The Wall Street Journal: Oil News Roundup: November 3, 2006 4:40 p.m.

Crude-oil futures rose Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, approaching $59 a barrel, boosted by threats of attacks on Nigerian oil output and U.S. government reports that unemployment fell to its lowest level in five years. Here’s Friday’s roundup of oil and energy news:

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RECORD GREENHOUSE GASES: Heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2005 and are still increasing, according to the World Meteorological Organization, the U.N. weather agency. Scientists say carbon dioxide and other gases primarily from fossil-fuel-burning trap heat in the atmosphere and have warmed the Earth’s surface an average one degree in the past century. A British government report this week warned global warming would devastate the world economy on the scale of the world wars and the Great Depression if left unchecked. But the Financial Times’ Max Wilkinson argues that report was based on flawed data.

•China’s African Influence: China is translating its growing influence in Africa into an unprecedented summit Saturday with the nations of the world’s poorest continent, hoping to present itself as a sincere partner as it hunts for natural resources and allies. Its quest for African oil is worrying Western nations, including the U.S., the New York Times reports. The summit is also something of a trial run for the 2008 Olympics, the FT reports.

•Warning of Nigerian Attacks: Militants in Nigeria are planning a major wave of attacks and kidnappings in the next few days that could include up to 20 simultaneous bombings across the petroleum-rich south, U.S. diplomats warned.

•BP Bomb-Threat Hoax: A bomb hoax led to the evacuation of nonessential workers from the huge BP refinery in Whiting. News of the threat briefly helped push oil prices higher.

•Australia Reconsiders Kyoto: Australia, which along with the U.S. is the only developed nation not to join the Kyoto Protocols, is considering adopting a key provision to help fight global warming, the FT reports.

•Coal and Politics in W.Va.: The CEO of Massey Energy, West Virginia’s largest coal company, is tapping into his personal fortune to try to give Republicans control of the state legislature — something they haven’t enjoyed in more than seven decades.

•Oil Could Still Hit $100: Oil prices are going to rise again and could test $100 a barrel, Fariborz Ghadar, director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State, argues at MarketWatch.

•Tidal Power: In the quest for oil-free power, a handful of small companies are staking claims on the boundless energy of the rising and ebbing sea.

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