www.bloomberg.com Thu, 30 Jan 2003, 11:01am EDT By Sineva Toevai

Sydney, Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Australian bonds fell as a gain in local shares sapped demand for government debt with yields at about a 14-month low, analysts said.

The 6.5 percent bond maturing in May 2013 fell 0.606, or A$6.06 per A$1,000 amount, to 109.988 at 8:45 a.m. Sydney time. Its yield rose 7 basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 5.23 percent. The yield on the 7.5 percent bond maturing July 2005 rose 7 basis points to 4.57 percent.

Bonds rallied this month, pushing the yield on the 10-year bond close to the lowest level since November 2001 as concern a U.S.-led war against Iraq may curb economic growth boosted demand for securities that offer fixed payments.

Bond yields are at very low levels right now,'' said Peter Munckton, a debt market strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, who expects the 10-year bond yield to rise to 6 percent in the first quarter of the year. Stocks look reasonably rich,'' he said.

The Australian SPI 200 stock futures contract due in March rose 0.6 percent, indicating stocks may rise when trading starts at 10 a.m.

The Australian dollar bought 58.93 U.S. cents compared with 59.05 U.S. cents in late Asian trading yesterday.

allafrica.com Daily Trust (Abuja) January 29, 2003 Posted to the web January 29, 2003

Ikenna Emeka Okpani

The Presidential Adviser on Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, has said that the Federal Government will increase the daily production of oil in Nigeria from the current 2.2 million barrels per day to three million barrels per day before next year.

The special adviser, who was speaking at the 3rd Global Guest on Voice of Nigeria (VON) Forum, yesterday said the Federal Government is giving priority attention to the oil sector.

He said the government has set out a plan to increase daily production from the present 2.2 million barrels to 3 million barrels per day by the end of the year.

Additionally, the country, he said, was working towards increasing its oil reserve from 30 billion barrels to 40 billion barrels by 2010 even as policies to generate as much funds from gas as is presently from oil are underway, especially with planned stoppage of gas flaring.

"These are aside activities in restructuring and revitalisation of oil and gas industry which are parallel exercises that we are doing which are intended to go pari pasu with development out there in the field, because with the right fiscal regime, right structure of the constituent organisations that are working in the oil sector, the private companies, the joint ventures and all these are necessary to go along with the plan to expand and to rehabilitate the oil and gas industry," he said.

Dr. Lukman stated that Nigeria has continued the importation of oil to supplement the production of our refineries adding that this will continue except all the country's refineries are producing at full capacity.

Presently, he noted, the Port Harcourt Refinery, the largest in the country is producing at 90 per cent installed capacity while those of Kaduna and Warri are slightly above 50 per cent and cannot in all meet Nigeria's daily fuel consumption put at 450,000 barrels per day.

It is to meet this target and end importation that the government was considering applications received so far for private refineries, he said.

When the private refineries begin operation, Alhaji Lukman observed, Nigeria will begin to export refined oil which will translate to more income for the country and stop importation of refined products which has continued to strangle plans to end government subsidy in the sector.

The special adviser stated that Nigeria will submit its request for increase of OPEC quota in March this year at the conference of the organisation but cautioned that the process of quota increase was not simple since many other countries including Saudi Arabia which has a quota of eight million barrel per day as at now are also seeking such increases.

On the increase of world oil prices which has hit $32 per barrel in recent times as a result of US threat to attack Iraq and strikes in Venezuela, Alhaji Lukman advised Nigerians to view such increases as not real as prices could fall so low after the settlement of the issues.

The Global Guest on Voice of Nigeria, according to Alhaji Abubakar Jigawa, who represented the Director-General of the organisation at the programme, is aimed at featuring issues affecting Nigeria, Africa and the world in general.

Alhaji Lukman is the first Nigerian quest to appear on the quarterly programme which started last year.

cnews.canoe.ca By ALEXANDRA OLSON -- Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez appeared to be winning the battle for control of Venezuela's oil industry, overcoming efforts by workers at the state oil company to strangle it with a 58-day-old strike.

In another sign the strike is weakening, private banks agreed Wednesday to restore normal banking hours next week, said Central Bank president Diego Luis Castellanos. Banks and many exchange houses had opened only three hours a day to support the strike.

The decision came after Chavez had threatened to fine banks, suspend their directors and withdraw military deposits from striking institutions.

Even as the government boosted oil production beyond the million-barrel benchmark, the work stoppage has had devastating effects on the country's recession-ridden economy.

Production reached 1 million barrels a day Tuesday -- one-third of pre-strike levels, according to striking executives at state oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. It had slipped as low as 200,000 barrels per day in December.

Output is rising because the government is focusing on newer oil fields, where crude is easier to extract. But the recovery should slow when the government is forced to reactivate old wells that have sat idle for nearly two months, making their crude sticky and difficult to pump.

"They are going for the lowest hanging fruit on the tree, the easiest to grab," said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York. "In a few weeks, it is going to be a struggle."

Silliere said he expects difficulties to begin when output reaches 1.2 million to 1.4 million barrels per day.

In an effort to regain control of the oil monopoly, Chavez has sacked more than 5,000 of its 40,000 workers. State oil company executives warn the firings will make it even more difficult to reach full production capacity.

"That's what happens when unprepared personnel are put to work," Juan Fernandez, the leading spokesmen for dissident state oil workers, told a press conference.

Opposition leaders insist the strike will continue. But a public backlash over food, gasoline and medicine shortages has prompted some workers to consider easing the stoppage in certain areas.

Concerns about a public backlash over food, gasoline and medicine shortages has prompted some strike leaders to consider easing the stoppage in certain areas.

Shopping malls, restaurants and schools may reopen next week, at least part-time, said Julio Brazon, president of the Consecomercio business chamber. Some small businesses have reopened, and others never closed.

"The lifting of the strike is not being proposed now," said Carlos Ortega, president of the nation's largest labor union. "What is being proposed are some strategies that correspond to sectors involved in the strike." He did not elaborate.

Venezuelans must wait for hours in miles-long lines outside service stations. To ease the inconvenience, the government will impose limits on daily gas sales, said Luis Vierma, director of hydrocarbons at the Energy and Mines Ministry.

Although Chavez has had some success in reviving oil production, which provides half of Venezuela's government revenue and 70 percent of export earnings, he faces a daunting task in recuperating the country's economy.

Capital flight, stalled investment and strike damage led Santander Central Hispano investment bank to forecast a 40 percent contraction in the first quarter of 2003. Unemployment stands at 17 percent.

A freeze on foreign currency sales to protect the bolivar, which has lost 25 percent of its value this year, was extended Tuesday. The bolivar traded at 2,300 to the dollar Tuesday in secondary markets between private parties, bankers said. It was 1,853 to the dollar before the suspension started last week.

Limits on the amount of foreign currency Venezuelans can buy go into effect next week. The measure has been severely criticized by executives who say it could hurt businesses that depend on U.S. dollars to import goods.

"Chavez many have the initial advantage, but over the long term, he's going to have a much more difficult path," said Steve Johnson, senior policy analyst for Latin America at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 1:49:21 PM By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Executive Vice president Jose Vicente Rangel has denied an opposition 'shadow' Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) board allegation that oilmen willing to return to work must first sign a confession before they will be allowed to work.

Rangel made the comment during a site inspection at the Guaraguao refinery ... “it’s like the spin put out by the same people regarding the supposed death of an oil worker at the El Palito refinery ... and he shows up on the President’s Sunday radio address.”

Referring to the opposition’s attempt to have President Chavez Frias tried in an international tribunal for crimes against humanity, Rangel replies that PDVSA “terrorists” should be tried internationally for disrupting the country’s key industry.

Arrogant PDVSA rebels argue that only 30 of 5,000 persons have returned to work in western Zulia and that the rest will not accept any offer of a pardon ... "we already pardoned the government in April for insulting us."

www.miami.com Posted on Wed, Jan. 29, 2003 BY DAVID OVALLE dovalle@herald.com

The family of a victim of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, claiming the embattled politician gave at least $1 million -- disguised as humanitarian aid -- to Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and the al Qaeda terrorist network.

Judicial Watch, a Washington-based organization that investigates government corruption, announced Wednesday it had filed the suit in Miami federal court. It does not name the 47-year-old female victim and asks for at least $100 million in punitive damages.

Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, said a former Venezuelan military pilot would testify that Chavez ordered him to disguise the money as humanitarian aid to the Taliban shortly after Sept. 11. As proof, Klayman offered an article from WorldNetDaily.com and a Spanish-language wire service detailing the defector's accusations.

The money, he said, was delivered by Walter Marquez, the Venezuelan ambassador to India, who also was named in the suit.

Klayman cited Chavez's ties to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who he called ''a known terrorist,'' and said the two are planning terrorist attacks in Miami.

''Venezuela has been taken over by Communist forces,'' Klayman said. ``We have agents of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez probably planting things at this moment.''