www.ledger-enquirer.com Posted on Tue, Mar. 11, 2003 BY MICK WALSH Staff Writer

The first meeting of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation booster club was held Monday night at Miriam's Cafe and Gallery.

Perhaps the invitation-only dinner shouldn't be called a meeting, for there were no minutes taken, motions made or votes taken.

But boosterism was indeed the main entree as more than 100 politicians, police officers, firefighters, educators and business leaders came to hear the virtues of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation praised.

Nary an SOA Watch protester was in the vicinity.

"Very impressive" was the way Col. Javier Vanegas, an institute instructor in human rights, described the party. "It's good because it allows the integration of the important people of this community and the staff and faculty of our school."

And that's the way Miriam Tidwell and her husband, Dr. Jack Tidwell, wanted it.

When asked if the institute commandant Col. Richard Downie was simply preaching to the choir, Tidwell admitted most the guests were solid supporters of what was once known as the School of the Americas.

"But I invited people here tonight to let them know how committed the folks of the school are to Columbus," she said. "The school will be heavily involved in several community activities in the weeks ahead."

Downie, who says Miriam Tidwell has more energy than even Mayor Bob Poydasheff, says he's excited about the institute's involvement in such upcoming events as the Easter Weekend 5 and 10k races to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, the late April Tour de Georgia bicycle race and springtime visits by 70 Hardaway senior Spanish students.

"I think this community pretty well knows what we stand for, and in that respect the people here tonight are our friends," he said. "But several of the projects coming up, especially our involvement in Habitat and with the high school students will enable us to talk to people who may not know our mission.

"I'm very excited about having the Hardaway students come to our school and audit courses and to meet our students."

Downie added that the more high school students he can educate about the institute, the better the chance they'll spread the message of the school when they go off to college.

"Maybe then the kids who protest each year will at least have heard both sides of the story before they come down to Fort Benning," he said.

Colonel Vanegas, on loan here from Venezuela, likes the idea of a booster club, people from the community who rally behind his school.

"I think it is very important that as many people as possible learn our mission," he said. "If we tell these people, they will tell others and so on. It's a good thing."

Contact Mick Walsh at (706) 571-8588 or mwalsh@ledger-enquirer.com

www.freep.com March 11, 2003 JOCELYN PARKER DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Although crude-oil prices are expected to fall once the Iraqi crisis is over, low supplies of gasoline could keep prices high at the pump for at least the next few months, says the head of oil producer ConocoPhillips.

During a news briefing Monday in Detroit, chairman Archie Dunham said a cold winter across the nation has caused refiners to increase production of heating oil, and that has led to a significant decrease in gasoline production.

For consumers that translates into higher prices for gasoline as the nation enters the summer driving season. Compounding the problem: Refiners switch to a less-polluting grade of gasoline for the summer, which adds about 4 more cents per gallon, experts say.

"I expect the price of gas will stay at the current level or go higher for the next 60 to 90 days," Dunham said before delivering a speech before the Detroit Economic Club.

He declined to give a specific target for gas prices.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices could sink to $25 to $30 a barrel once the war situation is resolved, Dunham said. The possible conflict with Iraq and a strike that has crippled Venezuela's oil industry have pushed crude-oil prices near $40 a 42-gallon barrel, the highest they have been in more than two years.

Dunham says that price is unjustified because world supplies are plentiful. "There's no reason for oil prices to remain at $40 a barrel, given the excess capacity." He estimates the excess supply could range from 3.5 million to 5 million barrels a day.

Because crude oil can make up more than 50 percent of the price of a gallon of gasoline, drivers across the nation feel the pinch.

"It almost makes you want to park your vehicle and carpool," said Detroit resident Richard Perdue, as he filled his Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle at a Marathon station on East Jefferson in Detroit. "I hear gas will hit $2. And $2 and an SUV don't mix."

In Michigan, gas prices remain at their highest levels of the year. The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular stands at $1.76 a gallon, unchanged from last week and up 50.2 cents from a year ago, according to AAA Michigan's weekly survey of 300 service stations.

The average price in the Detroit area is $1.72 a gallon, up 1 cent from last week and up 47.4 cents from a year ago, AAA said.

Higher crude prices could also result in a potential windfall for large oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips. And some observers question whether that's fair to consumers paying hefty prices at the pump.

"When there's a substantial change in prices, there's more of an opportunity for gouging," says Joan Claybrook, president of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. "Prices are going to go up even more."

Claybrook says the gas price problem could be resolved if the nation tapped into its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is generally used during emergencies. The organization has also asked President George W. Bush to cap gas prices at $2 a gallon.

Other experts say the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will increase oil production, and that could ultimately lower gasoline prices.

Contact JOCELYN PARKER at 313-222-5391 or at parker@freepress.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

www.freep.com March 11, 2003

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will increase its oil production and possibly even suspend its current output quotas to keep the world supplied with ample supplies of crude in the event of a war with Iraq, said Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, OPEC president. OPEC members can pump an additional 3 million to 4 million barrels of oil a day, and they are prepared to exhaust this spare production capacity if a war seriously disrupts exports from the Persian Gulf. OPEC's secretary general and oil ministers from Iran, Algeria and Venezuela played down the possibility that the group might suspend its output ceiling.

www.gomemphis.com By Jane Roberts robertsj@gomemphis.com March 11, 2003

At Bob McVay's Amoco at Union and Cooper, customers grumble all day long about the price of gasoline, said Patricia Adair, cashier. They read the increases like tea leaves, looking for a sign that the war in Iraq is about to start.

"If it goes up again even higher, they say that's when the war will start," she said.

Nothing teaches her more about her customers' politics than rising gas prices.

She's learned a lot in three months because prices at the pump are up for the 13th time in 12 weeks, hitting a 21-month high of $1.712 per gallon on Monday.

In the Mid-South, the average price for regular self-serve is $1.69 a gallon. Premium grades are going for $1.86.

At McVay's Amoco, regular was $1.60 on Monday.

Gasoline has not been this expensive since mid-May 2001, when the national average was a tenth of a cent a gallon more, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

But then there was no threat of war.

Consumers finding themselves in this situation now likely haven't likely felt this uneasy since the days of rationing in the 1970s. Not only are inventories down due to a long winter in the Northeast, the price was up even before the cold and snow because of unrest in Venezuela, the world's fourth-largest exporter of crude oil.

U.S. crude oil inventories are at a 27-year low, and crude prices last week reached a 12-year high, which bodes continued price increases as the peak summer driving season approaches.

The Energy Department predicted U.S. retail prices will rise to a record average of $1.76 a gallon in April.

Archie Dunham, chairman of ConocoPhillips, which has the largest U.S. oil-refining business, said low gasoline supplies will keep pump prices high during the peak demand period.

"There will be a shortage of gasoline in the summer driving season," he said Monday.

Across the nation, the average price for regular gasoline is already up 48.9 cents from this time a year ago, a fact not lost on Charlie Yonkers, who drives as an independent contractor for Yellow Cab.

"I was paying about $20 a day for gas several months ago. Now, I'm paying about $30," he said.

Yonkers has no recourse but to work harder because fare limits are set by the city. He skips lunch and breaks some days to fill the gaps.

"If I stay busy and go as quickly as I can, that is going to take care of the gas situation," he says philosophically. "I've had to pick it up some."

There have been other hard times in his 11 years as a full-time cab driver, but this feels different. He's now routinely paying $1.53 to $1.61 for regular gasoline.

Hamilton Smythe IV, president of Premier Transportation, is eating a lot of fuel expense to keep from raising rates for his limousine and charter bus customers.

"The cost of fuel on average has gone up 25-30 percent, which is a significant factor. At this point, we are absorbing the increases, and it is tough," especially on airport runs from the hotels out east because they include a lot of deadhead mileage, he said.

If he has to raise prices, he'll start there.

"On our long-term contracts, I'm not comfortable going back now and raising the price. We gave them a price, and we're going to honor it. If someone new calls tomorrow, we may quote a higher price."

Smythe is also president of Checker Cab and Yellow Cab.

Domino's Pizza is still charging $1 for delivery, said Bekki Gentry, manager at the Union Avenue store. The drivers are the ones making up the difference because their pay per delivery has not increased.

Happy Shirt laundry has not increased its delivery fee yet, but it may.

"We're paying a lot more money than we wish to," said manager Zeke Wuchina.

The dry cleaner runs two daily routes from Midtown to Germantown, putting on more than 500 miles a week for the 35 percent of its business that is delivery.

The most uncertain variable is the pending war in the Middle East, said Lisa Wheeler, spokesman at Premcor refinery in Memphis.

Premcor supplies most of the gasoline stations in the city from its refinery here, which it bought this month from Williams Companies in Tulsa, Okla.

The price of gasoline typically goes up before the summer driving season, she said. This is early for the spike, suggesting more hikes ahead.

• Jane Roberts: 529-2512

www.bday.co.za

VIENNA - The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) ministers meet on Tuesday in Vienna after trying to soothe the nerves of febrile oil markets, which they said were adequately supplied despite the looming threat of war in Iraq.

The president of Opec, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah of Qatar, said late on Monday: "So far, for the time being we don't feel there is a shortage in the market."

He explained that after speaking with clients they also considered that enough oil was currently available. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi had earlier had also signalled the oil market was not lacking supply.

Asked when he arrived for an Opec meeting to be held on Tuesday if the market was adequately supplied, Al-Nuaimi said "very much so".

Opec ministers are expected to agree on Tuesday to maintain the cartel's overall output ceiling of 24.5 million barrels a day, rolling over a 6.5% increase introduced at the start of February to compensate for disruption to supplies from strike-hit Venezuela.

The Qatari minister said that Opec currently had additional capacity of "about three million" barrels a day.

Commerzbank analyst Jon Rigby said in London that sticking with the standing arrangement was the most likely outcome because "there isn't a great deal of new capacity to be introduced".

"The second thing is that the market is probably reasonably well supplied at the moment, simply because we are now moving towards the second quarter when demand typically falls for seasonal reasons," he said, referring to spring in the northern hemisphere.

However, despite Opec ministers' assurances the market is adequately supplied, oil prices climbed to a new two-and-a-half-year high in London on Monday before falling prey to profit-taking.

The price of a barrel of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for April delivery climbed to as high as $34.55, before easing back to $34.12 in late trading, up two cents from the previous close.

In New York, the reference light sweet crude April-dated futures contract dipped 16 cents to $37.62 a barrel in early deals.

Bin Hamad al-Attiyah said that the threat of war in Iraq was adding from $6 to $7 a barrel.