An escalation in US rhetoric in the ongoing trade war with China as well as falling Iranian exports will have an impact on supply and demand, with Opec collectively acting to balance oil markets, the group’s secretary general said yesterday. on Tuesday.
"Trade is a major quantum in the overall global economic equation and whatever affects the free flow of trade will ultimately impact growth and will have an impact on oil demand and also on the GDP," Mohammed Barkindo told a conference of energy traders in Fujairah, organised by Gulf Intelligence.
Oil prices have recovered from a three-year slump, rising to around $80 per barrel earlier this month, as exports from Iran, Opec's third-largest producer, began to fall due to the onset of US sanctions against the country. The White House has set November 14 as the deadline for countries to stop importing Iranian crude.
The exporters’ group in June began to revise an earlier pact to hold back around 1.8 million barrels per day from the market to boost prices. With Brent averaging around $72 for much of the year, Opec, led by Saudi Arabia, added 377,000 bpd back to the market since the second quarter of the year.
However, with importers cutting back supplies from Iran, oil markets remain concerned about a possible supply squeeze and higher prices that could trigger production from independent North American shale producers.
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Opec will act collectively to reinforce market balance should the Iran sanctions lead to a supply shock, Mr Barkindo said.
“We’re always acting and in the summer of 2014 we learnt our lessons,” he said.
"We have to continue to be ahead of the curve on all issues and if need be, also take collective action. It is not the responsibility of one or two producers to take decisions on behalf of all producers,” he added.
He stressed that Iran, as a founding member of Opec, would see its concerns addressed adequately by the exporters' group.
The group’s technical committee is monitoring and analysing the current dynamics of the oil market, which will be taken up at Opec’s upcoming sub-committee meeting at the Algerian capital on September 24, he said.
Opec will also press ahead during the meeting to institutionalise the working relationship with sovereign producers outside the group led by Russia.
The National reported in February that the 25 Opec and non-Opec producers undertaking supply corrections will evolve into a super-group by the end of the year.
The charter to formalise the relationship will be agreed to and signed during Opec’s annual meeting in Vienna in December, said Mr Barkindo.
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AT A GLANCE
Windfall
An “energy profits levy” to raise about £5 billion in a year. The temporary one-off tax will hit oil and gas firms by 25 per cent on extraordinary profits. An 80 per cent investment allowance should calm Conservative nerves that the move will dent North Sea firms’ investment to save them 91p for every £1 they spend.
A universal grant
Energy bills discount, which was effectively a £200 loan, has doubled to a £400 discount on bills for all households from October that will not need to be paid back.
Targeted measures
More than eight million of the lowest income households will receive a £650 one-off payment. It will apply to households on Universal Credit, Tax Credits, Pension Credit and legacy benefits.
Separate one-off payments of £300 will go to pensioners and £150 for those receiving disability benefits.
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
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ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
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Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
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The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
Sarfira
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Rating: 2/5
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US federal gun reform since Sandy Hook
- April 17, 2013: A bipartisan-drafted bill to expand background checks and ban assault weapons fails in the Senate.
- July 2015: Bill to require background checks for all gun sales is introduced in House of Representatives. It is not brought to a vote.
- June 12, 2016: Orlando shooting. Barack Obama calls on Congress to renew law prohibiting sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.
- October 1, 2017: Las Vegas shooting. US lawmakers call for banning bump-fire stocks, and some renew call for assault weapons ban.
- February 14, 2018: Seventeen pupils are killed and 17 are wounded during a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
- December 18, 2018: Donald Trump announces a ban on bump-fire stocks.
- August 2019: US House passes law expanding background checks. It is not brought to a vote in the Senate.
- April 11, 2022: Joe Biden announces measures to crack down on hard-to-trace 'ghost guns'.
- May 24, 2022: Nineteen children and two teachers are killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
- June 25, 2022: Joe Biden signs into law the first federal gun-control bill in decades.
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)
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
Company profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Dubai with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
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Courses at Istituto Marangoni, Dubai
Undergraduate courses
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Professional courses
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Short courses
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More information is at www.istitutomarangoni.com