■Oil prices
OPEC to discuss Venezuela
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may increase production, should strikes in Venezuela persist and cause oil shortages, Libya's top oil official said. Oil ministers and officials from Libya and six other OPEC states will discuss the Venezuelan crisis this weekend, said Abdulhasid Mahmoud Zlitni. They are due in Cairo for a meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. "There are going to be consultations while we are here," Zlitni said in a telephone interview after arriving in the Egyptian capital. "We'll take into consideration any shortage. Some action may be taken," he said.
■ Food aid
Mugabe asks for help
President Robert Mugabe appealed on Thursday to Zimbabwe's business community, which he has regularly accused of sabotaging government policies, to help ease crippling food shortages and an economic crisis. Nearly half the country's 14 million people are short of food. Mugabe blames drought but his critics say the real fault is with seizures of white-owned commercial farms in what used to be the regional breadbasket.
■ Accounting
Halliburton target of SEC
Halliburton Co is the target of a formal Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the disclosure and accounting of cost overruns on engineering and construction jobs. The world's No. 2 oil-services company is cooperating with the SEC, it said in a statement. Halliburton believes that the formal investigation is a step forward in resolving the matter, spokeswoman Wendy Hall said.
Agencies
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