Tag: oil

Asian markets rise as energy firms are boosted by oil surge

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Most Asian markets rose on Wednesday with energy firms surging with oil prices, while traders await the conclusion of a key Federal Reserve policy meeting. While worries about the China-US trade row continue to claw at confidence, the strong US economy and healthy corporate outlook are providing some buoyancy for now. The weekend decision by major producers from inside and outside OPEC to maintain output — despite Donald Trump’s call […]

Macron wants Iran to sell oil, urges dialogue

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that Iran should be allowed to keep selling oil and urged dialogue as he rejected a US push to isolate the clerical regime. Speaking to reporters after addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Macron said that Iranian sales would bring down the price of oil — a professed concern of US President Donald Trump. “It would be good for the price of oil […]

Saudi says door open to future oil output hike

ALGIERS, Algeria (AFP) — A meeting between oil producing countries on Sunday decided not to alter supply to the global market, after calls by US President Donald Trump for an immediate hike in output to reduce prices. A committee of participating states “expressed its satisfaction regarding the current oil market outlook with an overall healthy balance between supply and demand”, a statement said, at the end of a meeting in Algiers. But Saudi Arabia’s energy […]

France’s Total has officially left Iran: oil minister

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — French energy giant Total has officially quit its multi-billion-dollar gas project in Iran, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Monday, following the reimposition of US sanctions. “Total has officially left the agreement for the development of phase 11 of South Pars (gas field). It has been more than two months that it announced that it would leave the contract,” he told the ICANA news agency, which is linked to the […]

Iran vows to foil US bid to block oil exports

TEHRAN, July 1, 2018 (AFP) –  Iran vowed Sunday to defeat US efforts to block its oil exports and warned rival producer Saudi Arabia it would never take Tehran’s “place” on the international oil market. “We will surely do something to thwart the US rallying cry that Iranian oil (exports) must be stemmed,” First Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri said in statements broadcast on state television. “The (Iranian) government has a plan… and God willing we are certain […]

Libyan strongman Haftar announces ‘liberation’ of Derna

BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP)–Libya’s Khalifa Haftar announced Thursday the “liberation” of Derna, the only city in the eastern region beyond his control, from radical Islamist militias. “We proudly announce the liberation of Derna, a city dear to all Libyans,” the breakaway military leader said in a televised speech. He promised residents a “new era of freedom, security and peace.” A spokesman for Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) said troops stormed “the last stronghold of the […]

Defusing row, OPEC agrees to put more oil into market

  by Michelle Fitzpatrick/ Joseph Sotinel Agence France Presse VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — OPEC energy ministers said they would be putting more oil onto the market to meet “extra demand”, reaching a last-ditch compromise in a spat that pitted Saudi Arabia against archfoe Iran. The ministers announced on Friday they had agreed to ramp up oil production by around a million barrels a day from July. “I think it will contribute significantly to meet the […]

OPEC rift deepens ahead of crucial meeting

  by Michelle Fitzpatrick © Agence France-Presse VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Iran’s oil minister walked out of a key meeting with OPEC peers on Thursday, as a rift deepened with regional rival Saudi over its push to ramp up the cartel’s oil output. “I do not think we can reach an agreement,” Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters at his Vienna hotel after quitting talks with a group of ministers on the eve of a crucial OPEC […]

OPEC braces for tough Vienna talks on hiking oil output

by Joseph Sotinel © Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — OPEC ministers gather in Vienna Tuesday for crunch talks on a landmark pact curbing oil output, with Saudi Arabia and Russia hoping to persuade their peers to increase production again. The upcoming June 22-23 meetings of OPEC and non-OPEC energy ministers are expected to be contentious, with several countries bristling at the thought of reversing a deal that has been in place for 18 months […]

Saudi economy returns to growth on back of oil price rises

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — The Saudi economy pulled out of recession in the first quarter of 2018 thanks to oil price rises, a think-tank said Tuesday. Capital Economics said the oil-dependent Saudi economy grew by 1.5 percent in the first quarter, after having contracted by 0.7 percent in 2017. “The oil sector was the main driver of the recovery,” the London-based group said. Oil prices surged to around $80 a barrel last month from […]

Oil drops as Saudis signal likely supply boost

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Global oil prices fell Friday after top producer Saudi Arabia signaled a likely boost in supply as soon as the third quarter, and world stock markets were mixed over the sudden US move to cancel the summit with North Korea. Saudi oil minister Khaled al-Faleh said at an economic conference in Russia that a gradual output increase could happen in the second half of the year to prevent any […]

Asia energy firms dive with oil, Trump-Kim hopes provide optimism

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Energy firms plunged with oil prices in Asia Monday after Saudi Arabia and Russia signaled they could lift output, while indications Donald Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un could be back on provided support to equity markets. Both main contracts tanked on Friday after Saudi oil minister Khaled al-Faleh said his country could open the taps wider in the second half of the year to ensure against any supply shocks. […]