ENERGY

PRICE FOR CRUDE TOUCHES ANOTHER RECORD

Crude oil rose, touching a record $66 a barrel in New York, after the International Energy Agency reduced its estimate of output by Russia and other non-OPEC producers.

The IEA cut its forecast by about 200,000 barrels a day, prompted by shutdowns in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. Citigroup, the world’s largest financial services company, raised its oil price forecast today, saying there is no supply cushion. “There is not an abundance of spare capacity, and this is what is driving the market,” a senior oil analyst at Citigroup, Doug Leggate, said. “The amount of spare capacity does not get to a normal level for at least three to four years.”

Crude oil for September delivery rose 90 cents, or 1.4%, to $65.80 a barrel at the close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was introduced in 1983. Prices are up 47% from a year ago. Gasoline for September delivery rose 5.35 cents, or 2.8%, to close at a record $1.9498 a gallon in New York.

– Bloomberg News

PHARMACEUTICALS

PFIZER WILL CHANGE DRUG MARKETING PRACTICES

Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, is changing the way it promotes medicines to consumers in response to the threat of regulation by Congress. Pfizer said that by the end of the year it will provide more detail on risks, involve doctors at least six months before marketing begins and suggest alternative treatments in some cases. The New York based company, which announced the changes in a statement yesterday, was warned by American regulators in April about problems in ads for its Zyrtec allergy drug. Drugmakers have been under intense criticism about the $4.01 billion they spend annually on consumer advertising. An American advisory panel last year raised concerns about Vioxx ads after Merck & Company withdrew the drug because of heart risks. Members of Congress, including the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, have threatened to pass restrictive legislation. The companies “want to do something before it’s done to them, “a health strategist at Miller Tabak & Company, Les Funtleyder, said.

– Bloomberg News

IN THE COURTS

BANKER PLEADS GUILTY TO CHEATING GOVERNMENT OF MILLIONS

A government probe of illegal tax shelters for the rich resulted in a guilty plea yesterday by a New York banker who admitted he helped cheat the government out of millions of dollars in tax revenues by promoting phony tax shelters.

Domenick Degiorgio, 42, of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy, a scheme to defraud his employer, and tax evasion.

In court papers, federal prosecutors portrayed Degiorgio as an avid promoter of the tax shelters at the Manhattan office of a German bank, Bayerische Hypo und Vereinsbank, where he supervised various tax shelter transactions from 1996 to 2003.

– Associated Press

TRAVEL

BRITISH AIRWAYS CANCELS FLIGHTS DEPARTING HEATHROW

British Airways canceled all flights due to depart from London’s Heathrow Airport yesterday afternoon and diverted arriving flights after a labor dispute escalated.

Sixty-two short-haul and 44 long-haul outbound flights were canceled, while 14 short-haul flights and an unknown number of long-haul flights which were en route to Heathrow were being diverted to other airports in Britain. Other BA flights bound for London were being canceled before taking off.

The cancellations were announced after British Airways’ staff joined a labor dispute between the airline’s catering company, Memphis, Tenn.-based Gate Gourmet, and its work force. A union representing employees of Gate Gourmet, which provides onboard meals for British Airways flights, said the company had sacked 800 workers on Wednesday. British Airways workers represented by the same union, including baggage handlers and loaders, stopped work yesterday in sympathy with the fired catering staff.

– Associated Press