David Blair's Blog, page 140

Opec cites economic 'risks' in unchanged quotas

Opec's oil ministers have stressed continuing "risks" to the world economy in choosing to leave their production quotas unchanged despite the commodity's recent price rise to $90 per barrel.

Opec sees no need for output change

Saudi Arabia, the most powerful member of Opec, sees "absolutely" no need for the club to change its production quotas when oil ministers meet in Ecuador on Saturday.

Oil price rise puts pressure on Opec

Opec's oil ministers will gather in Ecuador on Saturday as prices rise above the cartel's informal ceiling of $90 per barrel.

Irish economic woes dent Britvic

Britvic , the UK soft drinks company, has claimed a "strong performance" in its preliminary results for 2010, in spite of a £104m writedown on the value of its interests in Ireland.

Big freeze causes jump in power prices

Britain's winter freeze has combined with temporary supply problems from Europe to cause turmoil on the wholesale energy market, with the price of electricity for day ahead delivery jumping by almost 30 per cent overnight.

Blunder reveals carbon trading data

Europe's biggest clearing house, LCH.Clearnet, has admitted that "confidential information" about trading in carbon emission allowances, including the names of individual traders, was mistakenly published on the internet.

EU energy targets require radical shake-up

Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, says: "The old utility business model is dead."

Oil price swings highlight Opec's weakness

How much does Opec matter? This might appear a strange question to ask of the 12 countries who jointly possess about 80 per cent of the world's known oil reserves, but the recent volatility of the oil market suggests the club may count for less than you might think.

Opec warns on OTC trading

The oil market risks "chaos" and global supplies could be disrupted unless tighter regulation is imposed on the trade in oil-based financial instruments, according to Opec's secretary-general.

Ofgem opens bidding for wind farm project

Ofgem, the UK's energy market regulator, has opened a tender for a £1.9bn ($3bn) project that will connect six offshore wind farms to the national grid. Companies will be invited to run and operate the transmission links for wind farms that can generate 2,800MW of electricity.