The attacks are a concern given Nigeria's importance as an oil-producing nation. It's a factor that will keep prices supported.

Oil demand in 2006 is going to grow quite strongly. There's very little spare capacity to deal with supply shocks. The market is still concerned that if we lose Iran, we're going to be in real trouble.

After the sharp rise in gasoline prices, we believe that crude and transportation fuel prices will remain at historically high levels for a prolonged period of time, reflecting a tighter global balance.

I agree that growth in production capacity this year will be a bit higher than demand growth. Still, the IEA always tends to be over-optimistic in terms of non-OPEC supply growth.

The relatively high inventory levels are providing some cushion to the market, but of course demand is rising in the U.S.. We are in a more comfortable situation than a few months ago, but the structural problems this market has haven't gone away.

We believe the recent demand pullback is mostly a short-run response to a price spike, not a long-run shift in consumption patterns.