www.theage.com.au March 4 2003 By Alex Lawler London

OPEC, supplier of a third of the world's oil, may struggle to replace output from Iraq should the nation's exports be halted through war because most members are already pumping near their limit, analysts said.

Oil prices have surged 63 per cent in the past year and last week approached $US40, the highest price since the Gulf War, after US inventories fell to some of the lowest levels in three decades. Should an attack disrupt Iraqi supply, oil importers will have to tap emergency reserves to prevent soaring prices, analysts said.

"The problem is OPEC is getting close to the limit of what it can do," said Julian Lee, a senior analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies in London. "Prices aren't going to come down much until US inventories start to rise."

Analysts put OPEC's spare capacity at about 2 million barrels a day, equal to 2.6 per cent of world output and less than Iraq's daily output of 2.5 million barrels. Two million barrels is enough to meet daily demand in France, the world's fifth-largest economy.

OPEC members, except Iraq, agree to restrain oil supply to boost prices. The group raised quotas twice this year to fill a shortage caused by a strike in Venezuela.

In 2000, OPEC neared the limits of its spare capacity after the group raised production quotas and US prices surged to more than $US37 in September of that year. The present situation was similar, analysts said.

The US and other industrialised countries hold inventories to alleviate supply shortages, to avert a repeat of the shortages during the 1973 Arab oil embargo. US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said the nation may use its 600-million-barrel reserve to offset any "severe" disruption in supply.

A recovery in OPEC's oil capacity depends in part on Venezuela. Production there has risen to 2 million barrels a day, the Government said, but that is still only two-thirds of output in November.

OPEC has no consensus on what steps to take on March 11, when oil ministers meet in Vienna to set policy for the second quarter. At that time, oil demand normally slows because of the northern hemisphere spring.

OPEC secretary-general Alvaro Silva said supply was equal to demand, while oil officials from Kuwait and Qatar said last week the group might raise output. Other officials have said output quotas will be lifted should Iraq's exports be cut off.

JP Morgan estimates OPEC could muster another 2 million barrels a day, from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"OPEC is irrelevant at the moment," said Lawrence Eagles, an analyst at GNI-Man Financial in Belfast, Northern Ireland. "Now, there's only one country that counts, Saudi Arabia."

Saudi Arabia might already be pumping 9 million barrels a day, analysts said. The kingdom, which doesn't disclose its production, says it can raise output to 10.5 million barrels a day within 90 days.

The International Energy Agency was likely to tap inventories in the event of a war on Iraq, the group's executive director said last week. The IEA co-ordinates the use of government oil reserves in the US and 25 industrialised nations.

A stockpile release was "likely but not certain" should Iraq be attacked, the agency's executive director, Claude Mandil, said in London.

-Bloomberg

www.prnewswire.com

Hyperion, McDATA and Oracle Select Market360 Global(TM) to Unify Previously Isolated Brand Messages

SAN MATEO, Calif., March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Biz360 Inc., the leading provider of active market intelligence, today announced a revolutionary product changing the way multinational corporations define and implement global communications strategies. Market360 Global(TM) will allow enterprises like Hyperion, McDATA Corp. and Oracle to create and maintain a consistent global brand across all continents. The sophisticated, Web-based software service monitors prominence, mindshare, and industry trends in media around the world, creating actionable analysis that can shape a company's overall strategy or determine the necessity of a focused, targeted outreach plan. Current methods use a "rear view mirror" approach, manually assimilating and processing data that quickly becomes stale before a company can react. Market360 Global continuously analyzes company and competitor media coverage, alerting corporations in time to react to competitor moves, turn emerging trends into revenue opportunities and quickly respond to potentially harmful publicity, therefore maintaining or improving their global reputation. "The need for active market intelligence and results measurement is critical in today's challenging economic climate," said Mike Gustafson, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at McDATA Corp. "As a global storage networking solutions company, we want to know immediately if our message is being picked up by key domestic outlets." As more corporations expand their international focus and turn their attention toward creating a global brand, the ability to track these efforts as they occur has become crucial to the success of any worldwide operation. As customers of Market360 Global, Hyperion, McDATA and Oracle understand the need for these in-depth, targeted and continuous analytics. Biz360's analytic applications provide a level of market intelligence previously unavailable, replacing manual techniques that are time consuming and expensive, and provide information that quickly becomes outdated. "It's almost inconceivable to invest money in significant corporate communications programs without understanding the results," said You Mon Tsang, CEO and president of Biz360. "How would any other department justify its investment without measuring and analyzing the results? Market360 Global allows companies, for the first time, to do just that. In addition, enterprises can now track their media mindshare worldwide, centralize global PR results, connect corporate and local communications teams and adjust strategies with actionable analytics." Market360 Global(TM), now available from Biz360, includes three unique options to specifically fit your company's global target markets:

 *  World English Service Option -- This option analyzes English-language content from around the world.

 *  European Service Option -- This option analyzes media in major European countries in six native languages.  Countries included in this service offering are: France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

 *  Latin American Service Option -- This option analyzes media in major centers of business in Latin America, in both Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.  Countries included in this service offering are: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Mexico and Venezuela.

Biz360 has also strengthened its global management team by appointing Eric Lee as executive vice president of global sales.
"Eric is ideally poised to build our global product presence with over 25 years of high tech sales experience, including 13 years at IBM, eight years at SGI, leaving as vice president of sales and marketing operations and delivering 40 percent annual revenue growth, and two years at iPass, Inc., where he grew new accounts 40 percent quarter over quarter," commented You Mon Tsang.

About Biz360 Inc.
Biz360 empowers decision makers with essential information that allows them to act strategically and respond effectively to industry trends and competitive issues.  Its measurement application, Market360(R), continuously monitors and analyzes print, Internet, wire and broadcast media to provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of marketing communications programs.
Leading companies such as 3Com, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Hyperion, PacifiCare and Verisign use Market360's active market intelligence to improve their marketing performance by analyzing difficult-to- measure concepts such as brand perception, industry buzz, reputation and mindshare.  Biz360 is a privately held company located in San Mateo, CA and is funded by Foundation Capital, Granite Ventures and Adobe Ventures.  Biz360 can be reached at 866.424.9360 or http://www.biz360.com .

www.heraldsun.news.com.au By KAREN COLLIER and FLEUR ANDERSON 04mar03

DRIVERS hurting from soaring petrol prices have united to plead for fuel tax cuts.

Victoria's peak motoring group, the RACV, claims rocketing fuel costs could pump up to $750 million a year extra into Federal Government coffers.

Peak unleaded petrol prices have crashed through the $1 mark nationwide as higher crude oil costs triggered by war jitters and a strike in Venezuela flow through at the bowser.

RACV government relations spokesman David Cumming said constantly high fuel prices could grab up to $250 million extra a year in GST, and up to $500 million more from a resource rent tax levied on oil producers.

But Treasurer Peter Costello last night denied the Government would cash in on drivers' pain.

Mr Costello said petrol tax revenue remained in line with forecasts and that the Government may actually get less money from motorists' pockets.

The RACV said that in Victoria for every litre of petrol costing $1, the Government reaped 46.79c. This included excise at a fixed 37.7c and GST at 9.09c.

The motoring group plans to approach Prime Minister John Howard to cut excise by 10c a litre if petrol costs do not ease within a fortnight.

Business banking officer Paula Bouboukis, of Caroline Springs, joined the call for fuel tax relief to be considered.

Ms Bouboukis started catching a train to work a fortnight ago instead of driving because of higher petrol prices.

"Every extra dollar to fill up the car counts when you are a single parent and paying off a mortgage," she said.

But Mr Costello insisted the Government was not in line for a tax windfall.

"The Government has frozen excise -- this does not go up with CPI or inflation," he told the Herald Sun last night.

"The GST goes to the states. The Commonwealth does not get extra GST."

Mr Costello rejected Opposition figures predicting the Government would reap at least $600 million more from the GST and petroleum resource rent tax this financial year.

Mr Cumming said drivers were the victims of war jitters and warned continued high prices could not be tolerated.

"Country towns are already beginning to hurt from people having less left over in the budget each week," he said. "We are paying an unfair war premium for a conflict that may or may not happen.

"The Government cannot do anything about the rising crude oil price, but it can certainly do something about tax."

www.modbee.com

Here's a scenario guaranteed to send chills down your spine: Germany has decided the oil fields of Venezuela are too precious a world resource to allow the corrupt and evil government there to ruin, and the government is oppressing the people, and the economic instability of the regime there threatens to disturb the world oil market, which makes it a national security risk for Deutschland.

So it announces the German army is going to invade Venezuela next month and put things right, liberate the oppressed people of that small country, and install the German army general as "temporary" governor of the country to safeguard the natural resources and restore world order, as well as promote peace in the general South America-Central America region.

How would that idea play in the United States? About as well as President Bush's newly announced plan for Mideast peace is playing right now in the world: We invade Iraq, "free" the people by installing an American general as temporary ruler, and "protect" the Iraqi oil fields. Now that none of the other "arguments" our government is using seems to have hit the spot, Bush has decided his real goal in Iraq is to bring the two sides together in the Mideast.

Yes, war will really do that. And I want the German army in Venezuela.

DORRIE E. WHITLOCK Modesto

Posted on Modesto Bee: March 3, 2003 @ 04:50:08 AM PST

sg.biz.yahoo.com Monday March 3, 5:19 PM

With Turkey's parliament rejecting a proposal to admit U.S. troops into the country as part of a possible war with Iraq, and Iraq destroying some of its missiles, the possibility of a war in the near term has been reduced, traders said.

The Straits Times index added 5.35 points, or 0.4%, to 1279.20, off an intraday high of 1291.75.

Gainers outnumbered losers 129 to 82, while 356 stocks were unchanged or untraded. Volume fell to 228.6 million shares from 246 million shares Friday.

CapitaLand was among the big gainers as Singapore's biggest property developer by assets said it expects its overseas operations to contribute to over 50% of earnings this year, from 45% last year - with China underpinning that rise.

CapitaLand shares ended up 2.9%, or S$0.03, at S$1.06 (US$1=S$1.7372).

Neptune Orient Line shares gained 1.7%, or S$0.015, to S$0.905, after its U.S.-based oil transporting unit, American Eagle Tankers, said it has received a US$220-million contract to transport fuel from Venezuela to Asia.