Oil prices rebounded Tuesday as bargain buyers and profit takers outweighed some of the pressure from Chinese economic concerns and strong supply that have recently added to oil’s fall. West Texas Intermediate crude hit a six-year low just a day ago, causing many bearish traders to hesitate on selling more futures, analysts said. Crude has had such a large and steady collapse—down about 60% from 2014’s highs—that many will use the…
A drop of diesel is seen at the tip of a nozzle after a fuel station customer fills her car’s tank in Sint Pieters Leeuw December 5, 2014. Wholesale petrol prices have slumped by 35.5 percent since reaching their peak for the year in June, but in more than half of European… U.S. oil prices fell toward six-year lows on Tuesday after stock markets tumbled in China, the world’s largest energy consumer, adding to worries about global fuel demand at a time of heavy oversupply. Chinese stocks fell 6 percent on Tuesday as the yuan weakened against the dollar, raising fears that Beijing may further devalue the currency. Such a move could decrease China’s consumption and import levels. Industrial metals, including copper, also traded near six-year lows, adding to bearish market sentiment. "That is dragging oil lower – it was in bearish territory to start with," SEB chief commodity […]
Senator Bob Menendez speaks at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey August 18, 2015. Senator Robert Menendez issued a scathing critique of the U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday and became the second senior lawmaker from President Barack Obama’s own party to announce he would vote to kill the pact with Tehran. Defying Obama and many other fellow Democrats, Menendez said in a speech in his home state of New Jersey: "I will vote to disapprove the agreement and, if called upon, would vote to override a veto" by the president. The Senate and House of Representatives have to vote by Sept. 17 on a "resolution of disapproval" being brought by majority Republicans aiming to sink the deal. Obama is trying to gather enough support among Democrats to sustain a veto of the resolution. Under the agreement between six major powers and Iran, new curbs […]
Iraq hired banks for its first international bond issue in almost a decade, seeking $6 billion to help plug a widening fiscal deficit. The government appointed Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co., said Muneer Mohammed Omran, director general of the central bank’s investor department in Baghdad. The bond program will be in tranches, with the first sale coming this year, he said by phone Tuesday. Spokesmen for the banks declined to comment. Iraq, holder of the world’s fifth-largest oil reserves, is looking to bolster its finances amid civil conflict and the global slump in oil prices. Fitch Ratings expects the fiscal deficit to top 10 percent for 2015 because of lower crude prices, higher military spending and costs associated with civil unrest. It ranked Iraq five levels below investment grade this month in its first ratings for the country. “Iraq is going through some difficulties […]
Investors sold Saudi Arabian stocks after an International Monetary Fund warning of slowing growth in the Middle East’s biggest economy tipped the equity index into a so-called death cross. Dubai’s shares also slumped. The Tadawul All Share Index slid for a sixth day, closing 2.9 percent lower at 8,197.02, the weakest level in more than seven months. That dragged its 50-day moving average below the 200-day moving average, a signal to some investors that further declines are in store. Al Rajhi Bank’s 2.9 percent decrease was the biggest contributer to the loss. Dubai’s DFM General Index slipped 2.5 percent to the lowest close since April 13. The Tadawul’s drop comes two months after Saudi Arabia opened its stock market to direct foreign investment for the first time to help diversify its economy away from oil. It puts into focus the deepening concern that King Salman is pushing ahead with […]
WASHINGTON — Partisanship has become the pre-eminent scapegoat for American political failure, an all-purpose explanation for Washington’s inability to act. Yet in rare circumstances, it can actually guarantee action. So, notwithstanding an acrimonious debate, polarization makes the United States’ acceptance of the Iran nuclear deal very likely. That is because the mechanism for congressional consideration, agreed on by Republican leaders and the White House , reverses the typical legislative imperative. Instead of requiring an extraordinary majority to act, it requires one to stop action — which means partisanship is all President Obama needs to approve the deal. The Republican-controlled House and Senate can pass a resolution next month disapproving the deal, as lawmakers in both parties expect they will. Mr. Obama can then veto that resolution, as he has promised to do. To override that veto and block the deal, Republican leaders would need two-thirds majorities in each chamber. […]
A key Senate Democrat on Tuesday said the P5+1 should have struck a better nuclear deal with Iran, urging Congress to reject the agreement and the Obama administration to assuage US allies by considering exports of US oil to countries that had previously purchased Iranian crude. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been one of a handful of Democrats to break from President Barack Obama on the Iran deal. In a speech at Seton Hall University in his home state, Menendez said Congress should pass a resolution of disapproval on the nuclear pact, and the Obama administration should renegotiate with Iran for more stringent restrictions on its nuclear program. And as it negotiates, the US should "consider licensing the strategic export of American oil to allied countries struggling with supply because Iranian oil remains off the market," he said. […]
Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani speaks in Dohuk on Aug. 3, 2015. (ARI JALAL/Reuters) Kurdistan’s oil revenue flows have become clogged in the political controversy engulfing the region over the tenure of President Massoud Barzani.The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Finance Ministry said Tuesday it has not received any money from June or July oil sales, and called on the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to release the funds. The MNR blamed the Finance Ministry for failing to effect the transfers.The MNR is controlled by Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) … This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .
The costs of OPEC’s plan to protect members’ share of the oil market by out-producing rivals are mounting. As oil prices slump to six-year lows, the risks of worsening political turmoil are rising in the organization’s most vulnerable nations. This includes Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and Venezuela, a group dubbed the ‘Fragile Five’ by RBC Capital Markets Ltd. The pain doesn’t end there. With even Saudi Arabia facing its biggest budget deficit in almost three decades, consultant Petromatrix GmbH says the plan to produce at full throttle was a “strategic mistake.” Oil prices slumped to near $40 a barrel in New York on Aug. 14 as a global surplus endures almost nine months after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries unveiled its plan to squeeze rivals led by U.S. shale drillers. American production has stubbornly refused to buckle. This chart shows how the budget position of Saudi Arabia and […]
Kazakhstan allowed its tenge to weaken the most since a devaluation 18 months ago, signaling Central Asia’s biggest crude exporter wants to adjust to declines in the currencies of its top trading partners, China and Russia. The tenge declined 4.4 percent to 197 per dollar by 2:29 p.m. in Almaty. That was the steepest retreat since February 2014 when the central bank, which uses its foreign-currency reserves to manage the exchange rate within a trading band versus the dollar, depreciated it by about 20 percent. Central bank representatives weren’t available to comment when contacted by Bloomberg. Pressure is mounting on countries that trade with China to let their currencies weaken after the yuan slide last week made their exports less competitive. Kazakhstan has also suffered from oil’s 22 percent retreat in the past two months, especially since its northern neighbor and trading partner Russia is allowing the ruble to […]
