of Petroleum. (DJ) December 4: California utilities are forced to cut off electricity supplies to some "interruptible" customers due to a supply shortage. California has suffered shortages and high wholesale electricity prices since May 2000. The immediate shortage stems, in part, from a reduction in electricity imports from the Pacific Northwest as a result of cold weather in the area. Other problems include: gas supply problems, low availability of hydroelectric and nuclear generating capacity, and high power demand. (DJ) December 5: The United Nations Security Council approves a six-month extension to the Iraq "oil for food" program. (DJ) December 16: Ukraine permanently shuts down the last reactor at its Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which gained notoriety for a major accident and radioactivity release in 1986. The facility will still be the location of a major cleanup effort, as Ukraine tries to contain continuing leakage from the containment structures around the reactors damaged in the accident. (DJ) December 21: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces new regulations which will drastically reduce the allowable sulfur content in diesel fuel in the United States. The new diesel sulfur standard will be 15 parts per million (PPM). Oil industry trade groups have opposed the new standard. (DJ) December 27: Natural gas prices in the United States surge above $10 per million British Thermal Units (BTUs) for the first time ever in response to cold weather and stock draws reported by the American Gas Association (AGA). Henry Hub natural gas closes at $9.978, after falling slightly from its intraday peak price. (DJ) December 27: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez appoints Alvaro Silva Calderon to replace Ali Rodriguez as Minister of Petroleum. Calderon had previously served as a deputy minister. Rodriguez had recently been chosen as the new OPEC Secretary General. Both will assume their new posts effective January 5, 2001. (DJ) December 31: Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi says that OPEC will cut production when ministers meet in Vienna on January 17, 2001. Oil prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks, with the OPEC basket reaching $21.50 per barrel on December 25, down one-third from highs reached in October 2000. Despite the recent decline, average oil prices for 2000 were the highest (not adjusted for inflation) in seventeen years. (DJ) Sources Energy Information Administration: Chronology of World Oil Market Events Commodity Research Bureau. The CRB Commodity Yearbook 2000, 2000. Other sources include: Dow Jones (DJ), New