Free Republic

Greece hasn't even filed for bankruptcy yet and the "unexpected" consequences are already coming. In comments to The Sunday Times newspaper, Irish Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said the country will likely need another "unexpected" loan from the troica, after he became the first cabinet member to cast doubt in public on Ireland's ability to raise cash. In other words once on the temporary bailout wagon, always on the temporary bailout gain. Reuters reports: "I think it's very unlikely we'll be able to go back next year. I think it might take a bit longer ... 2013 might be possible but...

Yanzhou Coal Mining, the mainland's second-largest listed coal miner, said its parent company Yankuang Group has received approval from the government to develop a 5-million-ton coal-to-oil project. The first phase of the project in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province is estimated to cost 10 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion). Its capacity will reach 1 million tons of oil products a year, Chief Financial Officer Wu Yuxiang told reporters in Hong Kong yesterday. "Total production capacity of the project will amount to 5 million tons annually," he said, without giving a timetable. Yankung Group will mainly participate in the preliminary stage of the...

Paris: OPEC is sending out signals to the global market that the cartel wants oil prices, at near-record highs, to remain there this year. Ali al-Nuaimi, oil minister for Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s largest producer, made it clear on Thursday where he expects the US price of a barrel of crude to be: "The price today is between 40 to 50 dollars, and that’s where it will probably stay during 2005." These statements appear to confirm what analysts have predicted for several months: Riyadh has been changing its views on pricing, after having for a long time defended a price...