Datum	Länk	Egen kommentar
2000-01-30	Oljekris på väg att segla upp i USA?	Ska detta få börsbubblan att spricka? U.S. May Be Heading for a Gasoline Crisis, Petroleum Argus Warns HOUSTON, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The oil industry may be heading for a crisis this spring as refiners are unprepared to meet consumer gasoline demand in the United States, according to Argus Global Markets, the authoritative weekly energy newsletter published by Petroleum Argus. Last week's surge in heating oil prices in New England are only a foretaste of the crisis looming in the gasoline market. Oil prices in the United States have risen to over $30/barrel, their highest levels in almost a decade, and heating oil prices have soared as frigid temperatures sweep across the northeast. The oil industry has been drained of product stocks by Opec's prolonged cuts in oil production and was ill-prepared for the unexpected surge in winter demand. But last week was just a hint of an even deeper crisis that looms over gasoline, Argus Global Markets warns in its lead editorial. U.S. and European gasoline stocks are at their lowest levels of the past decade. The industry has little capacity to supply much more gasoline, particularly with crude stocks depleted and distillate demand high. Runaway prices for gasoline will affect almost everyone in the U.S. Petroleum Argus notes that in an election year, this could mean political uproar. Spot gasoline prices in the U.S. are already as high as in 1996, when President Clinton speeded up a draw-down from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to calm markets and boost his re-election campaign. Gasoline demand this year will approach 8.5 million barrels per day, 7 percent higher than in 1996, yet stocks are lower, providing less cover. It may already be too late to rebuild stocks in time to cushion peak demand, and this threatens regional shortages and price spikes. The oil crisis will come to a head this year in the U.S. gasoline market, notes Petroleum Argus. Opec seems unaware of the danger, because it is watching the wrong end of the supply chain. When the crisis hits, it will be too late for oil producers or refiners to do much about it. Opec will lose credibility. But oil companies will receive most of the flak from consumers and regulators. In the end, the whole industry relies on consumers. To arouse their anger is commercially reckless and politically inept...
2000-01-30	Ännu ett exempel på problem inom oljeindustrin	Sunoco shuts Pennsylvania crude unit for 7-14 days NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. independent oil refiner Sunoco Inc. (NYSE:SUN - news) said on Thursday it unexpectedly idled a 85,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude unit at its Marcus Hook refinery in Pennsylvania for up to two weeks. The seven- to 14-day unplanned shutdown was a result of a problem in the crude heater, the company said in a statement. ``The company is buying product in the market and expects to meet the needs of its customers,'' it said. The remainder of the 505,000 bpd in the Sunoco Northeast refining system was operating at rated capacity. Philadelphia-based Sunoco is one of the largest independent petroleum refiner-marketers in the United States, with approximately 730,000 bpd of crude oil processing capacity.
2000-01-30	Kraftigt stigande antal felrapporter inom oljeindustrin	Den länkade grafen visar att antal inrapporterade problem inom oljeindustrin skjutit i höjden kring årsskiftet.
2000-01-30	Fler incidenter än allmänheten tror har inträffat	Det här är från Sightings. Many Y2K experts said all along you wouldn't begin to see the real effects of Y2K embedded system failures for 3 - 4 weeks. What else could possibly be creating such problems Worldwide? Here in the States since January 1 we have had: * Over 60 power outages * Over 15 one million+ gallon sewage spills * Water main and gas main leaks and breaks are up 20% over last year - and its a milder Winter this year. * 14 refineries have had delays, fires, or explosions, * 16 nuclear reactors were shut down - some are STILL down * Medicare delays * Social Security delays * Lost mail * UPS problems * Major phone outages * Reduced railroad capacity, etc., etc., etc. The government tried very hard to make people believe Y2K was a one-day event - and I think that effort has largely succeeded.
2000-01-30	7% av brittiska företag har drabbats av y2k-problem	Från CNNfn: Millennium bug bites one in 14 UK businesses Source: The Independent - London ONE IN 14 British businesses - 7 per cent - were hit by the millennium computer bug, the first official Government survey of the problem showed yesterday. A further 2 per cent suffered from higher wage costs and a slump in demand. But one leading expert said it was too early to say the millennium had had little effect on corporate activity A survey of 1,114 companies carried out by the Office for National Statistics in the week to 10 January found that 74 firms were affected by problems relating to the millennium date change. The main casualties were 33 businesses that suffered from computer problems, with 15 having to pay their staff more over the holiday period and 22 citing low customer demand. The largest negative effect was in the retail trade. Although only eight out of 122 business were affected, the victims made up more than a quarter of total sector turnover. A further 20 per cent of the hotel and restaurant trade reported problems. That figure is likely to be have been boosted by a computer problem that hit 14,000 credit-card machines, supplied to shops by the banking giant HSBC. The machines read January 2000 as January 1900 and refused to process transactions. The survey also showed that companies with more than 10 employees suffered more problems than smaller firms. Robin Guenier, head of executive director of Taskforce 2000, the independent bug watchdog, said the results were in line with his predictions. But he added: "The first real test will be when people come to their end of month results and they look back over items such as payrolls and taxation which will cover two centuries at the same time.
2000-01-30	Venezuela har problem med oljeraffinaderier	Reports of a major problem with one of the largest catcrackers in the western hemisphere has sent refined products futures higher this morning, in some cases helping them surpass post Gulf War highs. Industry reports say that Venezuela has suffered a mechanical problem at its huge 635,000 b/d Amuay Bay refinery and the unit may be lost for as long as three weeks. The 110,000 b/d catcracker is Venezuela's largest producer of finished gasoline, and traditionally accounts for a number of cargoes each month to the U.S. East Coast.
2000-01-16	Antalet inrapporterade y2k-fel stiger hela tiden	Från Information Week: The Y2K bug refuses to go away without a fight. An increasing number of system glitches surfaced as last week wound down. About 30% of people surveyed by InformationWeek Research say they had experienced Y2K-related computer problems by the end of the week, up from 10% a few days earlier. One in four IT professionals say their companies have suffered Y2K-related problems since New Year's Eve, according to the survey of 3,243 respondents, including 2,083 IT professionals. And while most of the glitches were termed insignificant, about 16% caused brief service interruptions and 4% caused significant interruptions. The problems included incorrectly displayed dates, prematurely expired passwords, and noncompliant date fields that halted non-critical applications.
2000-01-16	Problem kommer att bestå, säger revisor	The millennium bug caused just 67 significant computer failures across the world in the first week of the New Year, according to figures released yesterday. The bug count was collated by the Year 2000 Research Centre, which was set up by accountants KPMG and the British Bankers Association. The glitches ranged from failures reported at US power stations to problems with Internet music systems around the world. Malcolm Marshall, KPMG's risk management partner, said the appearance of some failures proved the there was a real problem with the millennium bug, Y2K. But he said that most systems were fixed in time. "However, Y2K isn't over yet," he warned. The most difficult to detect problems could prove a greater threat than dramatic failures such as complete system shutdowns, which are spotted immediately," Mr Marshall said. He said companies needed to be vigilant over the leap year day next month. Many computers have not been programmed to deal with this date of February 29. Mr Marshall said some temporary fixes for the millennium bug could pose a problem if companies assumed they had solved the problem for good.
2000-01-16	Site där kända y2k-problem registreras fortlöpande	Y2k center.
2000-01-16	Problem fortsätter att dyka upp, säger Koskinen	Från USIA: The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion says minor Y2K glitches continue to be reported across the country, ranging from difficulties in processing motor vehicle registrations to problems related to school building operations. In a press release issued January 7, the council described several domestic Y2K-related incidents that have occurred since January 3 -- the date of the last press briefing held at the council's Information Coordination Center. "The fact that there continue to be date change glitches reminds us that the Y2K challenge was very real," said Council Chair John Koskinen.
2000-01-16	GAO undanhöll rapport om FAA	Från Newsbites: The two leading members of the House Science Committee withheld a key General Accounting Office (GAO) report on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and security lapses to avoid a jaundiced public reaction during the heady days preceding the Year 2000 date change. Science Committee Spokesman Jeff Lungren told Newsbytes that Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Ranking Democrat Ralph Hall, D-Texas, did not suppress the report, as was reported by the Associated Press and a Milwaukee newspaper. Instead, he said, they opted to send a draft version of the report to the White House before releasing the report within the required 30 days of its reception in the Science Committee. The report is scheduled for release Tuesday, but Lungren would not provide specifics. He said that Sensenbrenner still must approve the release, but is unavailable because he currently is in Taiwan. Hall also must give his approval, but also is not in Washington, D.C., at the moment. White House officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment, though Sensenbrenner reportedly told White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger that the option to release the GAO report was Berger's. Lungren confirmed Sensenbrenner's statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the GAO report shows that security lapses were committed at the FAA during its attempts to reach Year 2000 compliance. He said the report shows that some of the outside contractors brought in to correct Year 2000 problems did not possess the proper clearance. In addition, he said, the report raised other security issues that were "larger than just Y2K." These issues currently remain undisclosed, though Lungren said that no one has discovered any security "compromises" despite the fact that the stage apparently was set for them. Lungren also said that releasing the report in the midst of uncertainty and concern about unexpected consequences of the Year 2000 problem could have produced an adverse public reaction. "Sometimes in the public discourse... there was some anxiety with the Y2K issue, and sometimes things can be taken out of context," he said. As Newsbytes reported, the FAA's Year 2000 preparations were largely successful, with Administrator Jane Garvey, Senate Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and White House Year 2000 point man John Koskinen all taking commercial flights during crucial date change times on Dec. 31, 1999.
2000-01-16	Fel upptäckta i banksektorn	Det här är från Washington Post. Glitches from the Y2K computer bug began cropping up in some financial industry computer software programs this week. A local bank and two national credit-card companies had unforeseen problems with software that customers or vendors hadn't upgraded or checked for compliance. While small, the glitches show that despite billions of dollars spent on fixing the computer date bug, bits of it remain in the vast network of interrelated software systems. CyberCash Inc., a Reston-based company that makes electronic transaction-processing software, said it received a flood of calls late this week from merchants who use CyberCash's program, but didn't upgrade it for Y2K compliance. The result is that consumers may get duplicate purchases on their credit cards.
2000-01-08	Yardeni sänker risk för post y2k-recession till 30%	One of the leading Year 2000 gurus admitted this week he was wrong when he predicted the millennium bug was fairly certain to cause a global recession. Deutsche Bank chief economist Ed Yardeni, who previously said the odds of a global recession versus economic expansion were 70-30 in favour of recession, completely reversed his estimates today to 30-70. "I concede that I was wrong about a Y2K global downturn," said Yardeni. He said he was "impressed and pleased" by the smooth transition into 2000 so far and that there had been no significant Y2K problems around the world. "As a result, the risk of disruption to global supply chains, which has been my number one concern, is low now," added Yardeni, although he did say that some systems might still experience malfunctions and failures in coming weeks. "The IT community deserves most of the credit for the uneventful century date change," said Yardeni. He added that he had no regrets about his efforts to raise awareness over the millennium bug. "I believe that Y2K was a big problem," he added. "Hopefully in the next few weeks we will find that it has been mostly fixed."
2000-01-08	De Jager Warns Of Complacency	Peter De Jager, an expert on Y2K issues, says in his newsletter today that, 12 hours into the New Year, "as far as the Y2K bug is concerned it is like watching a wake." De Jager, who is arguably one of the longest-running Y2K experts on the conference circuit, said in a press statement this morning that, at long last, the endless wearisome debate on whether or not Y2K is a real problem is over. "As you read this, the stark reality of Y2K is making itself known around the world. If we are facing technological trauma, despite earnest and sincere warnings, then we have only ourselves to blame. If we've muddled through or shuffled around the crisis, we were lucky," he said. "Considering how late many of us started remediation, competence and skill had nothing to do with either outcome. Yesterday, Y2K cost us hundreds of billions of dollars to fix. Today and tomorrow, it holds us captive as we await the outcome of those efforts," he added. In his press statement, De Jager says that, over the foreseeable future, the Y2K IT issue will cost additional billions to remedy the problems that the industry has overlooked, as well as the new ones that industry has introduced to the mix. "Then, of course, we have to endure the inevitable endless litany of lawsuits. These are not predictions; I'm merely describing what has already happened and what is waiting in the wings," he said. De Jager goes on to say that "we could argue that the high cost of early computer memory forced us to use two-digit years even though we knew they would fail us in the future." "We could also argue that resistance to and denial of bad news prevented us from fixing it in time to avoid the vast majority of the costs. These arguments have some merit, but they sound more like after-the-fact rationalizations than the real reason we placed ourselves in this situation," he said. "The real reason is simpler, makes no excuses, is less than complimentary, and is naturally avoided whenever possible," he added. According to De Jager, the real reason Y2K became a reality "is that we had no clue what we were doing." "We were making it up as we went along," he said. De Jager argues that, if the computer industry had paid more attention to the risks associated with computer applications scheduled to expire on a particular date, then it would have put safeguards in place to help minimize the consequences. "But we didn't. Instead, we have a rather expensive object lesson in hand," he said.
2000-01-08	Kreditkort debiteras dubbelt efter Y2K	Från IDG: Har du handlat på Internet efter nyår kan det vara värt att kontrollera ditt saldo då vissa tjänster har råkat debitera dubbelt. En Y2K-bugg i ett av de största programmen för e-handel har gjort så att en del Internetanvändare som handlat på Internet efter nyår har blivit debiterade för mer än de handlat för. Det är den välkända kreditkortstjänsten Cybercash som erbjuder e-handlare att ta betalt med kreditkort som råkat ut för en Y2K-bugg. Trots att Cybercash gett ut en gratis uppdatering för sitt program som används av 100.000 e-handlare så har inte alla utnyttjat uppdateringen. Detta har lett till att personer som köpt exempelvis en cd-skiva på Internet har blivit återdebiterad för skivans kostnad varje veckodag efter köpet. Visa och Mastercard säger att de nu kontrollerar så att deras kunder inte kan bli dubbeldebiterade men uppmanar sina kunder att kontrollera sina konton utifall det smugit sig in ett fel.
2000-01-08	Nio av tio IT-proffs märkte inte av buggen	Från IDG: Trots år av förberedelser och kostnader för drygt 175 miljarder kronor i omställningskostnader över hela världen säger nio av tio IT-proffs att de inte drabbades av millenniebuggen. 90 procent av dem som arbetar med IT har inte märkt av några datorstörningar i samband med millennieskiftet. Det är samma resultat som för dem som inte arbetar med IT. Majoriteten av dem, 58 procent, anser att medierna har förstorat upp problemet medan 42 procent uppger att millennieskiftet blev som de förväntat sig. Det visar en webbundersökning som den amerikanska tidningen Information Week genomfört bland 1 750 personer varav 1 086 arbetar med IT. Snabba åtgärder En av fyra uppgav att deras företag haft år 2000-relaterade problem, men att de flesta bedömts som obetydliga. Fyra procent uppgavs ha orsakat allvarliga störningar. De flesta problemen kunde dock lösas inom en timme. Av dem som rapporterat problem handlade det framför allt om datavirus eller felaktiga databasposter. Tre av fyra rapporterar att deras företag hittills inte upplevt några år 2000-problem. För mycket pengar Med facit i hand uppgav nästan en av fyra att de spenderat för mycket på att åtgärda millenniebuggen medan tre av fyra ansåg att de lagt ned vad som krävdes för att åtgärda problemet. En stor andel uppger i likhet med många svenska organisationer att deras erfarenheter av år 2000-arbetet varit positivt. De största riskområdena för millenniebuggen är pc, följt av nätverk, stordatorer och internet, enligt IT-specialisterna i undersökningen.
2000-01-08	Norska medier: 2000-bugg bakom tågolyckan	Från IDG: Norska tidningar spekulerar i att millenniebuggen kan ha orsakat den stora tågkatastrofen i Norge. Det finns även teorier om att mobiltelestrul ska ha hindrat trafikcentralen att varna tågföraren i tid. Det är den norska tidningen Dagbladet som skriver att den norska motsvarigheten till järnvägsinspektionen, Jernbaneverket, varnat för 2000-buggen redan för två månader sedan. Verket var oroligt för en katastrof om "stora integrerade telekommunikationslösningar gav fel datainformation". Jernbaneverkets chef, Sigurd Sandelin, bekräftade på tisdagskvällen att det varit en del problem med datasystemen i och med övergången till det nya millenniet. Kom inte fram En annan teori är att det är krånglande mobiltelefoner som ska ha orsakat tågkraschen, enligt norska TV2. Varningssystemen i tågen på Rörosbanan bygger på mobiltelefoner. Men mobiltelefonerna är inte alltid på rätt tåg och telefonlisterna är ofta inte uppdaterade. Därför ska larmcentralen aldrig ha fått kontakt med tågförarna när de upptäckte vad som höll på att ske.
2000-01-08	2000-buggen slog mot banks betalsystem	Från IDG: Danmarks andra största bank, Unidanmark, drabbade av 2000-buggen. Ett säkerhetshål öppnades i Unitel, ett betal- och informationssystem. En klient såg att informationen om sina kunder försvann när han försökte ta bort betalningsinformation, något han gör regelbundet utan problem, skriver Bloomberg. Det handlar om en 2000-bugg, erkänner Torben Laustsen, ansvarig för företagskommunikation på Unidanmark. Nu uppdateras informationen tills vidare manuellt. Alla Unitel-kunder ska ha blivit varnade om problemet. - Det ska vara åtgärdat inom några få dagar, säger Torben Laustsen.
2000-01-08	Gambia har stora 2000-problem	Från IDG: Det lilla västafrikanska landet Gambia är det enda landet hittills där det uppstått stora millenniebuggsrelaterade problem i samband med 2000-övergången. När Gambia trädde in i det nya millenniet har mycket omfattande strömavbrott uppstått som påverkat så gott som alla delar av samhället. För att komma tillrätta med problemet och få tid på sig att värdera skadorna har landets regeringen förklarat måndagen den 3 januari år 2000 till en arbetsfri dag, enligt nyhetsbyrån AFP.
2000-01-08	Finansmarknaden fungerar som vanligt	Från IDG: De första rapporterna från världens finansvärld visar att även här klarade systemen övergången till 2000. Även om flera experter varnat för att en del problem kan uppstå idag och imorgon när världens finansmarknader kommer igång är de första rapporterna positiva. I Asien tycks övergången gått smärtfritt. Även Chicago Mercantile Exchange som började handla kring 12:00 i natt svensk tid rapporterar att det gått bra. I England är måndagen en ledig dag för bankerna och där anser man att morgondagen blir den känsliga dagen när alla företag sparkar igång sin verksamhet. Kapitalistisk konspiration I övrigt tycks läget vara lugnt i världen. Pentagon rapporterar om ett betydande fel i ett spionsatellitsystem. Det uppstod i en station på marken som inte kunde hantera information som satelliten sände. Det tog två till tre timmar innan allt var igång igen. Även fransmännen drabbades av problem med satelliter och Japan fick några smärre buggrelaterade problem i fyra kärnkraftverk. Alltså råder lugn. Så pass mycket att en kubansk nyhetstidning, enligt BBC, kallade det hela en kapitalistisk konspiration för att öka datorförsäljningen i världen.
2000-01-08	Nödstopp i kärnreaktorer	Från IDG: Tre kärnkraftverk i USA nödstoppades under nyårsnatten efter datorproblem. Bara ett av stoppen anses dock kunna ha något att göra med Y2K-buggen. Kärnkraftverket i Catawba I Nort Carolina fick stoppas efter ett datorhaveri som ännu är under utredning. De tå övriga nödstoppen orsakades av ett problem med transformatorer , och av den mänskliga faktorn.
2000-01-08	Störningar vid kraftverk i Tjeckien	Från IDG: Första och hittills enda störningen som kan ha samband med tusenårsskiftet i Europa rapporterades nyss in från Tjeckien. Ett kraftverk i den norra delen av landet drabbades av driftstörningar direkt efter midnatt. Om det är en konsekvens av Y2K-buggen är fortfarande osäkert.
2000-01-08	Inga störningar rapporterades till ÖCB direkt efter tolvslaget	Från IDG: Inga som helst störningar rapporterades efter tolvslaget till Överstyrelsen för civil beredskap och regeringens egen analysgrupp. En rad samhällskritiska system och områden övervakades speciellt under natten; el, tele, fjärrvärme, vatten, radio/tv, kärnkraft och sjukvård. Samtliga områden visade helt normal funktion. Tågen stod dock stilla över tolvslaget, helt planenligt,medan strömförsörjningen kontrollerades.
2000-01-08	Inga flygstörningar	Tack och lov. Från IDG: <Inte en enda störning rapporteras från den europeiska flygtrafiken under millennieskiftet. De extrainkallade teknikerna kunde redan en halvtimme före midnatt börja koppla av med en buffe och vin. - När vi fick veta att ryssarna inte drabbats av några störningar visste vi att våra system också var OK, sade George Paulsson, ansvarig för den europeiska flygsäkerheten.
2000-01-08	Kärnkraftverk i Japan drabbat	Från IDG: Ett system för att övervaka raktioaktivitetsnivåer i ett japanskt kärnkraftverk slutade fungera direkt efter tolvslaget, enligt lokala medier i Japan. Anledningen är annu oklar. Systemet består av en rad sensorer över ett stort område runt kärnkraftverket i Ishikawa. Med jämna mellanrum skickas data från sensorerna in till en övervakningscentral. Direkt efter midnatt japansk tid slutade sensorerna skicka data. Manuella mätningar visade dock att det inte var några problem med radioaktiviteten i området. Enligt japanska myndigheter är det ännu inte klartlagt om driftstoppet berodde på ett 2000-problem.