A round-up of today's other business news in brief

President of Opec seeks to cut output

Opec's president wants to give the group's planned one million barrels per day output cut extra bite by applying it to real production and not just a theoretical ceiling, according to a letter sent to Opec members.

Edmund Daukoru, who is also Nigerian minister of state for petroleum, wants responses by October 10th to his plan to make the cut from group output of around 27.5 million barrels per day, according to an industry source who has seen the letter.

One suggestion within Opec has been to chop just from the 28 million barrels per day ceiling that has been in place for over a year.

A $20 (€15.87) drop in crude prices in two months has alarmed the group that pumps one-third of the world's oil. US crude stood at around $60 a barrel yesterday. - (Reuters)

Island Oil agrees €3m drilling deal

Island Oil & Gas has signed an agreement with Encore Oil in a bid to boost funding for its Irish and UK drilling interests.

Under the agreement, Encore has paid £2 million (€3 million) to secure an exclusive option to acquire a 20 per cent interest in Island's Frontier Exploration License (FEL) 1/04, off the west coast of Ireland. Separately, Island also said it has agreed, with its joint venture partner Valhalla Oil and Gas, to acquire fellow partner X-Ipec's stake in FEL 1/04, bringing Island's interest in the project to 61.5 per cent.

B of I appoints investment chief

Bank of Ireland announced yesterday that Michael Grealy has been appointed as the group's new chief executive of alternative investments within its capital markets division.

Mr Grealy, who is head of group human resources, will be responsible for the group's alternative investment businesses in the US, and will also oversee the distribution of investment products.

Conroy Diamonds reviews site

AIM-listed Conroy Diamonds & Gold is carrying out a detailed review of its drilling site at Tullybuck-Lisglassan, with the aim of refining its geographical model for the sector.

The site is the location of Conroy's first gold discovery in the Armagh-Monaghan gold belt and the group has since expanded activities to reveal other gold deposits nearby. The preliminary results of the study have already enabled the group to identify several extra sections of mineralisation.

Siemens names new director of Irish arm

Global engineering group Siemens has appointed Dr Werner Kruckow as managing director of its Irish operation.

Dr Kruckow is a native of Germany and joined Siemens Transportation Systems Germany in 1988.

He is an electrical engineer by profession and has extensive experience of the public transport business. He has also worked on major international electrification, light rail and metro projects.

Ormonde upbeat on Spanish mine

Exploration group Ormonde Mining yesterday released a drilling update, saying that its Barruecopardo Tungsten Tailings Project in western Spain has the potential to provide a low-cost, profitable source of cashflow for the group.

The company said recent drilling has revealed higher than expected grades of tungsten in the area. Tungsten's most common use is in lightbulbs.