BP's Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico - - Oil prices are unlikely to spike to very high levels in the next two to three years due to rising spare capacity and relatively low demand growth, the chief economist at BP Plc said on Tuesday. "There will soon be 6 million barrels per day (bpd) of spare production capacity," BP's Christof Ruhl told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in London. "In the good years, global demand was rising by 1.2 million bpd each year - - so even if the good years were to return tomorrow, it would still take more than three years to burn through that spare capacity and to create markets as tense as they were a year ago."

Babcock Networks Ireland Limited: Appointment of Provisional Liquidator.

The High Court on Monday appointed Ken Fennell of Kavanagh Fennell Provisional Liquidator to Babcock Networks Ireland Limited.

Babcock Networks Ireland Limited, with offices in Ballymount, Dublin and Athlone, employees 64 staff, the majority of whom are field based engineers. The principle business of the company is the construction, installation and commissioning of telecommunications equipment. They provide skilled services to large multinational phone manufacturers such as Ericsson, Nokia and Motorolla, with 85% percent of its work carried out for Ericsson.

The proposed petition was presented to the High Court by Matheson Ormsby Prentice who are the solicitors for the etitioner. The petitioner Adrian Nash, Director of Babcock Networks Ireland Limited, is proposing the petition to wind up the company on behalf of all the directors of the company.

Fennell of Kavanagh Fennell, the provisional liquidator, hopes to sell the business as a going concern and has been handling a large number of insolvencies during the recession.

Government urged to revert to the standard calculation of preliminary taxation for 2009

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Ireland today urged the Government to revert to the standard calculation of preliminary taxation for 2009. “It is one thing to increase taxes, it is quite another to change rules in a retrospective manner and to put an unnecessary financial and administrative burden on the tax payer” said John White, President of the CPA.

Preliminary tax for a year is normally calculated by paying either 100% of the previous year’s tax liability or by estimating the full tax liability for 2009 and paying 90% of this figure.

To ensure certainty most taxpayers opt to pay 100% of the previous year’s tax bill. However, this year the calculation rules have changed. To avail of the ‘previous year’ option, it is necessary to retrospectively apply the new income levies introduced in 2009 to last year’s tax liability, in order to accurately estimate the preliminary tax due for 2009.

“At a time when all energies should be devoted by taxpayers to protecting and developing their businesses it is very unfortunate that this new administrative burden should be imposed, particularly when it will deliver very little benefit to the overall tax take”, said John White.

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) is calling for the rules to be changed so that preliminary tax can be calculated on the basis of the 2008 tax paid, as has always been the case. “There should be no requirement to recalculate last year’s tax liability in order to take the income levy into account. This avoids an extra compliance cost which must be borne by the taxpayer, their advisor, or both”, said White.

“Compliant taxpayers must have ease of administration. Introducing additional complexity benefits no-one – least of all small business owners trying to survive. This is an unnecessary additional cost on small businesses. It is also a mechanism to ensure that more small businesses pay a higher proportion of their tax a year in advance. At a time when credit restrictions are putting increasing pressure on these businesses, the further squeeze by government on their cash flow means this extra cost of could be the final straw for many,” warned White.

UK banks still don't have enough money to lend and there is a long way to go before their balance sheets will be fully cleaned up, Lord John Eatwell, member of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, told CNBC Tuesday. Lord Norman Lamont, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, joined the discussion: