OPEC set to prolong output cut after Saudi-Russia deal

Agencies
July 1, 2019

Vienna, Jul 1: OPEC and its allies are set this week to prolong oil output cuts to further boost prices, after the two biggest players Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to do so.

Ministers from the 14-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet in Vienna on Monday to discuss output, before gathering a day later for OPEC+, a group of 24 oil-producing countries that includes Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and OPEC cartel kingpin Saudi Arabia agreed Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 in Osaka to extend their deal which aims to keep oil output low owing to abundant world supplies.

"We will extend this deal, Russia and Saudi Arabia. For how long? We will think about that. For six or nine months. It is possible that it could be up to nine months," Putin said.

OPEC and its oil-producer allies decided in December to trim daily crude output by 1.2 million barrels.

The reduction contributed to oil prices soaring by almost one-third in the first quarter of 2019, boosting precious revenues for OPEC and non-OPEC members alike.

The cartel meanwhile remains on red alert over escalating US-Iran tensions that have fuelled recent strong oil-price gains -- but it and other producers are unlikely to end output cutbacks just yet.

Saudi Arabia's influential energy minister Khalid al-Falih, arriving in Vienna early on Sunday, declared that he wanted the cutbacks which began in January to be extended by nine more months.

"We have to talk about it with the other ministers. My preference will be nine (months)", he told reporters. That would extend the deal to March 2020.

United Arab Emirates energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei, upon arrival in the Austrian capital, voiced his support to an extension.

"We look forward to a positive meeting, my view is that an extension is needed given the current conditions of the market," he told reporters.

Quizzed about the so-called "pre-deal" unveiled in Osaka, Mazrouei replied: "Each country's voice counts and each country can veto a decision."

OPEC's meeting comes against a background of ample global crude supplies, according to both the cartel and International Energy Agency.

The Paris-based IEA watchdog has cut its forecast for 2019 oil demand-growth for a second straight month and has trimmed also its second-quarter forecast.

Saudi Arabia argues that oil supplies are sufficient, pointing to rising stockpiles despite significant output reduction in sanctions-hit Iran and Venezuela, both members of OPEC.

Falih admitted on Sunday that demand "is softening a little bit" but stressed that he expected demand and supply to strike a balance.

"It is still healthy. So it is likely that the market will balance in due course in six to nine months. So we are happy," he said.

Global oil prices began a sharp ascent in mid-May after the sabotage of several tankers off the Emirati coast.

They jumped further after Washington blamed Tehran for a second spate of such incidents close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz shipping lane in mid-June.

Oil prices rose even more after Iran shot down a US spy drone and President Donald Trump axed retaliatory strikes against Tehran at the last minute.

Worries over the demand backdrop persist -- particularly from the US-China trade war despite a truce agreed over the weekend.

"Geopolitical risk means the supply outlook is tightening, offsetting the moderate weakening in oil demand growth thus far this year," said oil specialist Ann-Louise Hittle at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

"There is a downside risk for oil demand through the rest of the year if the ongoing trade war intensifies," she added.

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News Network
November 13,2024

lebenonstrikes.jpg

Beirut: The Israeli army on Tuesday continued to launch attacks against civilians in Lebanon, targeting them in several areas without prior evacuation warnings.

However, 13 airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the space of only three hours were preceded by evacuation warnings.

The attacks caused no injuries but resulted in widespread destruction of residential buildings and commercial, medical and educational centers.

The airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Bekaa region, reaching Akkar in Lebanon’s far north, erased any hope of a near-term ceasefire settlement.

The strikes were accompanied by an announcement on Israel’s Channel 14 that “the Israeli army has expanded its operations in southern Lebanon to areas it had not reached since the beginning of the ground operation.”

About 50 days have passed since Israel intensified its hostile operations in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. The death toll from these confrontations and attacks has passed 3,200, with more than 14,000 wounded.

For the first time, an airstrike targeted a mountainous area between Baalchmay and Aabadiyeh on the road leading to Aley, destroying a building housing displaced people.

The mayor of Baalchmay, Adham Al-Danaf, confirmed that “the airstrike targeted a residential building in the Dhour Aabadiyeh area.”

The initial toll from the Ministry of Health showed “five people killed and two injured.”

The raids that targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time in the morning, unlike nightly raids before, caused huge destruction. Those who evacuated their homes after Israeli warnings, used their phones to record the collapse of empty buildings in Sfeir, Haret Hreik, Bir Al-Abed, Mrayjeh, Laylaki and Hadath.

Israeli warplanes also targeted Tyre, where a strike on a building killed three people and injured many others, while a raid on Tefahta killed a man identified as Kifah Khalil and his family.

Attacks were widespread, with Yater and Zebqine subject to artillery shelling, a civilian being killed in Hermel, and further attacks on Bouday and an area between the towns of Srifa and Arsoun.

A raid on the town of Siddiqin killed two people and injured several others, while an attack on the Mechref farm led to one fatality and multiple injuries.

The search for those missing after an Israeli raid on the town of Ain Yaacoub in Akkar, in the northernmost part of Lebanon, continued until dawn.

During the operation, 14 bodies were retrieved, identified as those of residents displaced from the town of Arabsalim in the Iqlim Al-Tuffah area of the south, along with members of a Syrian family, a mother and three of her children. Additionally, there were 10 people in critical condition.

The targeted residence belongs to a Lebanese citizen, Hussein Hashim, who is reported to be a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

An airstrike on the town of Saksakiyeh in the Sidon region on Monday night resulted in yet another tragedy.

It appeared that the intended target was the Shoumer family, who just days before lost Hussein Amin Shoumer and his two sisters in a drone strike near Al-Awali River.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued additional evacuation warnings for towns in the southern region along the Litani River, which, according to estimates from the mayors, are currently 90 percent uninhabited.

In the meantime, Hezbollah announced its continued efforts to “combat the intrusions of Israeli forces and to strike military installations and towns in the north.”

Hezbollah said in a statement that it confronted “an Israeli Hermes 450 drone in the airspace of Nabatieh and forced it to leave Lebanese airspace.”

The party also announced that it targeted “Kfar Blum settlement with a rocket salvo.”

On the Israeli side, air raid sirens sounded in areas of Upper and Western Galilee and in the town of Kiryat Shmona and its surroundings.

The Israeli army confirmed that “a drone exploded in Nesher, east of Haifa, without activating the air raid sirens,” and that “a drone launched from Lebanon crashed into a school in Gesher HaZiv, north of Nahariya.”

Israel’s Channel 13 reported the Israeli military’s assessment regarding Hezbollah’s military strength, claiming that the group currently possesses approximately 100 precision missiles, thousands of artillery shells, and hundreds of rockets. Additionally, it was highlighted that “there are around 200 Lebanese towns that remain unvisited.”

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News Network
November 14,2024

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday backed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over his claim that the BJP had offered Rs 50 crore each to 50 Congress MLAs in an attempt to "topple" the state government.

Addressing reporters here, Shivakumar, also the Congress state president, said, “The BJP indeed lured 50 Congress MLAs with Rs 50 crore each.”

He defended Siddaramaiah’s statement and said the Congress MLAs were briefed about the BJP’s alleged 'Operation Lotus', a term used to describe the BJP's attempts to destabilise ruling governments through horse-trading.

“Some of our MLAs informed the Chief Minister about this matter, and he, in turn, shared it with the media,” Shivakumar said.

At an event in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah reiterated the claim that "none of the Congress MLAs had accepted the offer".

He also accused the BJP of filing false cases against him in a bid to "remove him and overthrow his government".

The BJP has yet to respond to the allegations.

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