The International Energy Agency on Tuesday raised its 2006 oil consumption forecast for the second consecutive month but kept its consumption forecast for this year unchanged due to weak oil demand in January.

According to people familiar with the matter on the 12th, Argentina’s Ministry of Energy is expected to approve Repsol and Exxon Mobil’s plan to supply 800,000 tons of fuel in the week of March 12 to meet the fuel shortage of the country’s power plants amid natural gas shortages.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. liquefied natural gas imports increased by about 25% in January, and short-term LNG imports increased to 31.8 billion cubic feet, higher than the 25.6 billion cubic feet in December 2006.

According to the latest data released by the German Federal Renewable Energy Association, Germany's emerging energy sources, namely energy produced through the use of wind, water, sun, biomass and geothermal energy, exceeded 200 billion kilowatt hours in 2006; in addition, 3.3 million tons of Biomass fuel is biofuel.

U.S. crude oil futures closed sharply higher on Friday as investors covered short positions ahead of the U.S. long weekend and the U.S. warned that the situation in oil-producing Nigeria was deteriorating.

The World Energy Council released a report on "The Role of Nuclear Energy in Europe" in London on the 30th, pointing out that nuclear energy has development advantages both economically and environmentally.

Georgian security services said on the 25th that they had captured a Russian man trying to sell weapons-grade uranium raw materials. The man put 100 grams of high-purity uranium in a plastic bag and sold it in his pocket. The quantity and grade of nuclear material involved in this case are rare in recent years.

Mundy, Director General of the International Energy Agency, said that the international oil market is adequately supplied, but still hopes that oil prices will fall further, and warned that excessive declines may hinder investment in the energy sector.