Pfizer seeks to quash Nigerian drug test report

(Reuters) - Pfizer has asked a Nigerian court to disregard an experts' report into drug tests it conducted on Nigerian children in 1996 and which are now the subject of four court cases, the company said on Friday.

The Nigerian federal government and the northern state of Kano are suing Pfizer for a total of about $8.5 billion in damages and also pressing criminal charges over what they say was unethical testing of Trovan, an antibiotic drug.


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Crude Oil Rises on Report Gunmen Attack Boats Near Nigerian Oil Terminal

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose after a reported that
Nigerian gunmen attacked two boats near an offshore terminal in
the Niger delta.

At least three men were killed during the attack, the
British Broadcasting Corp. reported, citing unidentified
security officials. Since last year, about a quarter of oil
output in Nigeria, Africa's largest producer, has been halted by
militant attacks.


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Qatar Was OPEC's Wealthiest Per-Capita Exporter Last Year; Nigeria Poorest

(Bloomberg) -- Qatar earned $28,576 per citizen last
year from oil and gas exports, while Nigeria, Africa's most
populous nation, made $391, annual OPEC data shows.

The range reflects large differences in populations among
members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Nigeria's petroleum-export revenue of $52.5 billion was twice that
of the tiny Persian Gulf emirate.


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UPDATE 3-Nigeria president forms gov't, keeps oil portfolio

(Reuters) - ABUJA, July 26 - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua
named his first cabinet on Thursday, keeping the vital energy
portfolio under his direct control and appointing an experienced
banker to the finance ministry.




The new cabinet ends two months of uncertainty since
Yar'Adua took the helm of Africa's top oil producer on May 29,
after elections deemed "not credible" by international observers
because of widespread vote-rigging.


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Nigeria files criminal charges against Pfizer

(Reuters) - The Nigerian federal government has filed criminal charges against U.S. drugmaker Pfizer over a 1996 drug trial in the northern state of Kano in which 11 children died, a government lawyer said on Wednesday.

The federal government was already seeking $6.5 billion in a separate civil case. The government of Kano state is also seeking $2 billion in damages from Pfizer and has filed separate criminal charges too.


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Nigerian interbank rates ease on cash release

(Reuters) - Nigerian interbank interest rates dropped to 7.0 percent on average at the short-end of the money market due to public sector cash inflows, ending four weeks of liquidity crunch in the market, dealers said on Friday.

The three benchmark rates -- secured Open Buy Back (OBB), call money and overnight placement -- fell to 7.0 percent each, compared with 10.5 percent for OBB and 12 percent for overnight and call last week.


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Nigeria Will Press New Drugs Trial Claim Against Pfizer, State Lawyer Says

(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria withdrew its lawsuit against
Pfizer Inc. today over alleged deaths during drug trials so that
it can prepare a new claim, the state's lawyer, Babatunde
Irukera, said.

``The judge wouldn't allow us to amend our claim to include
more damaging information we discovered, so we're withdrawing it
and submitting a new one,'' Irukera said today in a telephone
interview from Abuja, Nigeria's capital. ``This case is still
on.''


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Niger hopes for oil riches under northern desert

(Reuters) - Niger plans to award oil exploration permits by the end of next month for a vast block under the Sahara desert it hopes will turn it into Africa's newest crude producer.

The landlocked former French colony is one of the poorest states on earth but is sandwiched between oil producers Nigeria to the south and Libya and Algeria to the north. This has raised expectations among its population for a future oil bonanza.


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Nigerian interbank rates dip despite cash recall

(Reuters) - Nigerian interbank interest rates was unchanged to lower at the short-end of the market this week previously despite a big withdrawal by the state oil firm NNPC, traders said on Friday.

The secured Open Buy Back (OBB) rate was unchanged at 10.5 percent, while call money and overnight placement both dropped to 12 percent from 13.5 percent last week.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Crude Oil Trades Near 10-Month High on U.S. Gasoline Demand, Nigeria Risk

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil was little changed in New
York near a 10-month high on concern gasoline supplies in the U.S.
may be insufficient during the peak summer demand period and
unrest in Nigeria may disrupt shipments.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles are 3.5 percent below their five-
year average, the Energy Department said July 5, raising concern
that inventories aren't enough to counter potential shocks such
as the approaching hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico.
Militants in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, released a
3-year-old British girl, the U.K. Foreign Office said yesterday.


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Sugar Rises as Crude Oil Rally May Boost Demand for Brazil's Cane Ethanol

(Bloomberg) -- Sugar in New York rose to the highest
in more than a week on speculation that rising crude oil prices
will increase demand for ethanol, the gasoline substitute made
from sugar cane.

Crude oil reached a 10-month high of $72.94 a barrel today
on speculation unrest in Nigeria, the biggest African producer,
may disrupt supplies. Mills in Brazil, the world's largest sugar
producer, are using more than half the country's cane crop to
make fuel instead of sweetener.


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Oil Rises to 10-Month High on Nigerian Supply Concern, U.S. Fuel Shortfall

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a 10-month high, on
concern that unrest in Nigeria may curb oil shipments and
unexpected shutdowns at U.S. refineries will cut fuel production.

Nigerian gunmen kidnapped a three-year-old daughter of a
British expatriate on her way to school in the southern oil city
of Port Harcourt, a police spokesman said. Five contractors were
seized yesterday from a rig operated by Royal Dutch Shell Plc's
Nigerian venture. Futures pared gains after the Energy Department
reported that U.S. oil and fuel supplies rose last week.


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Oil Trades Near 10-Month High on U.S. Gasoline Concern, Nigeria Rig Attack

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil traded near a 10-month high
in New York on concern renewed violence in Nigeria and refinery
breakdowns may restrict U.S. fuel supplies.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said five expatriate contractors were
abducted from a rig in Nigeria, where militant groups this week
ended a one-month truce with the government. A U.S. government
report today will probably show the nation's gasoline stockpiles
remained below average as rising demand and plant faults hamper
refiners' efforts to store fuel.


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Crude Oil Trades Near 10-Month High After Attack on Shell Rig in Nigeria

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil traded near a 10-month high
in New York after Royal Dutch Shell Plc said militants attacked
its rig in Nigeria, raising concern about further oil supply
disruption from Africa's largest producer.

Five expatriate contractors working for Lonestar Drilling
Nigeria Ltd. were taken hostage, said Precious Okolobo, a
spokesman for Shell's Nigerian venture. The attack occurred
early this morning in the Soku field, where the rig was drilling
a well. No production was affected, he said.


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IEA Expects Oil Prices to Remain Near $70 a Barrel, Economist Birol Says

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil prices will probably remain
near $70 a barrel during the next year because of political
tensions in Nigeria, Iran and Iraq, the chief economist of the
International Energy Agency said.

``I would be surprised if prices go down significantly,'' the
IEA's Fatih Birol said in an interview today at an energy
conference in Istanbul. ``We are going through difficult times.''


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Canadian Stocks May Decline on Metals, Crude Oil Prices; Talisman May Drop

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks may decline for a
fourth time in five days, led by such raw-materials and energy
producers as Teck Cominco Ltd. and Talisman Energy Inc., as prices
for copper, gold and crude oil decline.

Copper dropped a third day in London on concern that Asian
demand may be slowing. Gold also fell in London on speculation a
drop in European equity markets may cut demand for bullion. Crude
oil fell from a nine-month high in New York after a strike in
Nigeria ended.


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Asia Energy Day Ahead: Nigeria Strike Ends; Oil Price May Surge, BIS Says

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate passed legislation
that would overhaul car fuel economy standards for the first
time in more than 20 years and quadruple use of alternative
fuels. Gasoline futures rose to the highest in more than three
weeks on concern U.S. refineries aren't making enough of the
fuel to meet motorists' needs. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg
News were split over whether oil prices will rise or fall this
week amid surging U.S. inventories and threats to Nigerian
shipments.

MOST READ MARKETS STORIES


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Crude Oil Falls as Supply Concerns Ease After Nigerian Strike Is Settled

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell in New York after a
strike in Nigeria was settled, easing concerns about supply
disruptions from Africa's biggest oil producer.

Labor unions called off the four-day strike after the
government said it will restrict domestic fuel price rises and
review the sale of two state-owned oil refineries, Lumumba
Okugbawa, deputy general secretary of the Petroleum & Natural Gas
Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, said June 23.


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Nigerian unions call off general strike

(Reuters) - Nigerian unions called off a crippling strike in Africa's top oil producer on Saturday after the government agreed to freeze fuel prices for a year, both sides said in a statement.

The four-day-old general strike had halted most economic activity in Africa's most populous nation, but vital exports of crude oil were not affected.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Oil Rises as Nigerian Strike Moves Into Third Day, Spurring Supply Concern

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose as a general strike in
Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, continued for a third day
after the government and unions failed to reach an agreement over
an increase in fuel prices.

Yesterday, oil unions withdrew workers from export terminals
in a bid to halt shipments and intensify pressure on the new
administration of President Umaru Yar'Adua. About a third of the
nation's output was already halted by political and criminal
violence. The strike comes during the summer driving season, when
U.S. fuel consumption peaks.


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