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Monday February 11, 01:52 PM

Petrol prices lowered

Oil companies Gull and Shell dropped their petrol prices today.

Gull prices went down three cents per litre, taking the cost of a litre of unleaded petrol to 166.9 cents and 95 octane to 171.9.

Shell followed suit, dropping four cents from their previous price, bringing current prices to the same level as Gull.

“We always look to pass the benefit on to the consumer as soon as we can,” a Gull spokesman told NZPA.

“There was an option there for us to do it so we’ve gone and done it.”

BP had also dropped its price to 166.9 today, a spokeswoman said.

Caltex was yet to make a decision on lowering its price but was meeting later this morning.

Caltex prices later dropped prices to match Gull, Shell and BP.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. – In an effort to help Sen. Larry Craig, the American Civil Liberties Union is arguing that people who have sex in public bathrooms have an expectation of privacy.

Craig, of Idaho, is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to let him withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct stemming from a bathroom sex sting at the Minneapolis airport.

The ACLU filed a brief Tuesday supporting Craig. It cited a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling 38 years ago that found that people who have sex in closed stalls in public restrooms “have a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

That means the state cannot prove Craig was inviting an undercover officer to have sex in public, the ACLU wrote.

The Republican senator was arrested June 11 by an undercover officer who said Craig tapped his feet and swiped his hand under a stall divider in a way that signaled he wanted sex. Craig has denied that, saying his actions were misconstrued.

The ACLU argued that even if Craig was inviting the officer to have sex, his actions wouldn’t be illegal.

“The government cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Senator Craig was inviting the undercover officer to engage in anything other than sexual intimacy that would not have called attention to itself in a closed stall in the public restroom,” the ACLU wrote in its brief.

The ACLU also noted that Craig was originally charged with interference with privacy, which it said was an admission by the state that people in the bathroom stall expect privacy.

Craig at one point said he would resign but now says he will finish his term, which ends in January 2009.

Dear Friends and Visitors: I am Inviting you guys and girls to come!

The Official Grand Opening of LFI Wellness Sanctuary and our Fortune Foodcourt will be on 16th Febuary 2008, 11am – 1.30pm.
We’re Located at Blk 89, Marine Parade Central.
Level 1 Fortune FoodCourt and Level 2 LFI Wellness Sanctuary.

Expect to meet our LFI ambassadors and our MediaCorp celebrities – Tay Ping Hui, Vincent Ng & Marcus Chin.
Please Drop me a call/sms/msg/email if you would like to drop by on that day, or if you would like to enquire further on our wellness sancuary/services, special promotions to be given away based on appointments only!

AFP – Monday, February 4

SINGAPORE, Feb 4, 2008 (AFP) – World oil traded flat in Asia on Monday after concerns for the US economy appeared to outweigh the impact of OPEC’s decision to hold output steady, dealers said.

In morning trade, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was three cents lower at 88.93 dollars a barrel.

On Friday the contract plunged 2.79 dollars to close at 88.96 dollars per barrel, after briefly rising into positive territory following OPEC’s widely-expected decision to leave its output quotas unchanged.

It was the first time this year that the New York benchmark contract closed below the psychological 89-dollar level.

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery was two cents higher at 89.46 dollars a barrel after settling 2.77 dollars lower at 89.44 dollars a barrel in London on Friday.

At its meeting in Vienna on Friday, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps 40 percent of world oil, held its official daily output at 29.67 million oil barrels.

Shortly after OPEC’s announcement, fresh US economic data led to renewed fears for economic growth in the world’s biggest energy consumer.

A US government report showed the economy lost 17,000 non-farm jobs in January. It was the first jobs loss in more than four years and indicated the strains from a housing crisis and a related credit crunch were spreading through the world’s biggest economy, analysts said.

There may have been some reassessment of energy demand after the US data release, along with some profit-taking, said David Moore, a commodities strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

“It’s possible, I suppose, that these themes have continued a little bit in this morning’s trade,” he said.

The market may also be already looking ahead to an easing of demand at the end of the Northern hemisphere winter next month, Moore added.

Mike Fitzpatrick, an analyst at MF Global, said the latest US data “should further burden a market concerned with weakening demand.”

US President George W. Bush, expressing worries over the global economic impact of high oil prices, had expressed hopes that OPEC would increase output.

Explaining its decision, the 13-nation cartel said stockpiles of crude were likely to increase in the first half of this year. The group also noted “the projected economic slowdown”.

Ministers from OPEC are to meet again on March 5.

The cartel remains concerned about a potentially deep recession in the United States, which could reduce demand growth for energy, oil analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov at Sucden brokerage said earlier.

The International Energy Agency, which represents the interests of oil-consuming countries, Friday tacitly accused OPEC of increasing pressure on a vulnerable world economy by its refusal to pump more oil to help bring down crude prices.

Since striking a high above 100 dollars at the start of the year, New York oil prices have slid owing to fears of a US recession and a global economic slowdown.

But crude futures are still almost double the level of a year ago.

burs-it/km

Channel NewsAsia – Monday, February 4

SINGAPORE: Formula One fever will hit Singapore in a big way, and being the first night race, many parties are expected to be held the most closely watched will be the ones hosted by the F1 teams.

Top teams Ferrari and McLaren will be having private parties at St James Power Station, which is one of the most popular nightspots in Singapore.

Dennis Foo, CEO of St James Power Station, said: “For Ferrari, it will be the week leading up to the weekend race, and for McLaren, I was told it will be after the race, so they are (parties in) two different moods.”

Mr Foo said no effort would be spared to make the parties, which cost a few hundred thousand dollars, a memorable affair.

The attractions include projecting videos of the cars racing on a 360—degree screen on the ceiling.

Interactive games and merchandise will also be sold, and the whole building will be dressed up in an F1 theme.

“We have 70 over artists in this complex. I don’t think 70 artists have appeared at one time in a single venue before, so that alone is enough to make this event an iconic one,” said Mr Foo.

A few of the drivers like Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton might just drop by at St James to enjoy a specially created F1 cocktail.

The drink, called ’Formula World’, is in the colours of world champs, Ferrari.

Other teams will be hosting their parties elsewhere, but the double celebrations at St James is definitely a highlight in the party world.
— CNA/so

I think I am and thank you(some company) for providing me with FREE ENTRIES!

:D :D :D :D :D

Binter through its motor sports arm : Binter Drifter is excited to be able to partner with Formula Drift Holdings LLC to host Formula Drift’s first foray into Asia. Binter and Formula Drift, the first and only sanctioned and recognized North American professional championship drifting series, have formed an exclusive alliance to expand and build the sport of drifting in Singapore.

The Singapore championship on 27 April 2008 signifies our desire to transform the motor sport of drifting into a truly global mainstay. In this high-skilled, high-powered motor sport, drivers intentionally maneuver their cars into well executed, controlled sideways slides at high speeds through a marked course. The Singapore championship will provide an opportunity for our very own local drifters to compete, hone and learn from the very best of American professionals. The intense competition will evolve the local standard of motor sports as we know it.

It has always been our desire to provide Singaporeans with a sport that combines spectacle, technical prowess and open access to its inner workings. Formula Drift is that combination. The passion of motor sports in Singapore is about to swerve into the next level. You will also have the rare opportunity to experience the thrill of high-speed drifting first hand on Sunday, 27 April 2008 at the Singapore Airshow Grounds in Changi as we unveil this milestone event.

Regards,

I’mdefinatelyturningup

Also, give Singaporeans the choice of deciding at what age they want to start getting money from their annuity.

The monthly amount will then be adjusted accordingly.

These are among the five key recommendations from the Government-appointed committee, chaired by Professor Lim Pin, who gave a preview on Wednesday of the probable shape of the scheme.

Another recommendation is to let the CPF Board administer it.

Yet another idea is to rename Longevity Insurance as Life-Long Income, to underscore its mission: to give Singaporeans a regular income for as long as they live.

Most of these recommendations were hinted at last month, when Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen and Professor Lim told The Straits Times that the committee was mulling over them.

With the latest disclosures, Prof Lim believes that people’s unhappiness will be alleviated. ‘My fellow Singaporeans can now be assured of a lifelong income,’ he said.

The annuity plan, however, is not compulsory for everyone. People who do not have enough in their CPF Minimum Sum for retirement need not buy it.

The committee, following feedback, is also recommending exemptions for the medically unfit, people with private annuity plans and civil servants with pensions.

More details, such as the premium and payout amounts and the scheme’s starting date, will be revealed in a full report on Feb 12.

The recommendations were drawn up after three months of consultation with people from across Singapore society and specialists.

In all, the views of more than 600 people were collected, from face-to-face dialogues, e-mails, phone calls, as well as feedback from financial experts and the Singapore Actuarial Society.

I think this is just full of crap.

The net profit was three percent higher than a year ago when the biggest US oil and gas firm reported a 2006 annual profit of 39.5 billion dollars, which had prompting ire over US policies said to favor big oil firms.

Earnings per share jumped by 10 percent to 7.28 dollars from 2006, reflecting a program of share buybacks, the company said in a statement.

In the 2007 fourth quarter, net profit increased by 14 percent to 11.6 billion dollars from the same period in 2006.

Earnings per share rose to 2.13 dollars, beating analysts’ forecasts of 1.95 dollars.

The company’s earnings did not include exceptional elements, unlike the 2006 results.

ExxonMobil’s chairman Rex Tillerson said the company was pursuing a “long-term investment program, in projects often far from major consuming nations,” to provide “resources essential to the increasingly interdependent global energy supply network.”

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Earlier on….

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LONDON (AFP) – - Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that net profits leapt 23 percent last year to a record 31.331 billion dollars (21.115 billion euros), energised by soaring crude prices.

Net profit on a current cost of supply basis, excluding fluctuations in the value of inventories, rose by 9.0 percent to 27.564 billion dollars in the twelve months to the end of December, compared with 2006.

The record-breaking figures were recorded last year as oil prices raced towards 100 dollars per barrel.

“Overall these are satisfactory results,” said chief executive Jeroen van der Veer in the earnings release.

“We made good progress in 2007, launched new projects upstream and downstream, and achieved exploration successes.”

In the fourth quarter alone, net profit rocketed 60 percent to 8.467 billion dollars, compared with the same period of 2006, Shell added.

That was despite a 5.7-percent drop in production over the same three-month period to 3.436 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).

The price of New York’s light, sweet crude oil traded between 85 dollars and 99 dollars per barrel in the three months to December. Earlier this month, prices had surged to an all-time pinnacle of 100.09 dollars.

Meanwhile, Shell added that fourth-quarter earnings on a CCS basis climbed to 5.737 billion dollars. That missed analysts’ consensus forecasts of 5.826 billion.

The group also revealed that 2007 production dropped to 3.315 million boepd.

That compared with 3.473 million in 2006 and was at the bottom end of the company’s own guidance of 3.3-3.5 million.

Shell forecast on Thursday that it would experience a modest decline in oil and gas production in 2008, chief finance officer Peter Voser said in a conference call to reporters.

That would mainly reflect the impact of asset disposals, the partial suspension of production in Nigeria, and the pricing effects of the company’s production sharing contracts, Voser said.

Unrest in Nigeria, the world’s eighth-largest crude exporter, slashed the country’s output by a quarter in 2006 and 2007 to 2.1 million barrels per day, according to the latest estimates.

“Going into 2008, without giving any precise guidance, we expect production to be slightly below 2007,” Voser added Thursday.

Over 180,000 boepd of the group’s output remains shut in Nigeria because of continued violent attacks by militants on its oil facilities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

In London trading, Shell saw its ‘A’ shares fall 1.73 percent to 1,758 pence on the British capital’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies, which in turn sank 1.44 percent to 5,753.50 points.

Shell also raised dividends for the fourth quarter by 11 percent to 0.36 dollars per share, and said it expected to lift the payout for the first quarter of 2008 by 11 percent to 0.40 dollars.

F1’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), has confirmed the official timetable.

In a statement, FIA revealed that qualifying sessions will be held a day ahead of the race after sunset, which falls on 27 September.

To help drivers get used to the new track, Singapore GP said the first practice on 26 September will take place from 4pm. The second session will run after dark, from 8pm.

The organiser will announce the timings for the other side races. — CNA/vm

I received this chain mail from my email. I thought it’s good idea if everybody could do participate and hopefully ‘hurt’ the petrol company on that day.

Email as below,

Let’s do it – Don’t fill petrol on 24 JANUARY 2008
Hi everybody,

Petrol in Pakistan Rs 17 per liter
Malaysia Rs 18 per liter
In India it’s 51 per liter

Why this difference in Asia itself? World Market CRUDE Oil is not the reason for this. It’s all Gain for private owners. As we are the general public, or Common Man as R.K.Laxman wud have said, we have to raise our voice, let’s rise thru Emails.

IT HAS BEEN CALCULATED THAT IF EVERYONE DID NOT PURCHASE A DROP OF PETROL FOR ONE DAY AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE OIL COMPANIES WOULD CHOKE ON THEIR STOCKPILES.

AT THE SAME TIME IT WOULD HIT THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WITH A NET LOSS OVER 4.6 BILLION DOLLARS WHICH AFFECTS THE BOTTOM LINES OF THE OIL COMPANIES.
THEREFORE “24th JANUARY ” HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED “STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND “DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF PETROL THAT DAY.

THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT. WAITING ON THE GOVERNMENT TO STEP IN AND CONTROL THE PRICES IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REDUCTION AND CONTROL IN PRICES THAT THE ARAB NATIONS PROMISED TWO WEEKS AGO?

REMEMBER ONE THING, NOT ONLY IS THE PRICE OF PETROL GOING UP BUT AT THE SAME TIME AIRLINES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES,
TRUCKING COMPANIES ARE FORCED TO RAISE THEIR PRICES WHICH AFFECTS PRICES ON EVERYTHING THAT IS SHIPPED. THINGS LIKE FOOD, CLOTHING, BUILDING SUPPLIES MEDICAL SUPPLIES ETC. WHO PAYS IN THE END? WE DO!

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.IF THEY DON’T GET THE MESSAGE AFTER ONE DAY, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN. SO DO YOUR PART AND SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND MAKE 24 JANUARY A DAY THAT THE CITIZENS SAY “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”.

We forward so many junk email to many of our friends, now let us do it for some useful cause to cut down the price of the petrol……..

REMEMBER: JANUARY 24, 2008…. NO Petrol Day…!

Please “Think Of It ……………

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and on 27th January:

Gasoline prices fall below $3 a gallon
Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:05pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States fell below $3 due to less demand and slightly lower oil prices, and was likely to hold steady, according to an industry analyst.

The national average for self-serve, regular unleaded gas was about $2.98 a gallon on January 25, down 9.43 cents in the past two weeks, according to the nationwide Lundberg survey of about 7,000 gas stations.

“For the immediate future, unless crude oil prices either leap up or fall dramatically, I expect little change for average price of gasoline in the street,” survey editor Trilby Lundberg told Reuters on Sunday.

Both refiners and retailers experienced shrinking profit margins, which means gasoline prices will likely rise when demand increases.

“Gasoline demand is in its traditional winter hibernation and when it wakes up, rising demand meeting depressed industry profit margins will cause a hike at the pump,” Lundberg said.

At the current $2.98 a gallon, retail gasoline is 79.23 cents more expensive than it was a year ago.

Honolulu, Hawaii, had the highest average price per gallon at $3.35 for self-serve, regular gas in the nation, while Tulsa, Oklahoma, had the lowest at $2.70 a gallon.

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Petrol prices have yet to drop.

I hereby propose another date for all to have a “NO PETROL DAY”

14th Febuary 2008 MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND FORWARD THIS PAGE TO EVERYONE!!

Regards,
ThankmecozI’mpayingforyour11monthworthofBONUSmydearpetroleumcompanystaffs.