Traders who have been storing oil since the start of the year are selling some supplies back into the market, completing a trade-play that made oil storage profitable, and re-injecting fuel into an already oversupplied market. The selling signals a winding down of a strategy that has seen at least 50 million barrels of oil stored in tankers, equivalent to about one month’s consumption in Britain, although […]
Oil and gas companies will spend about $450 billion buying each other this year as lower valuations caused by a drop in crude prices stimulate mergers and acquisitions, according to consultants A.T. Kearney. The value of M&A transactions in the oil and gas industry will probably rise by $10 billion from last year when deals totaled $440 billion, said Richard Forrest, A.T. Kearney’s lead partner for energy. […]
Arabtec’s chairman will meet officials of Egypt’s housing ministry on Wednesday to renegotiate the terms of a $40 billion plan to build one million homes in that country, a source familiar with the matter said. Dubai-listed Arabtec announced last March that it had reached agreement in principle with Egypt’s army to build the homes at 13 locations around the country, on land provided by the armed forces. […]
Dubai’s flagship airline Emirates contributes 6.8 billion euros ($7.6 billion) to the European Union economy, it said on Tuesday, in an apparent response to criticism from rivals that government subsidies give Gulf carriers an unfair advantage. Emirates’ operations, which include 220 unique connections to European destinations, supported 85,100 jobs across the EU in the 2013-2014 financial year, it said in a statement, revealing the results of a […]
Declining oil prices are adversely affectingthe fiscal profiles of the countries in the region.Image: Reuters Mena sovereign ratings on the decline DUBAI, 4 days ago The sharp drop in oil prices since mid-2014 is likely to lead to weakening economic, external and fiscal profiles for the region, particularly for the GCC, said a new analysis released by Standard & Poor’s. However, of the 12 Mena sovereigns rated, […]
Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium.Image: Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee November/December ‘the best World Cup option’ LONDON, 4 days ago By Mike Collett The Fifa Task Force set up to recommend the best time of year to stage the 2022 World Cup in Qatar were always in an impossible position, from the moment they sat down to consider the options. But Tuesday’s recommendation to stage it over November and […]
Gen Odierno said that British defence cuts are already jeopardising US-UK joint operations Photo: AP Ever since the Cold War ended more than two decades ago, America has never entertained any serious doubts about Britain’s ability to fulfil its commitment as a vital military ally when tackling threats to the Western alliance. Until now. For the dramatic cuts to Britain’s defence budget implemented since the Coalition took power […]
Gold imports by India, the world’s biggest consumer, are poised to surge after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley belied industry expectations for a reduction in tax. Overseas purchases may jump to 100 metric tons in March from about 25 tons in February as jewelers and traders, who delayed purchases in anticipation of the tax cut, replenish stockpiles, Rajesh Mehta, chairman of Rajesh Exports Ltd., said by phone from […]
The tide may be turning in the retreat of the U.S. oil explorers. Rigs targeting oil fell by 33 to 986, the smallest decline since Jan. 2, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. Energy rigs in the Permian Basin shale region dropped by seven to 355 after dropping by as much as 49 earlier in the month. The Eagle Ford in Texas lost three rigs. […]
What colour is this dress? Photo: Tumblr The knots and threads of the internet creaked under the overload of one question yesterday: “What colour is this dress?” I don’t understand this odd dress debate and I feel like it’s a trick somehow. I’m confused and scared. PS it’s OBVIOUSLY BLUE AND BLACK — Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) February 27, 2015 To some the answer was obviously blue and […]
After an extensive and sometimes contentious public and politcal debate, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted February 26, with a 3 to 2 split along party lines, in favor of new regulations intended to preserve Net neutrality. The vote is seen as a win both for the Obama administration and a large Net roots activist campaign that has been pushing for this outcome for several years. Under […]
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS February 25, 2015 WASHINGTON — Susan E. Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser, sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday over his plans to address a joint meeting of Congress next week, saying his actions had hurt his nation’s relationship with the United States. Mr. Netanyahu’s decision to travel to Washington to deliver the speech two weeks before the Israeli elections has “injected […]
Video | Hollande Discusses Kidnapping in Yemen President François Hollande of France confirmed that a Frenchwoman had been kidnapped in the Yemeni capital, Sana. By ALISSA J. RUBIN February 24, 2015 PARIS — A Frenchwoman who works for the World Bank was kidnapped on Tuesday in front of a ministry office in Sana, the Yemeni capital, according to security officials there and President François Hollande of France, who took the […]
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK February 24, 2015 A Cairo court on Tuesday acquitted former President Hosni Mubarak’s longtime interior minister of the last of several criminal charges that have kept him behind bars, opening the potential for his release. The acquittal of the former minister, Habib el-Adly, is the latest in a long string of rulings since the 2013 military takeover that have exonerated former officials jailed after the Arab […]
HSBC Holdings, struggling to contain a scandal over tax evasion at its private bank, reported lower-than-predicted fourth-quarter profit as costs and conduct provisions rose. The shares slumped the most since 2011. Pretax profit dropped 56 percent to $1.7 billion from the year-earlier period, London-based HSBC said in a statement on Monday. That missed the $3.7 billion average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Full-year profit fell […]
|By A. Gary Shilling| At about $50 a barrel, crude oil prices are down by more than half from their June 2014 peak of $107. They may fall more, perhaps even as low as $10 to $20. Here’s why. U.S. economic growth has averaged 2.3 percent a year since the recovery started in mid-2009. That’s about half the rate you might expect in a rebound from the […]
Apple Inc., which has been working secretly on a car, is pushing its team to begin production of an electric vehicle as early as 2020, people with knowledge of the matter said. The timeframe — automakers typically spend five to seven years developing a car — underscores the project’s aggressive goals and could set the stage for a battle for customers with Tesla Motors Inc. and General […]
Orascom Construction has started proceedings for the demerger of the company’s units with its engineering and construction business to be listed on exchanges in Egypt and Dubai, the Amsterdam-listed firm said on Monday. The demerger of the engineering and construction business from its fertilisers and chemicals’ unit will take place on March 7, the company forecast in a statement. Orascom Construction will re-list on Egypt’s bourse, having […]
|By Sarosh Zaiwalla| Towards the end of last year, it was announced that the UAE’s long anticipated insolvency reform bill was reaching its final stages prior to implementation. The legal framework was drawn up following the establishment of the Dubai World Tribunal that resulted from the entity’s inability to pay its creditors in November 2009. The case cast a spotlight on the UAE, which until today does […]
Fast-growing Gulf Arab banks plan to bolster their reserves by issuing capital-boosting bonds, but uncertainty over regulation and ultra-tight pricing increase the risks for issuers and investors. Basel III standards, now being phased in around the world, will require banks to hold more capital. While Gulf banks have very high capital adequacy ratios, their rapid expansion, and the fact they operate in emerging markets with lower sovereign […]
Dubai Investments PJSC, the company with interests in real estate and manufacturing, will buy a 60 percent stake in investment bank Al Mal Capital PSC as part of a plan to boost financial services assets. The company will pay about 150 million dirhams ($41 million) for the stake and expects to complete the purchase by March 15, Chief Executive Officer Khalid Jassim Kalban said in a phone […]
Video | Israel Remembers Jewish Paris Victims The Israeli president, the prime minister and the wife of one of the four Jewish victims in a Paris kosher market attack spoke at the burial ceremony for the slain men in Jerusalem. By JODI RUDOREN January 13, 2015 JERUSALEM — They were buried Tuesday not in the land where they had made their homes but in what was described as their […]
|By Florence Tan and Henning Gloystein|Even as Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies appear united in their refusal to cut output to boost global oil prices, they are becoming locked in an increasingly fierce battle to secure market share in Asia. Oil prices have slumped below $50 a barrel, the weakest since 2009, triggering a price war between producers to secure customers in Asia. And the […]
Op-Ed Contributor By MORIEL ROTHMAN-ZECHER January 11, 2015 TEL AVIV — “WHAT are you,” he asked, “a leftist?” We were both wearing the surplus United States Marines uniforms given to prisoners at Israeli Military Jail No. 6. “It depends how you define ‘left,’ ” I said. “Don’t get clever with me. Why are you here?” “I didn’t want to be part of a system whose main task is the violent […]
