Brent crude futures for September rose 66 cents to $81.67 a barrel
Updated 01 October 2024
Reuters
LONDON: Oil prices traded around their lowest level in six weeks on Wednesday, as the northern hemisphere gets deeper into summer with limited signs of the expected fuel consumption surge the period usually sees.
Wednesday saw only a slight reprieve, as prices snapped three straight sessions of decline on falling US crude inventories and growing supply risks from wildfires in Canada boosted prices.
Brent crude futures for September rose 66 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $81.67 a barrel by 11:08 a.m. Saudi time. US West Texas Intermediate crude for September increased 65 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $77.61 per barrel.
The likely reason for the wider sell-off has been the “diminishing hopes of demand resurrection,” with “an admission from refiners that the summer leap in consumption is simply not taking place,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.
Prices had fallen to a six-week low on Tuesday, with Brent closing at its lowest level since June 9 on ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in a plan outlined by US President Joe Biden in May and mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
Prices also suffered due to continued concern that the economic slowdown in China, the world’s biggest crude importer, would weaken global oil demand.
WTI had lost 7 percent over the previous three sessions, while Brent shed nearly 5 percent.
US crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories fell for the fourth straight week in the previous week, according to market sources citing the American Petroleum Institute, reflecting steady demand in the world’s largest consumer of oil.
Wildfires in Canada were also supporting prices. The fires have forced some producers to curtail production and were threatening a large amount of supply, ING analysts said.
“Market is nearing oversold territory and we still believe that the fundamentals support prices moving higher from current levels over the remainder of the third quarter on the back of a deficit environment,” ING analysts said in a note.
The API figures showed crude stocks falling by 3.9 million barrels in the week ended July 19, the market sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Gasoline inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels and distillates shed 1.5 million barrels.
That would be the first time crude stocks in the US fell for four weeks in a row since September 2023.
Official government data on oil inventory data is due for release on Wednesday.
Trump’s inauguration dominating conversation as warmer Davos raises eyebrows
Updated 15 sec ago
TAREK ALI AHMAD
DAVOS: The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos is welcoming global elites as US President Donald Trump’s inauguration dominates both conversations and headlines.
Day one of the forum’s flagship event was more of a prelude to what is to come, with only one panel taking place, titled “First Impressions: Inauguration Day.”
The rest of the program was free for networking within the Congress Center’s cafes, lounges and hallways. A new booth serving crepes in front of the high-level delegates lounge is a popular addition to this year’s meeting.
What was unpopular — so to say — but widely spoken of, was the warmer weather, an unavoidable consequence of the climate change that the World Economic Forum has so desperately tried to combat.
Indeed, looking out of the window as the SBB train curls around the Swiss Alps overlooking the ski-resort towns of Klosters and Davos, the usually snow-blanketed mountains and hills appear patchy. While nobody complains about the sun shining above, it still serves as a dreadful reminder that not even the elites can hide from the unsuspecting elements affected by humans.
“It’s getting warmer each year. Who knows what will happen five years from now,” one of the drivers of the fleet of shuttles bussing participants back and forth between Klosters and Davos tells me, wearing a tight-fitting short-sleeved shirt and colorful sport glasses.
Davos chic was on full display on the promenade, where pricey suits were paired with clunky snow boots. And with the temperature not dissimilar to that of London’s, participants kept their jackets in the cloak rooms as they walked through the several different tech, government and NGO pavilions that graced the slush-slapped street.
Among the new pavilions — termed “houses” — is Saudi House, dedicated to hosting distinguished, Davos-accredited panels, talks and discussions revolving around Saudi Arabia and its role in the world.
“Saudi House was designed to facilitate the participation of all the (Saudi) government entities taking part in Davos in one location,” Faisal Alibrahim, the Saudi minister of economy and planning, told Arab News in a previous interview.
“We think putting everyone in one place will create the vibrancy that can demonstrate and echo the vibrancy we are seeing here in the Kingdom.”
Other items on display at the house are dishes and drinks from Saudi cuisine. Plates of lamb kabsa — a hearty, spiced rice dish — were lapped up by attendees and washed down with a fluorescent red concoction made from rose-water and hibiscus juice. The other drink, what can only be described as a neon green fluid that looked as if it came from a lava lamp, was a surprisingly refreshing mix of mint and Curacao syrup.
As Washington ushers in a new president, who has vowed to “very simply, put America first” — all those attending the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting are bracing themselves to working through another four years of Trumpmania.
Saudi EXIM Bank signs $15m deal with Pakistan’s Bank Alfalah to boost trade
Updated 21 January 2025
REEM WALID
RIYADH: The Saudi Export-Import Bank and Bank Alfalah have signed a $15 million financing agreement, strengthening access to Pakistani markets and boosting trade and economic ties.
The new credit line deal seeks to increase the flow and competitiveness of the Kingdom’s non-oil exports as well as unveil new trade horizons between the two countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
This falls in line with Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen trade and investment ties with the Kingdom, with the Saudi government reaffirming its commitment in September to fast-track a $5 billion investment package for the Asian country.
This also aligns with Saudi EXIM’s goal of diversifying the Kingdom’s economy by offering financing and insurance products for non-oil exports in support of Vision 2030.
“The agreement comes within the bank’s efforts to strengthen strategic relations with international banks and financial institutions to provide financing solutions that contribute to the development of Saudi non-oil exports and enhance their competitiveness in Pakistani markets, by encouraging importers from Pakistan to import Saudi products and services, which opens up broad prospects for the development of trade and investment between the two countries, and creates more promising trade and investment opportunities,” said General Director of the Finance Department at Saudi EXIM Bank Abdul Latif bin Saud Al-Ghaith.
The Group Head of Corporate, Investment Banking, and International Business at Bank Alfalah, Farooq Ahmed Khan, said: “The agreement between Saudi EXIM Bank and Bank Alfalah Ltd is a milestone in strengthening trade relations between the Kingdom and Pakistan.”
He added: “The financing line will enable Pakistani companies to access high-quality products in the Kingdom and will also enhance the volume of trade exchange between the two countries.
“We at Bank Alfalah are proud to play a pivotal role in promoting trade and investment opportunities that are in line with the shared vision to strengthen and grow the economies of both countries.”
In October, Saudi businessmen expressed hope for successful collaborations in Pakistan, saying the country’s economic stability and improved regulatory framework had made it an attractive investment destination, following the signing of over two dozen deals between companies from both nations.
Saudi Arabia qualifies 6 mining firms for Exploration Enablement Program
Updated 26 sec ago
Nadin Hassan
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has chosen six local and international mining companies for its Exploration Enablement Program designed to boost investments and enhance the competitiveness of the sector.
Royal Road, Ajlan and Bros Holding, and EV Metals Group were selected for this first phase of qualification, as well as Ma’aden, Gold and Minerals Co., and Al-Masane Al-Kobra Mining Co., also known as AMAK.
These companies will receive key support as part of the government’s effort to attract high-quality investments and accelerate exploration activities within the Kingdom’s mining industry.
The EEP was launched at the Future Minerals Forum in January 2024 by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, in collaboration with the Ministry of Investment.
A total of 49 applications were submitted from local and international mining companies, underscoring the growing interest in Saudi Arabia’s mining sector.
The government has earmarked SR685 million ($182.57 million) for the EEP between 2024 and 2030, which will fund initiatives to further strengthen the sector’s global competitiveness and create long-term strategic value.
The program aims to address gaps in geoscientific knowledge, foster local skills, and drive exploration for Class A minerals, including metallic minerals, precious and semi-precious stones, and ores requiring advanced operations.
The initiative is designed to expand the exploration of strategic minerals in underexplored areas, reduce investment risks in the mining sector, and enhance the reliability of technical data.
The program seeks to attract local and international investors by fostering greater confidence in the mining industry.
The EEP focuses on widening the scope of exploration by covering a total license area of 4,000 sq. km.
Additionally, the program has recorded an extensive geophysical survey covering 9,500 sq. km. and achieved a total drilling depth of 440,000 meters.
These efforts are expected to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Kingdom’s mineral potential, facilitating better planning and development within the mining sector.
As part of its strategic objectives, the program is enhancing Saudi Arabia’s exploration capabilities by collecting 57,000 geochemical samples, supported by a team of 54 experts and professionals.
Saudi Arabia increased its projections for undiscovered mineral potential by 90 percent to $2.5 trillion during the third FMF in January 2024 with Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar Alkhorayef stating that the estimation for the Kingdom’s untapped potential has grown from $1.3 trillion, reflecting the sector’s significant growth prospects.
Amman Stock Exchange eyes market boost with bond trading, tax reforms, and state firm listings
Updated 21 January 2025
Miguel Hadchity
RIYADH: Jordan’s financial market is set for transformation, with key changes, including introducing government bond trading on the Amman Stock Exchange, revisiting taxes, and listing state-owned companies.
CEO of ASE Mazen Wathaifi outlined the key reforms to strengthen market confidence and stimulate trading activity during a panel discussion hosted by the Jordanian Businessmen Association, according to the state-owned news agency.
The reforms are part of a broader effort to align with Jordan’s Economic Modernization Vision, which aims to enhance the investment landscape.
Enabling government bond trading aligns with regional efforts to deepen debt markets, enhance market liquidity and attract global investment, as seen by Saudi Arabia’s recent reforms to debt instrument listings aim to boost investor participation and market efficiency.
Wathaifi said the steps being taken in Jordan would strengthen market confidence and stimulate trading activity, stressing the role of government policies in fostering investment and trading, adding: “We place significant reliance on government measures and decisions to enhance investment and activity in the ASE.”
The stock exchange has already implemented several initiatives to modernize its operations, including advanced electronic systems, a redesigned website, and a market development plan in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The Jordan News Agency reported that new tools such as the Total Return Index and electronic disclosure systems have been introduced alongside smartphone apps for real-time market monitoring.
Performance indicators for the ASE in 2024 revealed significant improvement, with the market’s General Index up 2.4 percent compared to 2023, while the Total Return Index surged 10.3 percent.
The market capitalization of listed companies increased by 4.2 percent, reaching its highest level since 2015, excluding 2022. Non-Jordanian investors held 47.1 percent of the total market capitalization, reflecting robust foreign interest.
Despite these gains, Wathaifi called for additional measures to reduce trading costs, foster investment funds, and encourage participation from banks and the Social Security Investment Fund.
He highlighted opportunities arising from expectations of declining global interest rates, easing tensions in Gaza, and improved conditions in Syria.
Mohammad Balbisi, vice president of the Jordanian Businessmen Association, echoed these sentiments, advocating for reduced taxes on public shareholding companies and the elimination of taxes on capital gains from stock and fund trading.
He also underscored the importance of public-private partnerships to drive large-scale development projects through the ASE.
Participants at the discussion highlighted the increasing regional competition to attract financial market investments, urging the government to introduce incentives, reduce fees, and restrict government bond trading to the ASE to draw global funds to Jordan.
WEF panel offers first impressions of Donald Trump’s new order
Experts contemplate how the president’s ‘America First’ doctrine will mesh with the WEF’s globalist ethos
Davos panelists predict a lighter touch on tech regulation, more protectionism, and greater unpredictability
Updated 21 January 2025
GABRIELE MALVISI
LONDON: While world leaders, business titans, and policymakers gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the opening of the World Economic Forum’s 55th annual meeting on Monday, all eyes were on Washington, where Donald Trump was being inaugurated for his second term.
This dual spectacle underscored the contrast between two seemingly opposing worldviews: Trump’s “America First” doctrine and the WEF’s globalist vision of “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.”
The timing of Trump’s inauguration on the forum’s opening day seemed almost poetic. Experts noted the symbolic clash between the Davos elite, often described as the architects of a “new world order,” and Trump’s unapologetic brand of populism.
“Thank you to the World Economic Forum for having us, but most of all for having an exquisite sense of humor by asking us to say what’s going to happen in the Trump administration,” Sam Jacobs, editor-in-chief of Time magazine, quipped during the forum’s first panel, titled “First Impressions: Inauguration Day.”
This year’s conference invites participants to explore ways to tackle shared challenges like climate change, technology, and economic inequality through global collaboration. Yet, as economics writer Kate Andrews observes, it is “an idea that means little to nothing if the world’s largest economy — and leader in AI development — is not on board.”
Indeed, Trump’s policies are expected to pivot sharply from the multilateralism championed by the WEF. He has already signaled a return to “America First” economics, emphasizing trade protectionism and other barriers, which are likely to reverberate across the global economy.
Adding to this is his close alignment with US tech leaders, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla and X owner Elon Musk, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Their collective support suggests that Trump’s new administration will embrace a less regulated approach to tech innovation, particularly in artificial intelligence, diverging from the more cautious frameworks championed by both former president Joe Biden and the WEF.
“I think the technology race is one that is going to be instrumental in that economic conversation,” Mina Al-Oraibi, editor-in-chief of UAE’s The National, told the panel, highlighting Trump’s likely focus on countering China’s influence in tech and trade.
Still, not all experts see Trump’s policies as a stark departure from those of his predecessor. Patrick Foulis, foreign editor of The Economist, noted that Trump’s strategies could echo some elements of Biden’s economic doctrine.
“Trump, in one sense, represents continuity, and in some sense, he’s actually the intellectual author of the Biden policy. But I think we have very, very solid grounds to doubt his ability to apply over a sustained period of time that kind of strategy,” he said during the panel.
The goal, Foulis argues, is for Trump to “exert more influence over the world economy,” relying less on incentives and more on coercive measures like debt manipulation, tariffs, and tech controls.
In what some view as an olive branch, WEF President and CEO Borge Brende said Donald Trump planned to deliver a 45-minute video address to the forum on Thursday.
The complex relationship between Trump and the WEF remains a study in contrasts. While Trump’s “America First” doctrine appears to run counter to the WEF’s globalist ethos, his presence — or lack thereof — consistently draws attention.
Despite ideological differences, Trump’s influence remains too significant for the forum to overlook. His pivotal role in brokering the recent Gaza ceasefire underscores his relevance on the global stage.
“We’re meeting here in Davos with a ceasefire finally in place in Gaza and after a terrible, devastating war over 15 months. It has changed the region, and in some ways, it changed the world. And Trump 2.0 actually facilitated the ceasefire,” Al-Oraibi said, adding that the “Trump factor” was instrumental in bringing a deal that the Biden administration failed to pull off.
Newly sworn-in President Donald Trump takes part in a signing ceremony at the White House. (Reuters)
“Trump clearly said there had to be a ceasefire before inauguration. And that moment crystallizes what people are expecting under a Trump administration. That comes with many lessons from its first stint at the White House, but also lessons learned about what can be possible in the Middle East.”
Over the past year, the Middle East has experienced seismic changes, including Hezbollah’s diminished influence in Lebanon and the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria. Experts predict that while Trump’s foreign policy will in some ways build on Biden’s, the focus will be more on targeted economic strategies rather than broad hegemonic goals.
“I see the Trumpian agenda essentially as a more comprehensive and forceful expression of American power on a much more limited geographic scope,” said Foulis.
While Trump’s foreign policy appears increasingly selective and driven by economic interests rather than purely hegemonic ambitions, Al-Oraibi believes the Middle East will remain central to US priorities, particularly as attention on Gaza and Palestine shows little sign of waning.
“The fact that the ceasefire was put in place just before the inauguration of Donald Trump shows that they realize this is not something that they want hanging over their heads from day one, but it is a long road ahead,” she said, adding that the administration may want to take advantage of the momentum to bring about a solution to the Palestinian question and possibly promote a two-state solution.
“The one thing that is clear is the US remains the most important superpower,” she said. “Yet there’s still so much that can go wrong.”
Besides foreign and economic policy, the panel also explored how Trump’s new administration might handle energy and climate issues — both pillars of forum discussions. While a rollback of Biden’s green policies is expected, experts believe the energy transition has become too entrenched to reverse completely.
“If for Trump, that energy transition can be reframed as a nationalist cause, so something that benefits the American economy, I don’t think he’s going to oppose it,” said Jacobs.
As speculation builds around the consequences of Trump’s return to the Oval Office, many experts caution that lessons from his first term may only partially apply this time around.
What is certain, according to Jacobs, is that a Trump 2.0 presidency promises to be “200 times more unpredictable, and more volatile than the first term,” emphasizing that the real focus should be on “where points of tension emerge” rather than specific policies.
For the WEF, Trump’s presence offers both challenges and opportunities. As the world grapples with interconnected crises, Davos prides itself on providing a platform for critical dialogue. The stakes are high, however, and Trump’s return to power adds another layer of complexity to an already transformative moment in world history.
