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WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE: Oil News Roundup: January 30, 2007 12:37 a.m.

Crude-oil futures fell to $54 Monday after Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S. implied prices aren’t too low for the oil-producing kingdom, fueling speculation OPEC won’t attempt extra production cuts to buoy prices.

Here is Monday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

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SAUDIS TO PARE OUTPUT AGAIN: Saudi Arabia is cutting oil output by an additional 158,000 barrels a day, part of a broader campaign by OPEC to shrink inventories and shore up prices. After the cuts take effect Feb .1, Saudi production will have declined by about a million barrels a day since last summer, a senior Saudi oil official said.

GLOBAL-WARMING CONFAB BEGINS: Scientists from around the world gathered in Paris to finalize a long-awaited, authoritative report on climate change, expected to give a grim warning of rising temperatures and sea levels world-wide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is to unveil its latest assessment of the environmental threat posed by global warming on Friday.

•Sugar-Coating Global Warming: But the panel’s report may be the sugarcoated version of what’s really going on, scientists warn, according to an Associated Press report.

•Glaciers Melting Quickly: And the world’s glaciers are melting at an “unprecedented” rate, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, the Financial Times reports on its Web site.

•BP Considered Limiting Texas-City Report: BP officials considered leaving some facts out of their internal report on the deadly Texas City refinery explosion, the Financial Times reports.

•Exxon Drills in Back Yard: Exxon Mobil is plunging into a gas field practically on its doorstep. Exxon owns 80% of a venture at the Barnett Shale gas field, the fastest-growing field in the U.S. The venture is ready to step up the pace of production.

•Iran Near Repsol/Shell Deal: Iran announced is close to striking a $10 billion deal with Repsol and Royal Dutch Shell to produce liquefied natural gas in Iran, the FT reports.

•Tyson Suffers Ethanol Effect: Tyson Foods warned that if corn continues to be diverted from animal feed into fuel production, consumers are likely to pay “significantly” more for food at supermarkets and restaurants.

•Leaked Oil May Have Reached France: Disks of hardened oil have been washing up on beaches in northwestern France, and tests will determine if they came from a cargo ship across the English Channel that leaked oil after it was damaged in a storm.

•Silicon Valley in Energy-Policy Fight: Silicon Valley’s technology barons have found a new cause, alternative energy, and are lobbying for it on Capitol Hill, the New York Times reports. Green-tech industries have helped fuel a Silicon Valley rebound.

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