news.bbc.co.uk Wednesday, 5 March, 2003, 23:36 GMT

A bomb has ripped through a busy shopping centre in north-eastern Colombia, killing at least seven people and injuring more than 60.

Police are blaming left-wing rebels for the blast, which happened around 0940 local time (1440 GMT) in the city of Cucuta.

The bomb went off in the underground car park of one of the city's busiest shopping malls, igniting a huge fire that forced shoppers to flee in panic.

The blast brought terror to a city that has one of the highest murder rates in Colombia, itself one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

Rescue services, including some from just over the border in Venezuela, rushed to the scene as frightened passers-by looked on.

"We heard a very strong explosion and then flames burst out. Then there was a fire and some parts of the building caved in," said a man who escaped unharmed, quoted by Reuters news agency.

Security

Initially police believed they were dealing with a car bomb, but they later said it was an explosive device placed close to a parked car.

The governor of Norte de Santander province, Juan Santaella, said the blast was "a real tragedy" for the city, the French news agency AFP reported.

During the last few months there has been a wave of bomb attacks in Cucuta.

The city lies some 450 kilometres (280 miles) north of the capital, Bogota, close to the border with Venezuela.

Local police believe the blast is the work of guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN), although the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) also operate in the region.

Both groups are fighting right-wing paramilitaries for control of the drug crops which proliferate in the area.

Whoever was behind the bombing, the BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota says, it further undermines the security strategy of President Alvaro Uribe, who has pledged to crush the rebel insurgency.

www.publicopiniononline.com By JIM HOOK Senior writer Public Opinion/Markell DeLoatch

Winter persists: Garrett Stoner, 5, plays Tuesday in front of an igloo he helped his dad, Larry Stoner, build in front of their home on Knob Hill Road, Fayetteville. It may be pretty to gaze upon, and fun to play with, but record amounts of snow and months of cold temperatures have increased the local demand for energy.

The winter cold wasn't severe, but it was unrelenting.

The winter of 2002-03 is the 11th-coldest winter in Shippensburg in 70 years.

The cold may not have been a record-breaker, but it sure felt like it following one of the warmest winters on record. This season was nearly 10 degrees colder on average than the winter of 2001-02 in Chambersburg.

"This winter produced persistent cold throughout all three months unlike other winters where there may be one very cold month, then another average or warm month," said William Rense, professor of geography and earth science at Shippensburg University.

Climatologists define winter as the months of December, January and February. In Shippensburg, February was the 10th coldest on record, January the 18th and December the 22nd.

Larry Stoner Jr. is sending photos of the igloo he built at his home near Fayetteville to his uncle in Anchorage, Alaska.

"Here's what snow looks like," Stoner said. "They haven't had snow in a month."

He built the igloo, his first, in three hours on Sunday after starting a snow fort with his 5-year-old son, Garrett.

"I was using a shovel to cut the snow," Stoner said. "It chopped real nice into blocks. Garrett helped my stack the blocks and fill in the cracks."

Stoner has sidestepped skyrocketing heating oil prices this winter with a wood-burning stove. The rising price of gasoline has added insult to his daily commute to Baltimore this winter.

"I'm ready to stop having to drive in icy and snowy conditions," Stoner said. "I'm ready to see the grass."

"We have seen record demands for electricity this winter," said Allen Staggers, spokesman for Allegheny Power. "Historically, we were a winter peaking utility. (Then) we had been seeing heightened demand for electricity in summer. This winter we reversed the trend again, where winter is our highest demand for electricity."

Allegheny Power customers set the record on a windy Jan. 23 when temperatures in Chambersburg were between 6 and 18 degrees. The 1.4 million customers used 8,437 megawatts -- eclipsing the previous mark set on July 22, 2002, by nearly 2%.

"Rates haven't changed," Staggers said. "If people's bills are higher, it's because they used more electricity."

That's not the case with heating oil.

The national average price for home heating oil was $1.75 per gallon a week ago, nearly triple the price of 59 cents a gallon a year ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Propane also has risen from 38 cents a gallon to $1.50 a gallon.

The administration in November had forecast a peak price of about $1.40 per gallon for home heating oil in a cold winter. Fears about oil supplies in the Middle East and Venezuela have raised prices further, according to analysts.

Although Chambersburg Borough customers burned more gas in the cold winter, their cost per unit is down 13% compared to a year ago, according to John Leary, superintendent of the gas department.

The borough locked in a price on the commodity markets last summer -- long before prices soared, Leary said. Market prices have doubled.

Chambersburg residents used 40% more natural gas this winter than last winter and 21% more than in an average winter, according to Leary. January demand was up 46% from a year earlier.

The average temperature for the winter of 2002-03 in Chambersburg was 28.4 degrees, compared to a winter average of 30.4 degrees, according to Jerry Ashway, Chambersburg weather observer for AccuWeather. The coldest winter was 1977-78 with an average of 24 degrees. Records have been kept in Chambersburg since 1921.

The average temperature this winter in Shippensburg was 28.42 degrees, compared to a winter average of 31.4 degrees. Again, the coldest on record was the winter of 1977-78 with an average of 24.64 degrees. Shippensburg records begin in 1932.

This was the coldest winter since 1994-95, according to Rense. The winter of 1995-96 was only slightly warmer than this year.

Last month was the snowiest February on record in Shippensburg (38.2 inches) and Chambersburg (31.7 inches).

Originally published Wednesday, March 5, 2003

www.puertoricowow.com Wednesday, March 5th, 2003.  

SAN JUAN (AP) – The price of gas containers has increased by almost 50%. Importing companies have deemed the hike dramatic.

Humberto Berrios, president of Tropigas, said he paid 50 cents per gallon a year ago and now he pays 91 cents.

According to published reports, the hike in gasoline prices has been partly linked to the possible war against Iraq.

In addition, the harsh winter in the mainland U.S. has increased demand for this product. The crisis in Venezuela has also affected the fuel supply in the past two months.

Ninety percent of the imported gas in Puerto Rico comes from Venezuela. The halt in its production made it necessary to import gas from farther places like Argentina and Argelia, thus increasing its cost.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 03.05.03, 11:04 AM ET

        U.S. OIL STOCKS ESTIMATES
         (millions of barrels)
         --------- API ----------   --------- EIA ----------
         Stocks   Change   Change    Stocks   Change   Change
         2/28/2003    from     from  2/28/2003    from     from
         pvs wk   yr-ago             pvs wk   yr-ago

CRUDE 268.8 -2.5 -51.2 273.6 1.7 -53.0 DISTILLATE 100.4 -3.5 -34.6 96.5 -2.6 -33.8 GASOLINE 207.6 -2.3 -5.4 206.1 -2.0 -12.2 HEATING OIL 39.6 -1.0 -15.0 35.6 -0.5 -16.7 RFG GASOLINE 35.2 -3.0 -7.4 34.6 -2.0 -10.9 PRODUCT DEMAND 19.9 -0.2 +2.3 pct (4-week avg) UTILIZATION 87.6 -1.2 +1.7 87.8 -1.2 +0.9

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude stocks grew last week in the United States amid strong imports while gasoline and distillate inventories fell further, a government report showed.

Crude stocks rose 1.7 million barrels to 273.6 million barrels in the week ended Feb 28, but remained 53 million barrels below the level last year at this time, according to a weekly survey from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Crude imports rose 354,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 8.68 million bpd last week as shipments from Venezuela increased to close to pre-strike levels, the EIA said. Crude imports from Saudi Arabia also rose last week as increased production since the start of the year began to show up on U.S. shores.

Crude inventories in PADD 2, or the Midwest, increased slightly, but remained near the lowest level seen since the agency began collecting regional data.

April crude futures were up 11 cents at $37.00 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange shortly after the survey was released.

"The crude numbers were pretty close to expectations, more of a neutral report for crude but bullish for products," said Bill O'Grady, an analyst at A.G. Edwards.

He added that trade is likely to remain be driven by developments in the Middle East and on the perceived likelihood of a war in Iraq.

"I think you've seen the reaction to these numbers and there's not much left to talk about," O'Grady said. "It's all geopolitics now."

Distillate stocks fell 2.6 million barrels to 96.5 million barrels as demand shot up 18 percent compared to this time last year, the EIA said.

Comparing the latest weekly data to monthly data for previous years, total distillate fuel inventories at the end of February are at the lowest level for this time of year since 1963, the EIA said.

Gasoline stocks shrank by 2 million barrels to 206.1 million barrels despite a slight increase in production, the EIA said.

"Distillates were down a bit more than I thought, so that's a little bit bullish, and gasoline stocks look supportive with most of the decline in the reformulated stuff," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates.

"The bottom line is no major surprises, but nothing that will stop the upward trend," he added.

Average gasoline demand over the last four weeks is down 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year, while jet fuel demand is up 1.2 percent.

Total product supplied over the last four weeks averaged 19.9 million bpd, about 2.3 percent more than this time last year.

Refinery utilization was at 87.8 percent last week compared to 89 percent the previous week, the EIA said.

The American Petroleum Institute, which conducts its own less comprehensive survey, said Wednesday that crude stocks fell last week by 2.5 million barrels, while distillate inventories fell 3.5 million barrels, and gasoline stocks fell 2.3 million barrels.

www.sanmateocountytimes.com112711222135,00.html Article Last Updated: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 - 5:43:13 AM PST By Brian McClimans, BUSINESS WRITER

The average gas price in California has passed $2 a gallon, according to the separate findings by the California Energy Commission and the AAA of Northern California. Overnight on Monday, gas prices rose 2 to 3 cents per gallon in many areas, according to AAA. As of Tuesday the statewide average was $2.04 per gallon. The average price in Oakland was $2.09, up 2 cents since Monday. Last month it was $1.80 a gallon and last year $1.31 a gallon, AAA said.

Even discount stations, including those run by Safeway and Costco, are approaching $2.

"We had at least a glimmer of hope last week that prices were stabilizing," said Sean Comey, a AAA spokesman.

But in the past week prices have been going up 2 to 4 cents per day, Comey said.

"Normally, we see a six-week lag time ... between increase in crude price and the price at the gas pump," Comey said. "Recently, they've gone up almost hand in hand. It has a lot of people asking questions."

The California Energy Commission has been monitoring the prices, but there isn't much it can do, said spokesman Rob Schlichting.

"This is an unregulated commodity," he said. "We've been monitoring the situation carefully to see that there are no refinery problems and to see what sort of problems there are that are causing these increases."

The commission said most of the increases are due to the war fears in Iraq, continued supply problems in Venezuela and Nigeria, and a handful of refineries down for repair in California. Wholesale gas prices range from $1.28 to $1.40 per gallon.

"They're going to use every issue they can to justify supply and demand in the rise in the pricing," said Dennis DeCota, executive director of the California Service Station & Automotive Repair Association and owner of a 76-Circle K branded station in San Anselmo.

DeCota said the high prices are hurting his station and his reputation with longtime customers. Neighboring unbranded stations are selling for less and DeCota said he can't lower his prices without going broke.

The state is watching the situation.

"If there is evidence that the oil companies are colluding, than the (state) Attorney General's Office could step in," Schlichting said. "The government, in this kind of a free market, doesn't have a lot that they can do. They certainly can't set oil prices."

Schlichting said motorists just need to shop around for the best price, since the gas coming out of the pump is the same at all the stations.

Comey said the San Francisco-based auto club has been fielding complaints from many of its members fed up with the high gas prices.

"The wild card in this whole gas price scenario is the possibility of going to war with Iraq," with the wholesale oil markets reacting on the threat of something happening, Comey said.

Comey said there are things motorists can do to save money. Beyond the basics of running a fuel efficient vehicle, AAA said motorists need to shop around.

"We're encouraging the consumer to shop aggressively for the price of gas," he said. "You may see a gas station that's equally convenient to go to that offers a better price."

Brian McClimans can be reached at (925) 416-4807 and bmcclimans@angnewspapers.com .