Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi named Gholamhossein Nozari, a former oil minister of the Islamic republic, as the nation’s candidate for the position of Opec secretary general, the state-run Mehr News agency reported.

SABOTEURS have struck a new blow to Iraq's vital oil industry, cutting exports to a third of their previous level. Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban confirmed blasts at a pipeline which fed storage tanks at Basra oil terminal in the Gulf.

A GRENADE attack killed a US soldier in Iraq yesterday as a pipeline fire blazed on after an overnight explosion described by an Oil Ministry official as sabotage.