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Oil jumps above US$67 as cousin Rita pays a visit after Katrina
New York: Crude oil traded above US$67 a barrel after jumping 7 percent yesterday on forecasts that tropical storm Rita will strengthen into a hurricane before crossing the Gulf of Mexico and striking Texas near the refining center of Houston.

Rita, which gained strength over the Bahamas, may become a hurricane later today and approach the Texas coast by Sept. 24. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and Chevron Corp. are pulling workers from platforms in Rita's path. Four refineries around New Orleans remain shut after Hurricane Katrina struck the Louisiana coast last month.

Crude oil for October delivery was at US$67.15 a barrel, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday, the contract jumped US$4.39, or 7 percent, to US$67.39 a barrel, the highest close since Sept. 2 and the biggest increase since Dec. 26, 2001.

Oil futures, which reached a record $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30, are 45 percent higher than a year ago.

Gasoline prices jumped 14 percent yesterday and natural gas futures reached a record on expectations Rita will at least slow efforts to restore production lost after Katrina struck the Gulf coast on Aug. 29. About 30 percent of U.S. oil production comes from offshore facilities in the Gulf, while the region accounts for 24 percent of the country's gas output.

Katrina shut as much as 95 percent of U.S. Gulf oil and 88 percent of gas output as offshore platforms and coastal processing plants were evacuated.
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Microsoft shores up defenses with another acquisition
Microsoft: Microsoft made yet another acquisition in the security arena Monday with its purchase of a small Canadian software maker of identity management systems, including smart-card technology.

With its acquisition of Canada-based Alacris, Microsoft gains technology that helps IT departments deploy and manage smart-card systems in Windows-based environments. Privately held Alacris, founded in 1998, posted US$2.3 million in sales and had 21 employees in 2004, according to Hoover's.

Alacris' competitors include RSA Security, VeriSign and Computer Associates.

Alacris is just the latest in a string of security acquisitions for the world's largest software maker. Others included email security software maker FrontBridge Technologies in July; antivirus software maker Sybari in February; antispyware software maker Giant Company Software in December; and antivirus software maker GeCAD Software in 2003.
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