Saturday 5 December 2015

OPEC Unity Shattered as Saudi-Led Policy Leads to No Limits - Bloomberg Business

OPEC Unity Shattered as Saudi-Led Policy Leads to No Limits - Bloomberg Business:

"OPEC abandoned all pretense this week of acting as a cartel. It’s now every member for itself.
At a chaotic meeting Friday in Vienna that was expected to last four hours but expanded to nearly seven, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries tossed aside the idea of limiting production to control prices. Instead, it went all in for the one-year-old Saudi Arabia-led policy of pumping, pumping, pumping until rivals -- external, such as Russia and U.S. shale drillers, as well as internal -- are squeezed out of market share.
“Lots of people said that OPEC was dead; OPEC itself just confirmed it,” Jamie Webster, a Washington-based oil analyst for IHS Inc., said in Vienna."



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Malaysia Premier Najib Queried by Anti-Graft Agency on Donations - Bloomberg Business

Malaysia Premier Najib Queried by Anti-Graft Agency on Donations - Bloomberg Business:

"Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak was queried by anti-graft officials on the hundreds of millions of dollars that ended up in his private accounts before the 2013 general elections.
Najib was cooperative during the questioning on Saturday in a meeting that lasted 2 1/2 hours, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement. It didn’t provide further details.
The premier, 62, has said the 2.6 billion ringgit ($616 million) of funds in accounts that have since been closed were political donations from the Middle East rather than public money. That was also the initial conclusion reached by the commission in August in its preliminary investigations. Najib has denied taking money for personal gain and has been cited as saying that the funds were to meet the needs of the party and the community, and that this was not a new practice."



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U.S. shale oil producers pummeled after OPEC decision | Reuters

U.S. shale oil producers pummeled after OPEC decision | Reuters:

"Fears low oil prices will persist for years sent shares of U.S. crude producers tumbling on Friday after OPEC failed to agree on a unified output cap, effectively letting its 13 members pump at will under a policy aimed in part at squeezing out U.S. rivals.

OPEC ministers, who control a third of the world's oil supply, ended their meeting in Vienna on a discordant note, unable to decide as a group how much it should pump in aggregate.

It appeared for a while OPEC would raise its current 30 million barrels per day (bpd) cap on production, but negotiations broke down after Iran said it would not accept any limits until it emerges from Western-imposed sanctions."



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OPEC fails to agree production ceiling after Iran pledges output boost | Reuters

OPEC fails to agree production ceiling after Iran pledges output boost | Reuters:

"OPEC members failed to agree an oil production ceiling on Friday at a meeting that ended in acrimony, after Iran said it would not consider any production curbs until it restores output scaled back for years under Western sanctions.

Friday's developments set up the fractious cartel for more price wars in an already heavily oversupplied market.

Oil prices have more than halved over the past 18 months to a fraction of what most OPEC members need to balance their budgets. Brent oil futures fell by 1 percent on Friday to trade around $43, only a few dollars off a six year low."



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Explainer: S&P cuts ratings on US banks | FT Business - YouTube

Explainer: S&P cuts ratings on US banks | FT Business - YouTube: ""



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Europe v the US - YouTube

Europe v the US - YouTube: ""



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