravene the European Union's sanctions against his regime.

LONDON/SEOUL - A resilient two-day-old computer worm continued to hobble the Internet, infesting computer networks in Europe, Asia and America and stoking fears it will slow data transmissions for a few more days.

CARACAS, Venezuela/PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - Foes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clamored for early elections to vote him out of office, while the former coup plotter hinted he might be forced to take up arms again if his leftist "revolution" was defeated.

new.stockwatch.com 2003-01-27 06:00 - News Release

HOUSTON, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Environmental Safeguards, Inc. (BULLETIN BOARD: ELSF) said today that it signed a contract to process various waste streams at a facility owned by Rineco Chemical Industries, Inc., a privately owned concern located in Benton, Arkansas.

Environmental Safeguards said it is using its own proprietary Indirect Thermal Desorption (ITD) technology and equipment, manned by its own trained personnel, to complete the project.

James S. Percell, chairman and president, stated: "This is a reflection of our continued marketing efforts in the industrial arena."

The Company's patented ITD technology uses a heat jacketed rotating chamber that vaporizes hydro-carbons and hydrocarbon derivatives from contaminated materials, and a condenser that liquefies the vapor into hydrocarbon liquids of better than 99% purity, for reuse. A single ITD unit can process one to 10 short tons of waste per hour, depending on its content. In addition to the United States, soil remediation and hydrocarbon recycling operations have been successfully conducted in Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Scotland and the U.A.E. Since becoming fully operational six years ago, the Company has processed more than 750,000 tons of contaminated waste, recovering in excess of 15 million gallons of hydrocarbon fluids.

The Forward Looking Statements or Projections contained herewith involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed and, accordingly, should be read in conjunction with the Company's 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001, with particular reference to Information Regarding and Factors Affecting Forward Looking Statements in the Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Environmental Safeguards, Inc.

CONTACT: RF Hengen Inc., +1-908-508-9000, for Environmental Safeguards, Inc.; or James S. Percell, Chmn & Pres of Environmental Safeguards, Inc., +1-713-641-3838

www.middle-east-online.com First Published 2003-01-27, Last Updated 2003-01-27 13:18:43

Traders worry about high probability Washington might go it alone in Iraq despite split with key UN members.

LONDON - Oil prices bubbled up Monday as concerns about possible disruption to Middle East supplies mounted ahead of a key report by UN weapons inspectors on Iraq, which traders feared could trigger a US-led Gulf war.

The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for March delivery rose to 30.60 dollars per barrel in early trading from 30.49 dollars at the close of trading on Friday, when prices had climbed by 77 cents.

In New York, light sweet crude March-dated futures rallied by 1.03 dollars per barrel on Friday to 33.28 dollars.

Prices climbed again as UN arms inspectors prepared to deliver a report to the UN Security Council later Monday on their two months of work hunting down alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Amid signs of a split between the United States and other members of the UN Security Council such as France and Russia, traders were worried that the US administration might wage a solo war on Iraq.

"Although everybody is waiting for the weapons inspectors to make their report... the contents seem widely anticipated," said Prudential Bache trader Christopher Bellew.

"It seems likely that the UN is going to give the arms inspectors more time. There is still a very high probability that there could be military intervention by the Americans, and that keeps prices higher at the moment," he added.

Analysts say that the oil market is already suffering a shortage of oil, largely because of a strike in Venezuela that has sent the country's oil output down to a fraction of its usual levels of about three million barrels per day.

Despite recent signs that the stoppages are easing somewhat, the disruption has drained US commercial stocks of crude oil down to uncomfortably low levels for the world's biggest oil consumer.

Against that backdrop, prices have remained high despite the promise of an output increase by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) of 1.5 million barrels per day, which officially starts next month but has already started flowing, according to experts.

If the market loses Iraq's oil output of about two million barrels per day while Venezuela's exports are crimped, OPEC might not be able to keep a lid on prices, analysts say.

"With US crude stock levels at 27-year lows and OPEC spare capacity looking extremely thin, armed conflict in the Gulf is approaching at a time when the market could hardly be more sensitive to supply disruptions," said Barclays Capital head of research Kevin Norrish.

But he said that any oil price spike was likely to be short-lived and restricted to the period just before war.

"The release of US strategic reserves should limit its extent, while a seasonal slowing of demand combined with strong non-OPEC supply growth will then provide the conditions for substantially lower prices in the second quarter," he wrote in a note to clients.

Venezuela's crude output is now close to a million barrels per day, striking managers of the Petroleos de Venezuela state oil firm said Saturday.

The government has put the figure at more than one million barrels, saying most of the production was being exported.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.27.03, 8:22 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, (Reuters) - Striking Venezuelan oil workers said crude output fell slightly Monday, stalling after a three-week recovery that took flows to almost a million barrels per day, or 30 percent of pre-strike levels.

Crude output fell 20,000 bpd to 966,000 bpd, 29 percent of pre-strike levels, according to a daily oil industry report by anti-government strikers.

The government, which has used troops and replacement crews to break the eight-week-old strike, has consistently held higher estimates for crude output, pegging it at 1.32 million bpd on Sunday.

"Most of the output is in the east of the country, in northern Monagas, where reservoirs are youngest and where extraction is relatively easy and requires little technical work," said the report by strikers, many of whom occupied senior positions in state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela.

"This area has natural flow due to the well conditions... a situation which is totally different in the west, where wells require large amounts of work," it added.

The report said strike breakers were putting extra oil into existing contracts, but that its sales and marketing operation was still destroyed by the strike.

"This makes us think that the crude could be being stored," the report said.

The government has said that 75 percent of blue-collar workers have already returned to work.

Exports rose sharply last week from very low levels to near 700,000 bpd, according to ship agents and port authorities, but they were still at just 25 percent of pre-strike levels.

The anti-government strikers, who are seeking to force President Hugo Chavez to resign and call early elections, said 80 percent of oil workers were observing the strike in the east.