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The
Outlook for the World Oil
Market
Middle East Economic Survey
[from
a paper delivered by BP
Group Chief Executive Lord
Browne]
"..I
think it is appropriate to
start with the immediate
events which are shaping
people's thinking about the
market, and raising new
concerns about the question
of energy security. The
price of Brent on the
international market has
fluctuated over the last 12
months from around $25/B a
year ago to over $45/B for a
period in the autumn to just
below $40/B today.
"To
understand the reasons for
those shifts, you have to
look back at the events of
the last five years. What's
changed and what are the
consequences of those
changes? Back at the end of
the 1990s, we all were
accustomed to an oil price
which averaged a reasonably
stable $18/B, with only very
occasional excursions into
the low $20s, and one brief
fall at the end of the 1990s
to $10. That was the picture
for a decade, from the end
of the first Gulf war
onwards."
[more]
 Municipal
Elections Timetable
Stage
One -- Riyadh Region
-
Registering
of voters -- Nov. 23-Dec.
22, 2004
- Issuing of the voters'
tables -- Dec. 25, 2004
- Registration
of nominees -- Dec. 26-30,
2004
- Announcement
of first nominees' list --
Jan. 2, 2005.
- Final
list of nominees -- Jan. 29,
2005.
- Election
campaigns -- Jan. 29-Feb. 9,
2005
- Voting
-- Feb. 10, 2005
[more]
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In
the News
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Kingdom
Announces $10m in
Aid
"Saudi Arabia
said it was
sending $10
million worth of
assistance to the
countries
devastated by the
tsunami
catastrophe in
South Asia.."
[more]
Al
Qaeda Shifts Its
Strategy in Saudi
Arabia
Al Qaeda forces in
Saudi Arabia have
shifted their
strategy and are
now almost
exclusively
searching for U.S.
and other Western
targets in the
kingdom while
avoiding attacks
on domestic
institutions in a
bid to strengthen
their flagging
network, according
to security
officials and
Saudi experts on
radical groups.
[more]
Three
Terrorists Gunned
Down in Riyadh
"Three
suspected
terrorists were
killed and another
was injured in a
gunbattle with
security forces in
the capital last
night [Dec. 28],
security sources
told Arab News.
The encounter took
place near Al-Salam
Park, close to the
Higher Court in
Riyadh's Al-Deera
district.."
[more]
Saudi
police capture 2
militants in
Jeddah shootout
"Saudi
security forces
captured two
wanted militants
after a gun battle
in the Red Sea
city of Jeddah,
security sources
said on
Wednesday.."
[more]
Saudi
confident of
dissident's
extradition-official
A Saudi diplomat
said on Monday he
was
"confident"
Britain would hand
over a
London-based Saudi
dissident accused
of links to al
Qaeda.
"We are
confident that (Saad)
al-Fagih will
eventually be
extradited to
Saudi
Arabia,"
Jamal Khashoggi,
media adviser at
the Saudi embassy
in London, told
Reuters.
"There is
enough evidence to
tie him down to al
Qaeda attacks in
the kingdom."
[more]
Saudi
Oil Reserves Could
Increase by 77%
Saudi Arabia's
oil reserves, the
world's largest,
could increase by
almost 77 percent
to top 461 billion
barrels in a few
years, the
nation's oil
minister said
Sunday.
"There are
big chances to
increase the
kingdom's
produceable oil
reserves by 200
billion
barrels," Ali
Naimi said in a
statement issued
after he
inaugurated new
oil fields in
eastern Saudi
Arabia. "This
will come either
through new
discoveries or
through increasing
production from
known
deposits."
[more]
Bahrain,
Saudi rulers meet
after trade row
overshadows summit
"Bahrain's
king His Highness
Hamad held talks
with Saudi Crown
Prince Abdullah
bin Abdulaziz
yesterday [Dec.
27] after he
stayed away from a
Gulf summit in
Manama in protest
at its free trade
deal with
Washington.."
[more]
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Al
Qaeda Shifts Its Strategy in
Saudi Arabia
Writing
Congress: A Concerned Citizen Speaks
Out