Out of the frying pan into the fire. In a bid to end the global “addiction to oil”, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has signalled he wants the UK to play a major role in the race to build an extra 1,000 nuclear power stations across the world.
Brown, who is flying to Saudia Arabia for [...]

Saudi Arabia says it will call a summit of oil producers and consumers in an effort to stem the surge in the price of oil.
The world’s biggest producer said recent rises, including the record $10 leap on Friday, were not justified by market fundamentals and it would work with Opec to guarantee supplies.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia has said that his country was considering quitting OPEC because it was no longer a net oil exporter.
“Our wells are drying,” he said in a nationally televised speech, adding that the country needed to concentrate on increasing domestic production, which has dropped to less than a million barrels a day [...]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is stirring the pot again. As the dollar continues to fall, he is urging OPEC members to form a joint bank and stop pricing oil trades in U.S. dollars.
Ahmadinejad told OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri the cartel “should establish a joint bank as well as having joint currency.”

His boss may have tried it and failed but now its Dick Cheney, the US vice-president’s turn. He is expected to urge Saudi Arabia to increase oil production during his tour of the Middle East that begins today.
Mr Bush spent two evenings with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia during his January trip. But [...]