Iran appeared on Friday to be the main obstacle for an Opec deal to cut oil production. Bloomberg
Iran appeared on Friday to be the main obstacle for an Opec deal to cut oil production. Bloomberg
Iran appeared on Friday to be the main obstacle for an Opec deal to cut oil production. Bloomberg
Iran appeared on Friday to be the main obstacle for an Opec deal to cut oil production. Bloomberg

Opec+ postpones meeting amid differences over output curbs


Jennifer Gnana
  • English
  • Arabic

Opec+, the oil exporters group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, postponed meetings to discuss output increases to Friday, amid reservations from some producers.

The group convened earlier on Thursday as crude futures in New York crossed the $75 per barrel threshold for the first time in three years.

Oil prices are trading 50 per cent higher than at the start of the year.

Brent, the main international gauge for oil prices, and West Texas Intermediate, the North American benchmark, bridged their gap and were trading at similar levels late Thursday.

Brent rose 1.8 per cent to reach $75.96 per barrel at 10.26pm UAE time, while WTI surged 2.45 per cent to hit $75.27.

Opec+, which came together last year to introduce historic production cuts to rebalance an oil market ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, had initially planned to keep the curbs until April 2022.

But delegates at the Opec+ session today suggested that the group is likely to extend the curbs well into the end of next year.

The group is also considering adding 400,000 barrels per day of crude every month from August to December, potentially returning 2 million bpd of oil back to the markets.

However, disagreements over the volume and pace of future cuts forced the meeting to adjourn to Friday.

Opec+ will now convene its joint ministerial monitoring committee at 3pm Vienna time, followed by its ministerial conference at 4.30pm.

"If the group announces a smaller than expected output hike, this could push oil prices higher," said Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM.

"However, a higher-than-expected production increase may exert downward pressure on oil prices in the short term."

Markets have already priced in a much-anticipated return of 500,000 bpd by the group.

Should Opec+ consider returning half a million bpd of production, the price response is likely to be "muted" given the recent rallies seen in the markets, Mr Otunuga said.

The%20specs
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Brief scores:

Day 1

Toss: South Africa, field first

Pakistan (1st innings) 177: Sarfraz 56, Masood 44; Olivier 4-48

South Africa (1st innings) 123-2: Markram 78; Masood 1-4

Florida: The critical Sunshine State

Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991. 

Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.

In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

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Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

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AS%20WE%20EXIST
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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Xpanceo

Started: 2018

Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality

Funding: $40 million

Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

North Pole stats

Distance covered: 160km

Temperature: -40°C

Weight of equipment: 45kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 0

Terrain: Ice rock

South Pole stats

Distance covered: 130km

Temperature: -50°C

Weight of equipment: 50kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300

Terrain: Flat ice
 

Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
  1. Join parent networks
  2. Look beyond school fees
  3. Keep an open mind
Updated: July 02, 2021, 4:17 AM`