Oil price rattled by US export clarification

The price of Brent oil fell again today as the United States clarified regulations regarding the export of processed light oil and China’s factory sector contracted for the first time in seven months.

Brent for February delivery fell 79 cents at US$57.11 as of 0728 GMT. Brent has shed around 50 per cent of its value from this year’s high of US$115 a barrel reached in June due to an oil supply glut, weaker demand from Europe and Asia and a strong dollar.

Oil prices were rattled by news coming out of the United States, where the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security published clarifications on exports of condensate a step that could flood markets outside the US with the light oil.

“Lease condensate that has been processed through a crude oil distillation tower is not crude oil, but a petroleum product. Petroleum products are subject to few export restrictions,” said the bureau in a detailed FAQ posted on its website on Tuesday.

These new guidelines do not end the embargo on most crude exports, which Congress adopted in 1975 in response to the Arab oil embargo.

Meanwhile, China, the world’s second largest oil consumer after the United States, saw the final HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for this month coming in at 49.6, down from the final 50.0 in November. The 50.0 mark separates growth from contraction.

dalsaadi@thenational.ae

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Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.