town of Murmansk. This would enable Russia to expand ocean-going tanker exports. (WSJ) December 2: Business and labor groups in Venezuela, including employees of state oil company PdVSA, begin a strike in order to obtain an early referendum on the rule of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The strike has little effect on its first day, but as the strike continues through the end of the month, oil production, refinery runs, and crude oil and refined petroleum product exports fall dramatically. Several refineries in the Caribbean dependent on Venezuelan crude are also adversely affected. This has a serious impact on the Venezuelan economy, but no agreement between President Chávez and the opposition forces leading the strike is reached by the end of the month. (Reuters) December 4: The United Nations (U.N.) Oil-for-Food program is unanimously renewed by the Security Council for another six months, and shortly thereafter accepted by the Iraqi government. The Oil-for-Food program allows Iraq to sell unlimited quantities of oil, with revenues going into a U.N. account that pays vendors for approved goods that Iraq orders. (Reuters) December 12: The government of Iraq cancels a $3.8 billion contract with three Russian companies — Lukoil, Zarubezhnest, and Machinoimport — to develop the very large West Qurna oilfield. Although the reasoning for the decision is not made clear by Iraq, it is thought that it is in response to Russian political decisions regarding United Nations inspections and the Oil-for-Food program. (NYT) December 12: OPEC oil ministers, meeting in Vienna, decide to raise OPEC-10's (i.e. excluding Iraq) total production quota from to . OPEC ministers also urge strict compliance with the new quotas in an effort to cut back production, as OPEC-10 production is widely regarded to be exceeding even the new production quota of . (LAT) December 16: The near-month crude oil futures price on the NYMEX tops $30 per barrel for the first time since October 2, as the general strike in Venezuela impacts the world oil market. Later in the month, on December 27, the near-month crude oil futures price rises to $32.72 per barrel, the highest price since November 2000. (WSJ, AP) December 17: The U.S. Department of Energy allows several oil companies to postpone delivery of an additional of crude oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to keep more oil in the market during the strike in Venezuela. The oil companies will have