goerie.com

A spike in gas prices got the attention of Erie drivers over the past week, but the word from analysts at a management consulting firm is that things could be worse.

What could be worse? How about paying $5.34 a gallon to drive around the streets of Hong Kong.

But then again, things could be better. You could be paying 28 cents a gallon if you drove around the streets of Caracas, Venezuela.

The consulting company, Runzheimer International, put together a list of the most expensive and least expensive places in the world to fill up your gas tank.

Hong Kong, at $5.34 a gallon, topped the list. Caracas was at the bottom, but there was no indication of whether its 28-cent-a-gallon price was reported before or after the strike by Venezuelan oil workers shut off petroleum spigots in that country.

Other cities on the high end of the gas-cost scale and what drivers pay per gallon include: London, $4.55; Paris, $4.41; Amsterdam, $4.38; Seoul, $4.35; Copenhagen, $4.24; Tokyo, $4.20; Milan, Italy, $4.14; Oslo, Norway, $4.13; and Frankfurt, Germany, $4. But if you are looking for a deal on gas, it pays to live where they pump the crude.

After Caracas on the low end of the scale came: Jakarta, Indonesia, 74 cents; Cairo, 75 cents; Kuwait City, 77 cents; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 93 cents; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, $1.05; Kiev, Ukraine, $1.13; Muscat, Oman, $1.13; and Moscow, $1.21. "When you view the U.S., and even Canada, from a global perspective, North American fuel prices are still relatively inexpensive," said John Wada, a consultant and cost-of-living expert with Runzheimer.

But Wada also said that American drivers may well end up paying as much for gas as drivers in those $4-a-gallon cities because Americans drive many more miles than people in other parts of the world.

What got the attention of drivers in Erie, Crawford and other counties in northwestern Pennsylvania last Thursday and Friday was a jump that sent prices at individual stations up anywhere from 6 cents to a dime over the week.

What happened? Apparently lots of things.

AAA Regional President David Poor said the ongoing problems with the Venezuelan oil workers strike and impending threat of war with Iraq continued to put pressure on prices, and extremely cold weather in the East iced up some rivers and ports and slowed the delivery of oil by tankers.

Also, analysts with the federal Energy Information Administration and private oil tracking professionals had been warning that wholesalers, distributors and retailers were absorbing price increases and at some point those increases were going to be pushed onto consumers. In late December they were predicting gas prices would go up another 10 cents or so in the coming weeks.

Anyway, the increases brought the average price being charged by stations in Erie up to $1.573 a gallon as of Saturday morning, according to the survey the OPIS energy group does for the national AAA. A week ago that average was $1.522.

If it is any consolation, prices in metro areas of Ohio jumped even faster. The AAA survey showed the average price in Cleveland jumped from $1.439 to $1.547 over the past week, and the average price in Youngstown jumped from $1.406 to $1.487. Elsewhere in the region, average prices jumped from $1.467 to $1.496 in Pittsburgh and $1.599 to $1.612 in Buffalo/Niagara Falls.

This might be a good time to review some gas-saving tips from the AAA: *If you have more than one car, put the miles on the more fuel efficient one when possible. *Consolidate trips and errands to cut down on driving time and keep miles off the odometer. *Slow down. The faster a vehicle travels, the more gas it burns. *Avoid quick starts and sudden stops. They not only waste fuel, but are hard on the vehicle and increase the odds of a crash. *Maintain your vehicle. Keep tires properly inflated, keep moving components lubricated and keep the ignition and emission systems in good shape to maintain proper fuel economy. *Lighten the load. Don't haul extra weight in the passenger compartment or trunk. A heavier vehicle uses more gas. *Check your owner's manual. If it says your vehicle doesn't require premium or mid-grade gas, buy the less-expensive regular unleaded. *Shop for gasoline prices locally, but don't waste gas driving to distant filling stations to save a few cents. *Don't race a cold engine to warm it up. *Avoid extended idling to warm up the engine. *Maintain steady speeds for the best fuel economy. A car uses extra fuel when it accelerates. *Use the air conditioner only when needed.

Continental Express, which provided Erie-to-Cleveland service until mid 2001, is starting to recall some furloughed pilots.

A total of 48 pilots are expected to return to work in April, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. The newspaper quotes airline and union officials as saying that virtually every Continental and Continental Express pilot who was furloughed could be back in the cockpit by 2004.

Officials at Erie International Airport have said in recent weeks that they have heard rumors in the industry that Continental Express might be willing to take a second look at service to Erie.

Northwest Airlines is to begin daily seasonal spring and summer service between Detroit and Myrtle Beach on April 18.

Media reports from Pittsburgh say that airport officials hope to allow US Airways passengers to again use curbside luggage check-in as early as next month.

Delta Air Lines is upgrading its Saturday service between Cincinnati and Cancun, Mexico. The airline plans to use a 183-passenger Boeing 757 to make the flight instead of a 148 passenger Boeing 737. The airline also added a seventh daily flight to its Cincinnati-to-Pittsburgh service.

JIM CARROLL,who writes about transportation each Monday, can be reached at (814) 724-1716, 870-1727 or by e-mail at jim.carroll@timesnews.com.

Last changed: February 02. 2003 5:29PM

english.eastday.com

Colombian authorities declared a curfew in the northeastern province of Arauca on Sunday after rebels dynamited an electrical transmission line there.

The provincial governor Oscar Munoz said that mayors have been instructed to take appropriate security measures, one of which is to impose a curfew.

But the capital city of Arauca was not included, Munoz added.

Arauca, a province bordering Venezuela, is one of the most violent areas in Colombia. There are several rebel groups operating there, including the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Police blamed both leftist groups for the attack late Saturday.

The area will be without electricity for about four days, authorities said.

Colombia has been ravaged by a four-decades-old civil war. The conflict kills about 3,500 people every year, most of them civilians.

President Alvaro Uribe, who took office last August, has vowed to step up the crackdown on illegal armed groups. He declared special security zones in Arauca, sent more government troops there and appointed a hard-liner as governor, in his efforts to bring security to the province.

Xinhua News

www.globeandmail.com POSTED AT 11:57 PM EST    Sunday, February 2 By PAUL KNOX From Monday's Globe and Mail

Caracas — Hundreds of thousands of President Hugo Chavez's foes turned out across Venezuela Sunday to sign recall petitions aimed at kicking him out of office and annulling laws passed during his four years in power.

But their leaders drastically scaled back a two-month-old strike in the world's No.5 oil-exporting country, and the flamboyant President said the campaign against him had failed.

Mr. Chavez threatened legal action against oil-refinery workers and others guilty of what he called "sabotage" during the strike, which has sharpened a serious economic downturn in this country of 24 million.

"They've been defeated," he said on his weekly television program, referring to opposition leaders. "They have F for failure stamped on their foreheads."

But supporters of the petition said they still hope to force an early electoral test of the President's rule, which opponents say has brought Venezuela to the brink of economic ruin.

"The only way out of this is to have elections as soon as possible," said accountant Luis Benavides, 55, as he waited to sign the petitions in the middle-class Chacaito district.

Mr. Benavides said he voted for Mr. Chavez in 1998, but he feels betrayed. "This is an autocratic, authoritarian government with communist tendencies."

Long lines formed in middle-class and affluent sections of Caracas, as residents, many wearing clothes depicting the yellow, blue and red Venezuelan flag, waited to sign the petitions.

Turnout was scant in the working-class Petare district.

"The rich don't like this government. The poor do," said Pedro Rojas, 29, an autobody painter who said he would not sign.

Mr. Chavez, a former paratrooper who led an abortive military coup d'état in 1992, but later won election as a civilian, said he has boosted school enrolment by more than a million and lowered infant mortality since taking office.

Banks, shopping centres and supermarkets are set to reopen this week in what opposition leaders bravely described as "giving flexibility" to the strike, which began on Dec. 2.

Workers at the state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela remain on strike. But more than 5,000 of them, including 700 senior executives, have been fired for walking out.

The work stoppage was aimed at forcing Mr. Chavez to agree to a non-binding referendum on whether he should continue in office. He refused but has agreed to discuss the country's political future in talks involving foreign facilitators.

Under discussion are proposals for a binding recall referendum in August and a constitutional amendment to cut his term to four years from six. Either measure would lead to elections this year.

Petitions calling for such measures were among those being signed Sunday. Another aimed to revoke 47 emergency decrees passed by Mr. Chavez.

Opposition leaders said they were confident of obtaining the 2.4 million signatures needed to force a presidential recall vote.

Four people were injured when pro-Chavez protesters threw stones, fireworks and tear-gas canisters near two petition tables in downtown Caracas, police told The Associated Press. A car belonging to a private, local television station was set alight.

www.gulf-news.com Abu Dhabi |By Stanley Carvalho | 03-02-2003

Opec will take a final decision at its March 11 meeting on whether to cut production, said Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, president, Opec.

Opec does not plan to have any extraordinary meeting until March 11 but if an attack on Iraq takes place it might convene an emergency meeting, Attiyah said on the sidelines of the Environment and Energy Exhibition and Conference 2003 which began yesterday.

Al Attiyah clarified that there will be no extraordinary meeting of Opec in the near future and the next meeting is only in March.

"Right now we are only a few ministers in Abu Dhabi and we are holding only bilateral talks. Only at Opec's March 11 meeting we will discuss all options and how to react to the market situation then. For sure, there can be any surprise in the market.

"I hope not to see war but Opec as an institutional organisation will react if there is shortage of supply by balancing demand with supply. Opec always as traditionally can meet any time to discuss the market."

Obeid bin Saif Al Nasiri, UAE Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, expressed concern about falling demand in the second quarter leading to a drop in prices. "If we see any sign of a fall in oil prices, we will correct the situation," he said, hinting that Opec may even cut production.

Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali Al Naimi said the March meeting of Opec will focus on the international inventory level which is currently on a low level especially in the U.S. "Venezuela's return may mean extra supplies to the U.S and inventories can be rebuilt."  

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.02.03, 11:12 PM ET By Tanya Pang

SINGAPORE, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell for the third day in a row on Monday as Venezuela continued to bump up vital petroleum exports, while key OPEC ministers warned of a possible glut in supplies in the second quarter when winter demand ebbs.

But the threat of war in Iraq, the world's eighth-biggest oil exporter, continued to keep crude well above $30 a barrel and within $2 of a 26-month high over $35 touched in January.

U.S. light crude slipped 30 cents to $33.21 a barrel, 0.9 percent down from Friday's settlement in New York, when it lost 34 cents.

"War is still very much on the cards and that is likely to counter any downward pressure on prices from Venezuela coming back to work," said David Thurtell, commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank in Sydney.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that crude production had increased to nearly 1.8 million barrels per day, up from a low of 150,000 bpd after the strike began in December and more than half of the 3.1 million bpd pumped in November.

Oil strikers say current output stands at just over one million bpd, although they acknowledge it is rising.

Data from shipping agents showed Venezuela's oil exports higher at 890,000 bpd in the week to February 1, up from 550,000 bpd a week earlier but only one-third of normal levels of 2.7 million bpd before the strike.

Opposition leaders, who want Chavez to resign, scaled back the nine-week action on Sunday in the non-oil sector only. The strike continues in the oil sector.

"Venezuelan production continues to recover and the further the government can increase production, the greater the pressure for strikers to go back to work. There could be a resolution to the strike in the next couple of weeks," said Thurtell.

A return of oil sales from Venezuela, the world's fifth-biggest oil exporter, could put some pressure on the OPEC producers' group to rein in output.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exprting Countires agreed in January to raise official production limits by 1.5 million bpd on February 1 to offset the Venezuelan outage.

OPEC ministers warned at the weekend that oil markets could tip into oversupply in the second quarter with warmer weather in the Northern Hemeisphere and spark a price collapse.

OPEC is due to meet again in Vienna on March 11.

"If there is danger of a glut, we have to meet and rectify the situation. Definitely we (OPEC) are concerned about the second quarter," UAE Oil Minister Obaid bin Saif al-Nasseri said on Sunday at an oil conference.

"If Venezuela comes back (to full capacity), we could have four million bpd or more floating," said OPEC President and Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah.

IRAQ STILL WILDCARD Even if Venezuelan oil exports return to normal levels soon, analysts see little chance of a big fall in oil prices until uncertainty over war in Iraq is cleared up.

"I think the market risks translate into a few dollars to the downside and over $10 upside at the moment," said Sydney-based independent oil analyst Simon Games-Thomas.

Commonwealth Bank's Thurtell said U.S. crude may head down to $30 or $31 a barrel once the strike in Venezuela was resolved.

Iraq sells roughly two million bpd of crude to the world market and traders fear supplies may be shut off if there were a military strike against Baghdad, which has threatened to retaliate against neighbouring oil exporter Kuwait where hundreds of U.S. troops are based.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to present to the U.N. security Council on Wednesday evidence that Iraq has been operating programmes to build banned weapons.

Top U.N. disarmament officials Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei are expected to return to Baghdad at the end of the week as part of last-ditch efforts to secure Iraqi compliance with U.N. resolutions. U.S. President George W. Bush has vowed to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction it claims Baghdad has stocked, with or without backing from the international community.