September 12, 2024 3:13 PM

IEA cuts 2024 oil demand growth forecast on China slowdown

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cut its 2024 oil demand growth forecast by 70,000 barrels per day (bpd), or about 7.2%, to 900,000 bpd, it said in its monthly oil market report on Thursday, The Paris-based agency cited a slowdown in Chinese demand as the main driver of weaker global demand growth. It now expects Chinese demand to grow by only 180,000 bpd in 2024 as a broader macroeconomic slowdown coincides with a higher uptake of electric vehicles. "With the steam seemingly running ...

September 6, 2024 11:43 AM

OPEC+ agrees to delay October oil output hike for two months

OPEC+ has agreed to delay a planned oil output increase for October and November, the producers' group said on Thursday after crude prices hit their lowest in nine months, adding that it could further pause or reverse the hikes if needed. Oil prices have been falling along with other asset classes on concerns about a weak global economy and soft data from China, the world's biggest oil importer.  Eight members of OPEC+, which is made up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries...

July 25, 2024 7:04 PM

Nicolas Maduro runs for a third presidential term in Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013 and running for a third term on July 28, is confident he is still the right man to lead the OPEC country that has been governed by the socialists for a quarter of a century. "Come rain, shine or lightning ... we're going to win by a landslide," he said in a recent broadcast on state television, shortly after reading out mock election results in which he notched "an irreversible victory". The mustachioed Maduro, 61, a former foreign minis...

June 3, 2024 4:31 PM

OPEC+ extends oil output cuts into 2025

OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to extend most of its deep oil output cuts well into 2025 as the group seeks to shore up the market amid tepid demand growth, high interest rates and rising rival U.S. production. Brent crude oil prices have been trading near $80 per barrel in recent days, below what many OPEC+ members need to balance their budgets. Worries over slow demand growth in top oil importer China have weighed on prices alongside rising oil stocks in developed economies. The Organization of the ...

September 16, 2024 5:43 PM

Asia shares rally on promise of rate relief, factory pick up

Asian share markets rallied on Monday as investors looked forward to a rate cut in Europe, and quite possibly Canada, as the next step in global policy easing, though sticky inflation threatens to make the process a drawn out affair. There was also better news from China as the private Caixin survey showed a pick-up in its main factory index to a two-year top of 51.7 in May, from 51.4 in April. Japan's factory activity expanded for the first time in a year in May, while activity in South Korea...

June 2, 2024 2:29 PM

Saudi Arabia kicks off landmark Aramco share sale to raise up to $13 bln

Saudi Arabia kicked off a secondary share sale in oil giant Aramco on Sunday, a landmark deal that could raise up to $13.1 billion in a major test of international appetite for the kingdom's assets. The banks on the deal will take institutional orders through Thursday and will price the shares the following day, with trading expected to start next Sunday on Riyadh's Saudi Exchange. The offering will be a gauge of Riyadh's appeal to foreign investors, a key plank of the kingdom's ambitious plan...

September 16, 2024 6:16 PM

Asia shares nudge higher as US, EU inflation data loom

Asian shares firmed on Monday as investors braced for a busy run of inflation data that could set the scene for a European rate cut as soon as next week and a U.S. policy easing within just a few months. Holidays in Britain and the United States made for thin trading ahead of Friday's figures on core personal consumption expenditures (PCE), the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation. Median forecasts are for a rise of 0.3% in April, keeping the annual pace at 2.8%, with risks on the ...

May 24, 2024 2:57 PM

OPEC+ to hold June 2 output policy meeting online

The OPEC+ group of oil producers, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, has pushed back its output policy meeting by a day to June 2 and will convene online. The meeting was to have been in Vienna on June 1, but will now be held online a day later, OPEC said on Friday. OPEC+ oil producers are making voluntary output cuts totalling about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first half of 2024, led by Saudi Arabia rolling over an e...