Saturday 12 January 2019

The sub-prime timebomb is back – this time companies are lighting the fuse | Business | The Guardian

The sub-prime timebomb is back – this time companies are lighting the fuse | Business | The Guardian:

When an expert in financial risk at one of the world’s most powerful private equity outfits tells investors to scale down their exposure to a specific corner of the debt market, it is worth taking notice.

Henry McVey, who sits on the risk committee at KKR, said last week that the leveraged loan market – a $1.3tn (£1tn) pile of risky corporate loans – had been on a “great run in recent years” but the firm was now cutting its exposure to the asset class to zero.

McVey is not alone in his caution. A growing chorus of global leaders spent 2018 warning that the leveraged loan mountain was getting dangerously large and inviting comparisons with the financial crisis a decade ago.

Eni, Thailand's PTTEP Win Oil Exploration Rights in #AbuDhabi - Bloomberg

Eni, Thailand's PTTEP Win Oil Exploration Rights in Abu Dhabi - Bloomberg:

Eni SpA and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Pcl secured rights to explore for oil and natural gas in Abu Dhabi, committing to invest at least $230 million to assess the offshore fields.

The concession will be operated by Eni, and will be fully-owned by the Italian company and the government-owned Thai producer. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. will have the option of retaining 60 percent of the fields once they reach the production phase.

“We are engaging with partners who actually put skin in the game,” Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Chief Executive Officer of government-owned Adnoc, said at a conference in Abu Dhabi.

Two Big Producers Just Called the Bottom on Oil: $60 a Barrel - Bloomberg

Two Big Producers Just Called the Bottom on Oil: $60 a Barrel - Bloomberg:

Italy’s top oil producer and Oman’s energy minister predict the latest oil rebound will stick.

Prices are up more than 20 percent since hitting an almost two-year low in December, enough to alter OPEC+ rhetoric from reassuring investors that it will cut output to taking credit for the rebound, and in the case of Oman, forecasting where oil will trade for the year.

Oman Oil Minister Mohammed Al-Rumhi told Bloomberg TV that the agreement between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners including Russia and Oman can sustain prices at $60 a barrel. He sees crude trading between that bottom and $70 a barrel this year. Claudio Descalzi, the chief executive officer of Italy’s Eni SpA, also told Bloomberg TV the range will be between $60 and $62 a barrel.

OPEC is not the enemy of the U.S., #UAE energy minister says | Reuters

OPEC is not the enemy of the U.S., UAE energy minister says | Reuters:

Oil producer group OPEC is not the enemy of the United States, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

“We are complementing each other, we are not enemies here,” Mazrouei told an industry conference in Abu Dhabi, addressing the relationship between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the U.S., a major oil consuming country.

OPEC and other leading global oil producers led by Russia agreed in December to cut their combined oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January to prevent a supply glut and boost sagging prices.