As oil markets are digesting the countervailing influences of the calling off of a Nigerian general strike that would have disrupted supplies and peak US demand coinciding with refinery use problems, Russian president Vladimir Putin has given another twist to the politics of energy supply. He has adopted the pose of conciliator by endorsing a proposal by Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, and its Italian counterpart ENI for a new 2,000-mile, £6.7 billion pipeline from southern Russia to Bulgaria.

Putin told a meeting of Balkan leaders that Russia, as ‘a global leader in oil and gas production’, was ready ‘to do everything possible to resolve energy problems in the region’. The proposed South Stream pipeline has received a welcome from the European Commission.

On the minerals front, Richard Lake, respected technical analyst at broker Brewin Dolphin, has warned that copper at US$7,244 a tonne is at a ‘very critical’ point. He suggests an upward move through $7,550 would face ‘serious resistance’, but a downward move through $7,100 would be ‘very serious’.