On your front page today, you write, under the title 'Transneft warns of cut in Europe's gas supplies' (or 'Transneft warns Asia pipe will divert gas from Europe' in your European paper edition) that "Russia's oil pipeline monopoly said on Monday that deliveries to Europe would be cut and prices for Russian crude would rise once the country built a planned pipeline to Asia, in another indication of mounting global competition for energy resources."

This regretably confuses oil and gas. Transneft, as your article points out, is the oil pipeline monopoly, and the article refers to oil pipelines and oil exports. Why did you decide to make an incorrect reference to 'gas' in your headline, which has a highly visible spot on the front page? This reflects either total ignorance of the oil & gas business, where oil and gas are quite separate matters, especially on the pipeline side of the business, or wilful misrepresentation. In any case, that headline is false, misleading, and highly inflammatory in a context of tense relations on the energy side between Russians and Europeans.

Gazprom's similar recent declarations on the gas side, which are referred to in the above article, have been used for political gain by the Blair government, which appears to be seeking foreign culprits for the grave imbalances in the UK gas market in recent weeks, imbalances that can fairly be blamed on the lack of foresight of the government in the face of sharply declining, but widely expected, domestic North Sea production. European "protectionists" have been extensively lambasted in past months, and now Gazprom seems to be the new target of the government's ire.

Such blame shifting by politicians is understandable, but it is shameful to see the FT participate in such a campaign, and it directly inpugns on your credibility to do so via headlines that are blatantly false. I hope that you will correct the record on your front page in a forthcoming edition.

Best Regards,
Jérôme Guillet
Editor, European Tribune (www.eurotrib.com)