Thursday, July 23, 2009 ABUJA: Nigeria's oil production has been cut to about 1.5 million barrels of crude per day -- less than half of its capacity -- by rebel attacks in the main producing region and the international economic crisis, Petroleum Minister Rilwanu Lukman said Wednesday."Our daily production is around 1.5 million barrels of crude and about 500,000 barrels of condensate and natural gas liquid, around two million barrels if you add the condensate with the oil," Lukman said. The minister said "more than half of our capacity" is lost because of militant activities in the Niger delta and the international crisis. "When the market calls for more, we are ready to supply and when the situation in the Niger delta improves, we will be in a position to supply more," Lukman said.Nigeria, an OPEC member, is the world's eighth largest oil producer.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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