Opec and non-member producers led by Russia agreed to a gradual increase in production for three months starting in January, ending a long annual meeting.
The group will bring 2 million barrels per day to the market, incrementally by 0.5 million bpd, starting in January.
The alliance, informally known as Opec+ will draw back 7.2 million bpd, reversing the 7.7 million bpd of curbs in place since August.
Opec+ also extended the period allowed for members to make compensatory cuts for earlier overproduction to the end of March.
The group, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, will hold monthly ministerial meetings starting in January “to assess market conditions and decide on further production adjustments", Opec said in a communique.
"We actually had a very long discussion about the current state of the market and other factors, and we believe that today's market is rather stable, although there is still some uncertainty, of course,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said after the meeting.
“That is why, considering some stability, we have decided that we need to do this easing of cuts gradually, making a pause every month to review what's happening."
Mr Novak, who continues to handle Opec affairs after his promotion from energy minister to deputy premier, will visit Saudi Arabia in January to discuss issues relating to the market and bilateral relations.
Oil markets reacted positively to the news of Opec+ tapering cuts gradually.
Brent, the international benchmark, was up 1.24 per cent, trading at $48.85 per barrel at 12.04am UAE time on Friday.
West Texas Intermediate, which tracks US crude grades, was up 1.08 per cent, trading at $45.77 per barrel.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who this week tendered his resignation as chairman of the joint ministerial monitoring committee meeting, will now stay on, Opec said.
"I threw down the towel but the towel came back to me,” Prince Abdulaziz said.
He dismissed and criticised reports of a rift between producers.
"This is a grand commitment and this is a demonstration of responsibility by all participants,” Prince Abdulaziz said.
"This is a mature agreement and mature in the sense that the end of the day we all can agree by consensus."
Opec+ took into account the UAE’s concerns about the lack of compensation by other members of the alliance, he said.
“We’re given many assurances now," Prince Abdulaziz said.
"This is going to be a relentless quest and we’re going to make sure that everybody will discipline themselves as well as they can."
The group will continue to make exemptions for Libya, a key Opec producer, on humanitarian grounds.
The North African producer has taken 1.25 million bpd to the market since September, after it ended a 10-month force majeure.
“As an Opec member, usually when a country goes through a situation like this, we allow them to produce all the way to the last agreement that we had," Prince Abdulaziz said.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Abramovich London
A Kensington Palace Gardens house with 15 bedrooms is valued at more than £150 million.
A three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront bought for £22 million.
Steel company Evraz drops more than 10 per cent in trading after UK officials said it was potentially supplying the Russian military.
Sale of Chelsea Football Club is now impossible.
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.
Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.
Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.
For more details, email openminds@cultures.ae or visit www.cultures.ae
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
