Oil, Oil Everywhere

Last week, as U.S. officials were finalizing their blueprint for how Iraq's postwar oil industry will function, oil producers were jostling to protect hard — won market share in advance of a resumption of exports from Iraq. OPEC nations, in a meeting in Vienna, agreed to a slight drop in output to try to support prices in the short term, although the cartel also announced an increase in official production targets. And in Russia, the world's second — largest oil exporter, the energy industry received a boost when companies Yukos and Sibneft said they had agreed in principle to a merger...