Crude oil prices are trading around $75 a barrel, the highest so far this year and within sight of the record high hit in August 2006 of $78.65.
Real and threatened disruptions to crude oil supplies, constraints at refineries in consuming countries, resilient global demand for fuel and a flow of investor money into oil and other commodities have pushed prices higher, reported Todayszaman.com.

Nigeria
Supply of crude from Nigeria, the world’s eighth-largest oil exporter, has been cut since February 2006 because of militant attacks on the country’s oil industry. Oil companies have detailed about 661,000 barrels per day of shut-in Nigerian production due to militant attacks and sabotage. The amount represents about 22 percent of the West African country’s output capacity of around three million bpd.

Refinery bottlenecks
Adding to concerns about tight supplies of unrefined crude is a global shortage of refining capacity. Traders worry that refineries will not be able to produce enough gasoline for this year’s peak demand US summer driving season, which begins at the end of May.
US gasoline inventories stand at 204.4 million barrels, 10.1 million below a year ago, a government report showed on Wednesday. A prolonged stretch of refinery problems has curbed production rates. Demand is still growing despite higher pump prices.
US gasoline demand, as measured by the amount of fuel supplied to retailers over the past four weeks, has averaged 9.553 million bpd, up 1.2 percent from 9.440 million bpd a year ago, a government report said on Thursday. Refining capacity is already tight after years of underinvestment.
The US oil industry took a battering in 2005’s hurricane season. This year’s will be more active than normal, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last Tuesday.

Iraq
Iraq is struggling to get its oil industry back on its feet. Exports are stagnating at around 1.5 million bpd, compared with 1.7 million bpd or more under Saddam.
Decades of wars, sanctions and underinvestment have left Iraq struggling to pump its oil out of the ground and on to world markets. Production has failed to meet optimistic projections by top oil ministry officials. Iraq is also unable to ship crude regularly from its northern fields for export from the Turkish port of Ceyhan because of attacks on the pipeline to Turkey.

Iran
Oil consumers are concerned about supply disruption from Iran, the world’s fourth-biggest exporter, which is locked in a dispute with the United Nations and the West over its nuclear program.
Major Western governments allege Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran denies this, saying it wants nuclear power to make electricity and it is more than willing to prove to the international community that this is the case.

Less OPEC Oil
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, source of more than a third of the world’s oil, is pumping less than in 2006 after agreeing to remove barrels from the market.
OPEC agreed to curb supply by 1.7 million bpd, or about six percent, last year in two steps. The second stage took effect from Feb. 1.
Members have made about one million bpd of the pledged reduction, according to Reuters estimates. The exporter group is next scheduled to meet in September to decide production policy. Consumer nations have called on OPEC to pump more crude to help ease prices. But the group’s oil ministers insist crude supplies are adequate.

Demand
While previous price spikes have been triggered by supply disruptions, demand from nations such as China and the United States is a main driver of the current rally. Global demand growth has slowed after a surge in 2004, but it is still rising and higher prices have so far had a very limited effect on economic growth. Analysts say the world is coping well with high nominal prices because adjusted for exchange rates and inflation, they are lower than during previous price spikes and some economies have become less energy intensive.

Funds
Investment flows from pension and hedge funds into commodities including oil have resumed in recent months after a hiatus earlier in the year due to concerns about how the global economy was moving. Overall inflows have been less this year, but have picked up in recent months.

At the midpoint to reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015, the world’s nations, particularly the poorest ones, have made substantial but uneven progress. In its annual report released on July 2, the United Nations focuses on the countries’ successes and setbacks.
As reported by the World Bank, the MDGs are global targets agreed to by world leaders in 2000 on how to improve the lives of poor people.
The new report from the UN echoes findings released earlier this year in the World Bank’s Global Monitoring Report 2007, which found impressive gains in reducing poverty worldwide but much less progress in most of the other goals, including slowing climate change and other steps to protect the environment.
Ensuring environmental sustainability--integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reversing the loss of resources, providing access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, improving the lives of slum dwellers--is outlined in the Millennium Development Goals as an important part of the global development agenda.
The UN report says “a global effort to eliminate ozone-depleting substances is working, though damage to the ozone layer will persist for some time.“ The damaged ozone layer can’t start to heal until there is a significant reduction in chlorofluorocarbons, like Freon, that are still widely used in commerce and industry.
Global warming is caused by holes in the ozone layer and the steady buildup of carbon. The World Bank published an interactive that gives country-by-country data on emissions of carbon dioxide.
While the international development community has long considered environmental sustainability to be an important development safeguard, over the last two years global public awareness and interest in climate change has intensified. To dramatize the threat of global warming, a number of “Live Earth“ 24-hour concerts are being held Saturday, July 7, across seven continents.
Last month, the G8 Summit renewed its commitment to fight climate change. Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development, said on that occasion, “G-8 leaders recognized that rich countries need to take the lead in order to get action at the global level,“ adding that “developing countries should not be constrained in their development efforts as a result of a fossil fuels intensive development path pursued in rich countries. With the right incentives, they can pursue economic growth and at the same time, move to a lower carbon economy.“

Greater gender equality can help reduce poverty and promote growth.

A hot topic at summits of global leaders over the past few years has been how the global community is doing in its efforts to meet the eight 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Those that draw the most attention are the MDGs dealing with poverty, hunger, health, education, and the environment. But little discussed is MDG3, which calls for redressing gender disparities and empowering women.
The latest issue of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) quarterly magazine Finance & Development spotlights gender equality, asking why it matters. We learn that not only is MDG3 a vital development objective but it is also key to achieving several othersÑsuch as universal primary education (MDG2), a reduction in under-5 mortality (MDG4), improvements in maternal health (MDG5), and a reduced possibility of contracting HIV/AIDS (MDG6). Moreover, greater gender equality can also help to reduce poverty (MDG1) and promote growth.
One way for countries to pinpoint policies needed to reduce gender disparities is through gender budgeting, which involves the systematic examination of budget programs and policies for their impact on women. As “Budgeting with Women in Mind“ explains, this effort to mainstream gender analysis into government policies has gained prominence in recent years.
One of the hardest-hit groups is the millions of “excluded“ girls, who aren’t even enrolled in school. These girls face discrimination and indifference in their own countries because they come from ethnic minorities, isolated clans, and groups in which the majority language isn’t predominant.
Greater gender equality can help in the battle to reduce poverty (MDG1) and promote growthÑdirectly by boosting women’s participation in the labor force and increasing both productivity and earnings, and indirectly through the beneficial effects of women’s empowerment on children’s human capital and well-being.
Two recent IMF studies focus on the interaction between gender and macroeconomics and gender and budget processes. One way for countries to pinpoint policies needed to reduce gender disparities is through gender budgeting, which involves the systematic examination of budget programs and policies for their impact on women
Despite important progress in recent years, an estimated 43 million girls around the world are still not enrolled in school. The majority of them are from socially excluded groups. New strategies for educating these “excluded girls“ must be found.

A sober review of China’s economic situation for the first six months of the year is badly needed. As reported by Chinadaily.com, to meet the country’s five-year goal of energy conservation and pollution reduction, the authorities should take stock of the lack of progress and rethink policies.
Ma Kai, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, frankly admitted to the country’s top advisory body on Wednesday that the country’s high-speed economic growth has yet to be brought under control.
At present, the inevitable consequence of the economic boom will be more consumption of energy and more emission of pollutants.
Due to rapid industrial growth, especially in energy-guzzling sectors, the country’s consumption of electricity increased a stunning 15.8 percent in the first five months of the year. This growth in use of power, the fastest in three years, has considerably outpaced the country’s economic growth, adding to difficulties in fulfilling the country’s goal to cut energy consumption per unit of GDP output by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010.
As a large developing country, China previously had a huge amount of polluting emissions but low per capita discharge equal to only one-fourth the US per capita figure. But even that per capita advantage has been eroded by unchecked industrial growth.
Clearly, the Chinese authorities understand the severe environmental consequences of red-hot economic growth.
Ma, the minister in charge of economic planning, pinpointed local governments as a driving force behind rapid expansion of energy-intensive and heavily polluting industries. Under the current fiscal system, local governments have to rely on local investment and industrial growth for local revenues.
The need for incentives for local governments to put energy conservation and environmental protection ahead of economic growth calls for the central government to reform the existing fiscal system.
Admittedly, such major reform cannot be done overnight. However, given the immense danger of failing to meet the country’s energy and environmental goals, it is necessary to implement reform as soon as possible.
At the same time, market mechanisms to reflect the real cost of energy use and environmental degradation should be put into place quickly.
All these efforts are needed for our economy, our resources and our nation’s future. It is high time to act.