Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) president Chakib Khelil reiterated on Saturday that Opec would not make a decision on output policy before its next scheduled meeting in September, and said oil-market fundamentals were not responsible for high oil prices.
There are plenty of explanations for what’s happening in the global oil markets. It’s caused by the economic boom in the world’s largest developing countries, particularly China and India. It’s caused by the unwillingness of the oil cartel Opec to pump more crude.
A string of deals with foreign firms to plug financing gaps in Nigeria’s oil industry will help unlock significant shut-in potential in the world’s eighth biggest exporter. Nigeria has signed deals worth -billion with Exxon Mobil and Total over the past week and is finalising a similar agreement with Royal Dutch Shell.
Oil climbed to a life-time high above a barrel on Wednesday, driven higher by a combination of long-term production worries and a near-term focus on tight fuel stocks. A United States government report later on Wednesday was expected to show crude inventories rose for a fifth straight week.
Oil markets are well supplied and high prices are the result of speculation, a weak dollar and geopolitical problems, Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) president Chakib Khelil said on Monday. ”As for Opec, indications show that there is no shortage [of supply],” he told a public forum on energy.
Indonesia said on Tuesday it may quit the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) as its declining crude oil output prevents the country from meeting its Opec quota and has reduced its influence in the cartel. Indonesia is Asia-Pacific’s only member of Opec, but its crude oil output has fallen in recent years.
Representatives of the world’s leading gas producers are discussing Russian proposals for greater cooperation, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry. Ministers from the Gas Exporting Countries Forum are meeting amid speculation that members are considering an Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec)-style club for gas producers.
Oil rose to a record high above on Tuesday, boosted by a jump in oil demand last month from China, the world’s second biggest energy consumer, and worries about supply from key producers Russia and Nigeria. United States light crude for May delivery was up 26 cents at ,74 a barrel by 10.05am GMT, after an all-time peak of .05.
Gunmen aboard a speedboat attacked a security vessel as it travelled to a major oil industry port in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, killing a Nigerian sailor, security sources said on Thursday. About 15 unknown gunmen attacked the vessel late on Wednesday as it travelled along the Bonny river towards Onne.
Oil eased to under a barrel on Friday, but stayed within sight of its record high from the previous session, with a tumbling United States dollar, fund flows and Opec’s (the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) reluctance to pump extra crude providing support.
Ministers of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) on Wednesday agreed to keep oil output steady and said record high prices had been driven by factors that were beyond their control. United States crude hit a record of ,95 a barrel on Monday and was trading above on Wednesday.
Opec ministers are poised to hold output steady at a meeting on Wednesday, resisting pressure from top consumer the United States to pump more oil to help prop up a fragile economy. Opec has said triple-digit oil has been driven by factors beyond its control, such as a weak dollar and speculation and not by any lack of fuel.
Oil eased on Tuesday after it reached a record of almost a barrel in the previous session, buoyed by investor demand for commodities as well as expectations Opec will not increase supply despite high prices. United States light crude for April delivery was down 44 cents at ,01 a barrel by 10.30am GMT, after touching a record high of ,95 on Monday.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi urged a sweeping reform of government on Sunday, saying most of the Cabinet system should be dismantled as it had failed to manage the North Africa’s country’s windfall oil earnings. Gadaffi said that big projects were behind schedule and so ordinary people should themselves devise a new way of sharing out oil revenues.
Erai Maggi does not look like a villain who is destroying the planet; nor does he look like a hero who is saving the world’s poor. Wearing jeans and work boots, he can be found on a typical day driving a battered Fiat car on one of his farms south of the Amazon rainforest.
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/ 13 February 2008
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stopped oil exports to Exxon Mobil on Tuesday, escalating a multibillion-dollar fight with the United States company two days after threatening to cut off all supplies to America. The anti-US president’s retaliation for Exxon’s legal offensive pushed oil prices higher in late trading.
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/ 31 January 2008
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) on Thursday looked set to rebuff consumer calls for more crude oil, saying it was powerless to help stave off recessionary pressures in the West. Enjoying a sixth year of crude price gains, Opec argues it can do little to help avoid a slowdown in the United States, its leading customer.
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/ 30 January 2008
Al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing said it was behind a blast at a police station in Algeria which authorities said killed two people. Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb said a suicide bomber drove a truck packed explosives that detonated at the police station in a town east of Algiers on Tuesday.
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/ 30 January 2008
Venezuelan police swooped down on an ambulance used by robbers escaping a bank siege on Tuesday, arresting all four men and freeing a group of captives to end a two-day hostage stand-off. More than 50 people were held captive before the assailants negotiated an escape plan earlier on Tuesday.
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/ 29 January 2008
A car-bomb attack on a police station killed two people and wounded 23 in a town east of Algiers on Tuesday, the second such bombing in the Opec member in a month. Some residents said the blast in Thenia appeared to be a suicide attack, the tactic used in a twin bombing in the capital on December 11.
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/ 29 January 2008
Opec is widely expected to resist consumer calls for more oil when it meets on Friday, worried by a slowing United States economy and the onset of seasonally lower demand in the spring. Oil has fallen to around a barrel from a record ,09 on January 3, easing pressure on Opec to pump more.
Oil at a barrel should give exporters every incentive to pump more, but their difficulty in doing so shows the world is struggling to sustain production. A growing number of leading industry figures now question mainstream forecasts for supply, suggesting the era of ”plateau oil” is nearer than many had admitted.
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/ 26 December 2007
Oil prices of near per barrel caused alarm in consuming countries in 2007, and analysts forecast another tense crude market next year with triple-figure records a real prospect. Despite a murky outlook for the world economy, crude prices are seen settling at elevated levels.
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/ 5 December 2007
Oil rose on Wednesday after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) decided to keep output levels unchanged, rebuffing consumer-country calls for more crude to rein in prices now near a barrel. Opec also agreed to meet again at the end of January to review its decision ahead of a regular March gathering.
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/ 4 December 2007
The biggest Persian Gulf producers of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) are leaving open the option of an oil-supply increase that could influence whether crude prices head back towards a barrel. Oil ministers, gathering to meet on Wednesday, have adopted a coordinated line to insist that supplies are sufficient to meet winter demand.
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/ 4 December 2007
Oil prices fell again on Monday, adding to last week’s 10% slump, on continued speculation that the producers’ cartel Opec would agree to increase output when it meets on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. United States light crude futures fell by more than a dollar a barrel in busy trading to about ,50 a barrel — almost a barrel lower than the peak of ,29 set two weeks.
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/ 1 December 2007
Oil prices fell back below a barrel on Friday amid speculation that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) will decide to increase its output at a meeting next week, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, fell ,03 to close at ,71 per barrel, after earlier striking a one-month low of ,52.
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/ 29 November 2007
Oil prices rebounded by over a barrel on Thursday, after an explosion and fire at an oil terminal in Minnesota shut down most of the main pipeline that delivers Canadian crude to United States Midwest refineries. US crude rose by ,11 to ,73 a barrel by 4.35am GMT, recouping some of the previous session’s loss of ,80, or 4%.
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/ 28 November 2007
Oil fell below a barrel on Wednesday, pinching some of Asia’s top resource stocks, while nagging fears that a credit market squeeze will sap global growth weighed on the dollar and the region’s exporters. News that top United States bank, Citigroup, got a ,5-billion capital injection from Abu Dhabi’s investment arm on Tuesday buoyed US stocks.
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/ 21 November 2007
Oil soared to record highs on Wednesday, drawing within a hair’s breadth of the milestone as the United States dollar plumbed new lows and the onset of cold weather stirred anxiety over winter supplies. US light crude for January delivery surged to a record of ,29 a barrel early in the session, but pared those gains to stand 61 cents higher at ,64.
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/ 18 November 2007
”Kill the cable, kill the cable,” shouted the security guard as he burst through the double doors into the media room at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh, followed by Saudi police. It was too late. A private meeting of Opec leaders, gathered this weekend in Riyadh for the cartel’s third meeting in its 47-year history, had just been broadcast to the world’s media.
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/ 13 November 2007
Oil prices dropped on Tuesday after a key Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member left open the possibility the oil cartel will increase output to curb rising prices, and following the strengthening of the dollar overnight. Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell by six cents to ,56 a barrel.