<a href=www.upi.com>Asociated Press

Indumar Seafood Corp. of Weston, Fla., recalled 16-ounce plastic containers of Caribe fresh crab claw meat imported from Venezuela because it may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The recalled product was available for purchase between March 18 and April 10, and distributed to retail outlets in Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York.

The crab meat is packed in clear plastic containers with blue printing. They have no code numbers or expiration dates.

The company said it had received no reports of illness.

The problem was discovered through routine sampling by the Food and Drug Administration.

Consumers are advised to return the product to place of purchase for a full refund.

Stuff 11 April 2003

LONDON: Oil prices dropped yesterday as the rapid fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad kept pressure on prices in what traders called a bearish market.

Also weighing on markets was a report from the West's energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, saying a "wall of crude" is poised to reach importing countries in the second quarter, the weakest period for demand.

Scenes in central Baghdad of thousands of jubilant civilians defacing pictures and toppling statues of Saddam, coupled with streets filled with US tanks and devoid of Iraqi police beamed around the world on Wednesday, fuelled the belief that Saddam's rule had ended in the capital.

"Iraq is still the main news in the markets," said Christopher Bellew of brokers Prudential-Bache International.

US light crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 59 cents to $28.26. London Brent blend was down 47 cents to $24.78 in thin electronic trade.

In Iraq, US forces continued to attack forces loyal to Saddam, having taken central Baghdad with little resistance.

The BBC reported that US-based Kurdish forces had taken the key northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk without a fight on Thursday. A spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Party told Reuters they were still making checks on the situation.

Oil markets appear to have accepted a US victory in the battle to unseat Saddam, with the focus now shifting to how quickly Opec will move to restrain production.

Continued speculation that Opec will cut production quotas or simply reduce excess supply at a proposed emergency meeting kept prices supported, although a potential delay to the proposed April 24 date has limited its impact.

Opec President Abdullah al-Attiyah said several other dates were under consideration - April 28, May 3 and May 7.

Cartel linchpin Saudi Arabia has also told its global and Asian oil customers that it will continue to supply full contractual volumes next month, indicating any cut-back in production over quotas may have to wait until June.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Wednesday that Riyadh was not considering cutting supplies for May ahead of the proposed Opec meeting.

Opec SIZES UP MARKET

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries had increased output this year to counter supply disruptions from Venezuela, Nigeria and Iraq - but now attention has shifted to a potential oil glut developing during the weak second quarter.

Opec-member Iran's oil minister said on state television world oil markets were over-supplied, but the head of the IEA said industial stockpiles needed to rebuilt.

The agency said in its monthly report that despite an apparent "wall of crude" heading toward importers' shores, a cut in Opec production now appeared "premature."

Opec at the proposed emergency meeting is expected at least to erase excess supplies of some two million barrels a day now being pumped above formal output limits of 24.5 million bpd.

Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said on Wednesday Opec would be able to achieve market balance just by complying with official limits without cutting quotas.

Leading Opec producer Saudi Arabia pushed output 1.5 million barrels a day above its official quota to help cushion the impact of the loss of Baghdad's 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of exports during the US invasion of Iraq.

US Vice President heightened expectations of a return of Iraqi oil to world markets, saying on Wednesday he expected Iraqi exports could reach as much as three million bpd by the end of the year. The Gulf State was producing about two million bpd last year, according to the US Energy Department.

April 10, 2003, 2:14PM Reuters News Service

PARIS -- The head of the West's Energy watchdog said today that OPEC had shown through its sharp increase in oil output to cover for Iraq that the once-feared cartel is no longer a threat to rich nations.

Claude Mandil, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told Reuters that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had demonstrated they share goals with oil importers such as the United States.

"The past months have proved that OPEC and consumers can share a lot of common goals," Mandil said in an interview.

"I don't feel OPEC is a threat. Thirty years ago it was considered so because oil was used as a weapon," he added.

Cartel leader Saudi Arabia, Iran and other OPEC members have lifted oil supplies sharply to cover for the shortfall from Iraq, and other export hitches in Venezuela and Nigeria, helping to cool a spike in prices.

OPEC's reference oil price has slumped from above $33 per barrel last month to below OPEC's target level of $25 this week.

The Paris-based agency was set up in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, when Arab oil powers placed an embargo on the West. It oversees huge emergency stockpiles to be used in the case of another major supply disruption.

But cooperation between the two bodies has grown to such an extent that the IEA held back from releasing stocks when Iraqi exports stopped last month, trusting in OPEC's ability to maintain ample supplies.

OPEC ministers are now discussing a cut in supplies to stop prices falling further.

Mandil said OPEC and oil importers still disagreed over price, and said OPEC's $25 per barrel target was so high as to damage world economic growth. It also constituted a disincentive for companies to hold sufficient inventory levels, he said.

"Price is not a shared goal. I say this price is too high," Mandil said, declining to specify his ideal price.

"We believe the price should be the result of market forces, not market management," he said.

<a href=www.newsday.com>By Associated Press April 10, 2003, 1:53 PM EDT

LONDON -- OPEC should think twice about cutting production to boost sagging oil prices because supplies remain short and the immediate outlook remains cloudy, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.

But OPEC's president, Abdullah Hamad bin al-Attiyah of Qatar, said Thursday in Paris that the world's oil markets are glutted, and the resumption of Iraqi oil production could make that worse.

Officials at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Monday that oil ministers planned to meet April 24 in Vienna, Austria, whether or not the war in Iraq has ended.

Most OPEC members have been producing at maximum capacity to keep supplies plentiful during the war. However, oil ministers fear that OPEC might be oversupplying the market just as demand starts falling to its seasonal low.

The Paris-based IEA, which represents the world's wealthiest countries, said stocks were low in member nations, and there were doubts about the export situations in Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela. "Significant production curbs ... may impact upon the industry's ability to rebuild stocks," the report said.

Al-Attiyah said the current crude oil excess totals more than 2 million barrels a day.

The IEA said OPEC may find that managing falling oil prices will be as tricky as controlling recent high prices.

On London's International Petroleum Exchange, North Sea Brent futures for May delivery fell 50 cents to $24.75 a barrel in late trading. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for May delivery fell 75 cents to $28.10 a barrel in afternoon trading.

With oil prices over $25 a barrel, the incentive for some OPEC members to cut output may fade, the IEA said.

Saudi Arabia pumped an extra 450,000 barrels per day in March compared to February, raising daily output to 9.32 million barrels, the IEA said. The Saudis have reportedly turned down requests for extra volumes of oil from customers, and there were unconfirmed signals that "the recent sharp ramp-up in production may be drawing to a close," the IEA said.

The report said supplies are uncertain because of unrest in Nigeria's main oil-producing region, which has cut the country's output by 40 percent. However, production is increasing in Venezuela following civil disturbances there.

The IEA cut its forecast for average demand in the second quarter, which it now sees at 76.38 million barrels per day, down 2 million barrels daily in the first quarter.

Friday 11.04.2003, CET 06:20 <a href=www.swissinfo.org>swissinfo March 24, 2003 1:55 PM

Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, has said it will transfer frozen Iraqi-held deposits in the United States to US authorities.   UBS said the funds, blocked in 1990 under United Nations sanctions, had been confiscated by the US Treasury and would be transferred to the US government soon.

Swiss neutrality comes under the spotlight   The confiscation is part of an order last week from the Treasury Department to 17 banks in the US.

The total money involved, said to be about $1.74 billion (SFr2.41 billion) without interest, comes from transactions between US oil firms and the Iraqi state oil company, the UBS spokesman added.

He declined to reveal how much cash was involved in UBS’s case but confirmed it was likely to be in the millions of dollars.   Reconstruction   The US has pledged to use most of the money for a fund earmarked for rebuilding and providing humanitarian aid to the Iraqi population.

The Swiss foreign ministry on Friday reported that Washington had asked Switzerland to freeze any bank accounts held by Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein and his associates.

There has been no official reply, but the Swiss finance minister said earlier this month that there were no signs that Saddam Hussein had accounts in the country.

“That statement is still valid. We have no indications that he had money in Switzerland,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Livio Zanolari.

“But you can never rule anything out,” he added.