Crude prices have made up the ground they lost earlier this week, bouncing back on news of Chinese government plans to boost stockpiles of economically strategic materials.
Addressing the National People's Congress in Beijing on Wednesday, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, said China would "significantly increase" investments this year in commodities such as crude oil and petroleum products to counter the country's economic slowdown.
Analysts said Beijing's oil purchases would help mop up excess crude that had been stored at sea in tankers while major onshore storage depots worldwide have been filled nearly to capacity.
"This has buoyed the market a lot," said Dalton Garis, an assistant professor of economics at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. "We could see oil at US$50 a barrel fairly soon."
Crude pulled back towards $44 a barrel yesterday, after touching $45.70 on Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level in more than a month. But fresh data confirming economic contraction in the EU, along with expectations that the US government would report higher unemployment in the world's biggest economy, failed to claw back prices to the $40 level plumbed on Monday.
In another noteworthy development, the discount for the North American benchmark crude relative to European and Omani crudes shrunk to less than $1 a barrel, well below the roughly $10 a barrel spreads reached when brimming stockpiles at the main US storage depot at Cushing, Oklahoma, became a major concern to oil traders. The Oman crude oil futures contract on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange closed yesterday at $44.49.
US crude inventories declined for a second week, according to government figures released on Wednesday, falling by 700,000 barrels to 350.6 million barrels for the week ending Feb 27 instead of increasing as analysts had predicted.
Another factor that could bolster oil prices is a growing expectation that OPEC will decide on a further production cut at its March 15 meeting.
In a development that some interpreted as a strong signal of Saudi intent to support the market by pumping less oil, the state-owned Saudi Aramco on Wednesday raised its official selling prices for crude to be shipped under term contracts in April.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest oil producer, has an overarching influence on the organisation's decisions. However, the OPEC president, Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, said the group would "evaluate the situation" before deciding whether to cut again.
@Email:tcarlisle@thenational.ae
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.4-litre%204-cylinder%20turbo%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20366hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E550Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESix-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh360%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EAvailable%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Barbie
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Greta%20Gerwig%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Margot%20Robbie%2C%20Ryan%20Gosling%2C%20Will%20Ferrell%2C%20America%20Ferrera%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
