-"I understand the logic of consumers who need to know how much oil and gas we have. But we ask: What about demand-side transparency? It is exactly this kind of transparency that needs to be encouraged to reduce producers' risks. We would like to understand and accurately evaluate consumer-country policies from the perspective of managing demand." - Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said in an interview with the daily Izvestia. Major energy consuming countries demanding greater "transparency" from producers must also volunteer more information on their own energy policies to reduce risks and limit market speculation weighing on prices, a key Russian minister said in comments published Thursday.
Mike Wittner, oil analyst with Calyon in London said that refiners have invested large amounts of money in producing MTBE free gasoline and therefore would not be keen to see waivers put in place. This comes in the wake of comments by US President George Bush to try to get gasoline waivers in place to prevent gasoline shortages this summer. However, traders have suggested that any gasoline waivers are unlikely to have any significant impact on lowering gasoline prices.

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