cbs.marketwatch.com By Myra P. Saefong, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 3:10 PM ET March 10, 2003

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Crude futures closed lower Monday with traders mulling the prospect of U.N. approval to give Iraq just one more week to disarm and OPEC members poised to discuss possible changes to its oil production limits.   CBS MARKETWATCH TOP NEWS Techs slap Nasdaq on anniversary of peak Analysts: Bristol's inventory woes not the norm Stocks painted red on anniversary of Nasdaq high Still sinking after all these years Free! Sign up here to receive our Weekly Roundup e-Newsletter!

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On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April crude fell 51 cents to close at $37.27 a barrel after trading between a high of $37.77 and a low of $37.05. Brent for May delivery closed at $32.92, down 22 cents on London's International Petroleum Exchange.

Meanwhile, gold for April delivery closed at $354.80, up $3.90. See Metals Stocks.

The U.S. and Britain are pushing for a U.N. vote on a second resolution that provides a March 17 deadline for Iraq to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction. A vote could come as early as Tuesday, news agencies reported. See Special Report: Countdown to War.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said there was still a "strong chance" of getting up to 10 votes in favor of a second resolution on Iraq, even though France, Russia and China are expected to vote against the document.

"The U.S. position is no longer about avoiding a veto, but of demonstrating that if a veto is used, a majority of the Security Council members support military action," Michael Fitzpatrick, an analyst at Fimat USA, said in a note Monday.

And OPEC members are gathering in Vienna to discuss oil prices and production quotas. They'll attempt to balance a possible shortage of oil in the event of war with a possible glut in supplies as demand declines, as usual, in the second quarter. OPEC, excluding Iraq, has an official production quota of 24.5 million barrels per day. See OPEC preview story.

"War will certainly create a shortfall, especially if northern Kuwait and Iraq go offline for a period of ten days or longer," said John Person, head financial analyst at Infinity Brokerage Services.

The world wants to know how OPEC members will "adjust to increasing supplies to offset any potential supply disruptions," Person said.

Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, oil minister for OPEC member Iran, said Monday that Iran opposes a suspension of production quotas in the event of war. "Iran will not back politically motivated decisions," news agencies quoted him as saying.

Heating oil, natural gas close lower

Also on Nymex, natural-gas and heating-oil futures closed with a loss on the session, following hefty gains Friday.

Forecasts call for above-normal temperatures in much of the U.S. over the next few days.

April heating oil fell back by 2.28 cents to close at $1.0857 a gallon, while April natural gas declined 47.8 cents to $6.515 per million British thermal units.

"It remains highly likely that the U.S. and U.K. are going to war this month against Iraq and that event will be hard on fuel prices," said Todd Hultman, president of commodity information and research provider, Dailyfutures.com.

Even if the U.S. releases oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the release won't help provide much-needed supplies of heating oil or unleaded gasoline in the short term, he said.

Gasoline futures prices eased back from Friday's gain of nearly 5 percent. April unleaded gasoline fell 2.81 cents to close at $1.1286 a gallon on Nymex.

At the retail level, gasoline prices averaged $1.69 a gallon, up from $1.684 on Friday and a stone's throw away from the all-time high of $1.718 seen in May 2001, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

In the equities arena on Monday, oil-services companies traded mostly lower, as the Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX: news, chart, profile) chalked up a loss of more than 1 percent. See Energy Stocks.

And the Reuters/CRB Index, a broad-based measure of the commodity futures market, closed at 246, down 0.5 percent amid weakness in energy futures. Myra P. Saefong is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco.

www.sun-sentinel.com By Doreen Hemlock Business Writer Posted March 10 2003

Back in Argentina, business owner Eduardo Citcioglu operated without a credit card.

Like most Argentines, he bought and sold goods for cash or with checks, some postdated for deposit later. Few wanted credit cards anyway, since banks tended to offer them only to people with hefty collateral. And with Argentina's history of high inflation, interest rates were sky-high, often more than 30 percent a year.

So, it's understandable that when Citcioglu started exploring opportunities in South Florida five years ago, he failed to take a friend's advice and immediately establish credit. He focused on other pressing tasks: scoping out businesses and opting in 2001 to buy a dry cleaner/laundry in Davie, One Low Price Cleaners on South University Drive.

But Citcioglu is paying a price. When he bought his business, he paid a big cash down payment and financed the rest through the sellers -- at interest rates higher than at most banks. And while he now has a credit card, he had too low a borrowing limit and too little credit history to qualify for loans for a car. He recently had to ask a friend to co-sign for a car loan.

"I should have listened, but there was so much new to learn at once. Now, I understand that credit here depends on your payment record, not on your assets," said Citcioglu, 39. "When you come to the United States, it's like being reborn. You have to learn all over again."

Such woes are increasingly commonplace across South Florida. U.S. census data show that Greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale has the highest concentration of foreign-born residents of any major metropolitan area in the United States. And the immigrants tend to be wealthier and better educated than those in other areas, likely increasing the chances they'll start their own businesses.

Many missteps are predictable, however, as immigrants try to do business as they did back in their homelands.

For South Americans long used to high interest rates, mastering credit is but one common headache. Many also stumble by over-hiring, accustomed to far lower costs for labor. And too often, they act with little market research, coming from nations where business information tends to be tougher to get and more expensive than market data widely available in the United States, business consultants say.

"There's a joke going around, `How do you go back to Latin America with $1 million? Come up with $2 million and lose the first,'" said accountant María Antonieta Díaz of GBS Group in Weston, which specializes in immigrant businesses.

"I keep telling people, `This is a new beginning,'" she said. "It takes time and money to adapt. Folks have to be careful with every dollar."

Cutting the fat

Industrial engineer Carolina Rojas learned the hard way that Florida is more than just miles from Colombia, where her family makes beauty-treatment machines used in spas and gyms that lift and massage the skin and aim to reduce the appearance of cellulite.

Problems began for the family's Dermocell Inc. when an acquaintance from Colombia casually suggested he might help market the machines in the United States. But it turned out the equipment needed approval first from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- a process that took a year.

Unfamiliar with U.S. taxes, credit, labor laws and other business practices, the family then entrusted its U.S. start-up to a group of Colombians in Florida more experienced in U.S. business.

But that group ended up spending more on salaries and other start-up costs than the family liked. So the Dermocell group from Colombia ended that union and opted to operate the U.S. business directly.

"Our sin was confiding too much in other Colombians, because we were wary of a new system," said Rojas, 27, who splits her time between Miami and Bogota as her brother remains full-time in South Florida. "But now, we're getting advice, doing research, and getting training, so we can adapt to the U.S. market ourselves."

Helping out the Rojas family is a nonprofit group: the Americas Community Center in Weston and Miami, which helps immigrants, mainly Latin Americans, adapt in South Florida. The group has found that lots of newcomers, like the Rojases, stumble over government licenses and approvals, coming from nations where regulation and enforcement of rules tend to be less strict.

"Many times, folks successful in their home countries figure they know what to do -- until they face fines for not having the right paperwork or their business just doesn't take off," warned Colombian-born Fabio Andrade, the center's president.

Tour troubles

Venezuelan banker Alberto Sánchez-Banard learned a lesson in liability, customer protection and competition when he moved to South Florida in 1996 and decided to try his hand at the travel business.

Sanchez set up Fort Lauderdale-based Amazing Tours International to help his family market a small hotel they own on Venezuela's plains. He figured: "Venezuela's exotic. People will come."

But his South American homeland turned out to be a relatively expensive destination, with tourism networks little developed and sometimes unreliable. U.S. customers insisted on quick refunds if a taxi failed to show up or other things went wrong. Yet recouping cash from Venezuelan suppliers in the wrong proved a colossal frustration -- with customer protections far weaker in his homeland.

"When you're in Caracas, you have no idea how tough it will be," the 48-year-old banker said.

Sanchez eventually left the travel business and took a job as chief financial officer for a Latin music dot-com. But when the Internet bubble burst, he returned to his finance roots. He now owns a Fort Lauderdale mortgage brokerage, York & Goldman Mortgage Corp., and also works with several big financial groups, offering financial services largely to Latin American immigrants.

"You think it's all the American dream," Sanchez warned. "But it's not easy. If you have an accident or unforeseen problems, if you don't have insurance and lawyers, if you don't have money, it can be the American nightmare."

A helping hand

Indeed, so many immigrants have stumbled in starting businesses in Florida that there's a cottage industry developing to help the tens of thousands of Latin American newcomers.

Set to have its debut this summer, for example, is a Spanish-language guide to doing business in Florida, prepared by the staff at AmericáEconomía, the veteran Chile-based business magazine with South Florida offices. The book will cover such varied topics as visas, networking and market research, said Miami-based senior correspondent Carlos Molina, a Peruvian who also has lived and worked in Europe.

"Our goal," said Molina, "is to help Latin American immigrants navigate between two cultures."

Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.

www.zwire.com Angela Carter, Register Staff March 10, 2003

WEST HAVEN — Susan Minniti takes her lunch to work this winter instead of eating out. Shopping trips are less frequent and she sometimes avoids the most convenient gas stations. "I go to the cheapest one there is," Minniti said Sunday, as she sat in her Richmond Avenue home with U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, and Patricia Wrice, executive director of Operation Fuel. Minniti and her husband, Tony Minniti, were describing to both lawmakers the sacrifices they are making because of a stinging spike in their oil bill. Tony Minniti showed them a December 2002 bill for $242 to fill his tank. Two days ago, he paid $335. "This winter’s been abnormally cold and very long," he said. "The price is up 60 to 70 percent over what we’ve paid in the past." Lieberman and DeLauro blasted President Bush and Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham for not releasing oil from the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve to alleviate price increases and supply shortages. "The supplies are demonstrably down by 50 percent in the Northeast," Lieberman said. "There’s nothing more (the Minnitis) can do to make their situation better, except keep their home colder than it should be." The reserve consists of about 2 million barrels of home heating oil and is intended for release during a crisis. DeLauro said New Haven harbor is a storage site for approximately 850,000 gallons. She and Lieberman in 2000 spearheaded legislation creating the reserve. "There was foresight to put something like this in place," DeLauro said. "This is a crisis in cost, and it is a very cold winter." When the Minnitis asked what was driving increases in gasoline and home heating oil prices, Lieberman pointed to an industry strike, now in its third month in Venezuela, and trepidation over a possible U.S.-led attack on Iraq. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Venezuela is the fifth-largest oil exporter in the world and the fourth-largest supplier to the United States. Iraq produces about 1.5 million barrels per day and approximately one-third reaches America, Lieberman said in a Feb. 24 letter urging Abraham to tap the Northeast supply. "This bothers me more now — knowing this reserve is there," Tony Minniti said. As for gasoline prices, Lieberman said the per-gallon average in Connecticut is $1.75, up from $1.20 per gallon at this time last year. He also said use of national petroleum reserves could buffer drivers against "gouging." Wrice said Operation Fuel was set up to help middle-class families like the Minnitis, who earn too much to qualify for home heating assistance through the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and therefore "fall through the cracks." She said homeowners are losing their houses because they can not afford to heat them. Lieberman said he does not think it is too late in the season to tap the reserve. White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said Bush has increased funding for heating assistance to low-income families and for weatherization programs. He referred questions on the petroleum and home heating reserves to an energy department spokesperson who could not be reached for comment. Susan Minniti said she hopes people will contact their legislators and the administration and push for relief. Angela Carter can be reached at 789-5614 or acarter@nhregister.com.

www.gettysburgtimes.com By JOHN MESSEDER - Times Staff Writer

Political turmoil in Venezuela and possible war with Iraq already are having an effect on local road work that will not start for months. Franklin Township Supervisor Chairman Craig Hartley said the planned major projects will be done, but smaller, maintenance projects may be adjusted if oil prices do not come back down.

“If oil is available for road work, we are probably going to see an increase of 25 to 30 cents a gallon,” Hartley said. “that is a lot.”

Hartley, who also is the township’s road master, made the comment at the February supervisors meeting. At the March meeting, the supervisors published their bid requests in a market that is forecasting costs as high as 40 cents a gallon over last year.

The township’s 2003 road budget contains an estimated increase of five cents a gallon over 2002, but he will have to “re-figure once we get the bids,” Hartley said.

Timothy Montague, of York and Reading-based Koch Pavement Solutions, also is secretary/treasurer of the state Association of Asphalt Material Applicators. In a telephone interview Friday afternoon, he noted the increased asphalt prices are “solely an issue of supply.”

Montague explained the type of oil used in asphalt comes largely from Venezuela. At least 60 percent — some estimates are as high as 80 percent — of asphalt used on the United States’ east coast comes from that country.

Middle East oil is lighter, better suited for making gasoline and other fuels.

Political turmoil in Venezuela involving the military and the current government resulted in refinery workers not being paid, so they walked off the job. Montague said many of them went back to work about two weeks ago, but when they left, they simply shut down the plants.

“It’ll take them a year to get (repairs) completely done,” he said, adding the companies also are having “difficulty getting oil in from the fields to the refineries.”

Competition for available asphalt is stiff.

Venezuelan oil is used in materials for asphalt roofs, including tar roofs, asphalt shingles, and impregnated felt, and that season already is in full swing, with construction suppliers “scrambling to get other sources,” Montague said.

Also, the paving season is starting in southern parts of the United States.

“It could be like the oil embargo in 1973,

www.reviewjournal.com Monday, March 10, 2003 Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: Grandstanding on fuel prices

As sure as winter is followed by spring, you can bet some California politician will raise a ruckus about rising gasoline prices and call for something to be done. This year's bleatings originate from Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who wants the General Accounting Office to investigate whether oil companies are taking more gasoline refineries "than usual" out of commission for maintenance ... all with the intent of cutting supplies, thus boosting prices and profits.

"I am extremely concerned about the rising gasoline prices ... particularly with regard to the possible manipulation of supply due to idle refineries," she said.

Rather than calling for another formal investigation of the oil industry -- the 29th since 1979 -- the grandstanding Sen. Boxer would better serve her constituents and the rest of the nation if she dusted off her Economics 101 textbook and reviewed the sections on supply and demand. She'd find that price increases are predictable, for several reasons.

For one, the price of crude oil is at a two-year high, not only because of jitters about the likely war with Iraq, but also due to uncertainties about the availability of oil from Venezuela and its crazed socialist dictator Hugo Chavez.

Another is the pending change in gasoline formulas which takes place each spring in California and other areas that require specialized fuels to reduce pollution during the winter months. As April approaches, and refineries prepare to make the switch to spring and summer gasoline formulas, supplies often run low, causing a boost in prices. California faces an additional problem this year, as it's phasing out the additive MTBE and switching to ethanol, again cutting into production.

Sen. Boxer also might want to review recent history. The Cato Institute's Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren note that every one of the 28 previous federal, state and local investigations of alleged price-gouging by gasoline manufacturers has "ended in the complete exoneration of the industry." And when adjusted for inflation, gasoline prices are still roughly 50 cents per gallon cheaper now than they were when they peaked during the Iranian hostage crisis.

All of which suggests that Sen. Boxer's crusade is little more than a publicity stunt, designed to grab headlines and foment populist outrage, all the while squandering taxpayer dollars on a frivolous government investigation.