“A nuclear armed Iran must be stopped,” Benjamin Netanyahu told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby group in Washington on March 5. “Amazingly, some people refuse to acknowledge that Iran’s goal is to develop nuclear weapons.”
So, how might Israel’s prime minister try to persuade the sceptics?
A couple of paragraphs later, Mr Netanyahu decided to deploy a favourite rhetorical device of recent Israeli leaders. It’s a phrase always used whenever an Israeli politician wants to come over as wittily plain-spoken to English-speaking audiences – the duck analogy.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, …

Oil and gas explorer Faroe Petroleum has failed to discover commercial oil in both the T-Rex and Bolan exploration prospects in the Norwegian Sea.
The well, which will now be plugged and abandoned, was close to fields where oil was discovered in 2010.
The drilling was carried out by Maersk Oil, which had a 70% interest in the operation.
In January, Aberdeen-based Faroe won seven prospective exploration licences on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: ‘We are pleased to announce the presence of oil on both the T-Rex …

Oil prices slid to near $106 a barrel Tuesday as concerns about global economic growth and crude demand outweighed the supply risks posed by the prolonged tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for April delivery was down 69 cents to $106.03 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 2 cents to settle at $106.72 per barrel in New York on Monday.
In London, Brent crude was down 68 cents at $123.12 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
On Monday, China lowered …

SINGAPORE — Oil prices hovered below $107 a barrel Tuesday in Asia after U.S. and Israel leaders met to discuss growing tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.
Benchmark oil for April delivery was up 13 cents to $106.85 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 2 cents to settle at $106.72 per barrel in New York on Monday.
Brent crude was down 6 cents at $123.74 per barrel in London.
After a meeting Monday in Washington, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin …

Total SA (FP) and Petroleos Mexicanos executives said still-untapped global fields and new methods for extracting fuel from shale rock and deep water will help meet demand for oil and natural gas.
Undeveloped fields will produce 1 million barrels a day of oil by 2025, Yves-Louis Darricarrere, president of exploration and production for Paris-based Total, said yesterday on the first of five days of CERAWeek, an annual conference in Houston held by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
New production methods, such as hydraulic fracturing to free natural gas from shale formations, have …