Oil rose to $70 a barrel on Monday after Nigeria’s main militant group said it attacked a Royal Dutch Shell oil platform, outweighing a fairly bearish report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

“Some things leave a mark, some leave a welt and some leave a scar. You can safely put the US Department of Interior’s Mineral Management Service into the scar category,” says Andy Carpenter. “As in hee hee hee, ha ha ha… from now on, the words mineral, management and service strung together in series will always evoke a hearty laugh from me.”

Oil company profits came under the spotlight yesterday as Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee strove to ‘take on’ the record profits of oil companies. This from The New York Times:

Such showdowns between lawmakers and oil titans have become a familiar routine on Capitol Hill. But with gas prices nearing $4 a gallon, and lawmakers headed home for a weeklong Memorial Day recess where they expect to get an earful from angry constituents, there is added urgency for Congress to appear active.