Thursday, 19 September 2019

Brent rises 1% as #Saudi supply risks come into focus - Reuters

Brent rises 1% as Saudi supply risks come into focus - Reuters:

Brent crude oil prices rose more than 1% on Thursday on fears of longer-than-expected supply shortfalls following Saturday’s attacks on a key Saudi Arabian oil processing facility and escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Global benchmark Brent LCOc1 settled 80 cents, or 1.3%, higher at $64.40 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 pared earlier gains and ended largely steady at $58.13 a barrel, just 2 cents firmer.

Saturday’s attacks knocked out around half of Saudi Arabia’s crude production and severely limited the country’s spare capacity, a cushion for oil markets in any unplanned outage. Tensions have escalated as the United States and Saudi Arabia blamed the attacks on Iran.

Awtad to delist from #Dubai bourse | Markets – Gulf News

Awtad to delist from Dubai bourse | Markets – Gulf News:

Awtad, a real estate company whose shares are listed on the Dubai bourse, said on Thursday it plans to delist itself effective September 30.

The company, which only got publicly listed in late December 2017, according to data on the bourse’s website, did not provide details on why it plans to delist itself. It said, however, that the decision was approved at a general assembly meeting. 


Data from the Dubai bourse’s website does not show any trade on the stock for any time period, and it is unclear when or if investors ever traded shares of the firm.

Turkish Banks Hire Morgan Stanley to Sell Turk Telekom Stake - Bloomberg

Turkish Banks Hire Morgan Stanley to Sell Turk Telekom Stake - Bloomberg:

A group of Turkish banks hired Morgan Stanley as financial adviser to sell their 55% stake in the country’s largest phone company, Turk Telekomunikasyon AS. The carrier’s shares rose more than 4%.

The three banks -- Turkiye Is Bankasi AS, Akbank TAS and Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS -- took control of Turk Telekom in December, setting it up for a likely sale after previous owner Otas defaulted on a multi-billion-dollar loan.

The plan is to sell special purpose vehicle Levent Yapilandirma Yonetimi AS -- which holds the 55% stake in Turk Telekom -- or the stake that it holds, according to separate statements to Borsa Istanbul. Turkish brokerages Ak Investment, Garanti Securities and Is Investment will act as local advisers.

#Saudi Aramco’s Oil Stockpiles Can Cover Lower Output -- For Now - Bloomberg

Saudi Aramco’s Oil Stockpiles Can Cover Lower Output -- For Now - Bloomberg:

Saudi Arabia’s pledge to fulfill all commitments to oil buyers after a strike on the giant processing plant at Abqaiq means the world’s largest crude exporter must continue to draw heavily on its inventories until production capacity returns.

State oil company Saudi Aramco has more than enough oil to get it to the end of the month, when it’s promised to restore normal levels of production. But if that timetable slips, things could get trickier.

Aramco removed nearly 10 million barrels of oil from storage -- mostly from tanks at Yanbu, Juaymah and Muajjiz terminals -- in the two days that followed Saturday’s attacks, according to energy data provider Kayrros SAS.

Oil traders reassess interruption of #Saudi output: Kemp - Reuters

Oil traders reassess interruption of Saudi output: Kemp - Reuters:

Brent oil futures prices have gyrated wildly as traders have tried to assess the impact of last week’s attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure on the actual availability of crude. 


Brent’s six-month calendar spread surged to a backwardation of more than $5.50 per barrel on the first trading day after the attacks, the highest for six years, showing oil traders were anticipating severe shortages in the very short term.

Since then the six-month spread has fallen to trade around $4 per barrel, though it is still significantly higher than the $2.70 reported before the attacks.

#UAE’s Commercial Bank Plans to Cut Up to 18% of Its Workforce - Bloomberg

U.A.E.’s Commercial Bank Plans to Cut Up to 18% of Its Workforce - Bloomberg:

Commercial Bank International PSC will trim as much as 18% of its workforce through a voluntary redundancy program as the United Arab Emirates lender withdraws from some business segments, people with knowledge of the plan said. 


Between 80 to 100 people are expected to accept the offer, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The bank employs about 550 people across nine branches.

The Dubai-based firm, 40% owned by Qatar National Bank QPSC, plans to exit unsecured retail lending such as personal loans and will focus on affluent clients within consumer banking and its corporate-banking business, one of the people said. It is still early in the process and no timing has been set, one person said.

#Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co plans up to $267mln sukuk -CEO | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co plans up to $267mln sukuk -CEO | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Saudi Real Estate Refinance Co (SRC), the Saudi equivalent of U.S. mortgage finance business Fannie Mae, is planning an up to 1 billion riyal ($267 million) sukuk this year and a potential U.S dollar debt issue next year, its CEO told Reuters. 

SRC, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's PIC sovereign wealth fund, aims to boost housing construction - a top priority of Saudi Arabian economic reforms - by injecting liquidity into the real estate market.

It is preparing to issue a sukuk, or Islamic bonds, to back the purchase of home loan portfolios from mortgage financing companies and banks.

Real crunch from #SaudiArabia's oil outage has yet to be felt - Reuters

Real crunch from Saudi Arabia's oil outage has yet to be felt - Reuters:

Saudi Arabia’s ability to avert a global oil supply crunch will only become clear in a few weeks, because for now its crude held in storage can fill the gap and mask the scale of damage to its facilities, traders and analysts say.

Riyadh says production will be back to normal levels in two to three weeks, which means restoring output to about 10 million barrels per day (bpd), after Saturday’s attacks on two sites that usually process and clean up about 5.7 million bpd.

While it carries out repairs, the world’s biggest oil exporter has promised to keep the physical crude market supplied from its inventories held in the kingdom and abroad, estimated to have been about 180 million barrels in July.

Oil prices rise as #Saudi supply risks come into focus - Reuters

Oil prices rise as Saudi supply risks come into focus - Reuters:

Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday, supported by supply risks as the market assesses the fallout from last weekend’s drone attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 gained 96 cents to $64.56 a barrel by 1347 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was up 51 cents at $58.62 a barrel.

The attacks knocked out around half of Saudi Arabia’s crude production and severely limited the country’s spare capacity, a cushion for oil markets in any unplanned outage.

MIDEAST STOCKS- #Saudi stocks gain ahead of joining FTSE Russel and S&P Dow Jones indexes - Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi stocks gain ahead of joining FTSE Russel and S&P Dow Jones indexes - Reuters:

Saudi Arabia's stock market rose sharply
on Thursday ahead of their inclusion in FTSE Russell and S&P Dow
Jones emerging market indexes next week, which are expected to
attract billions of dollars in passive funds.

Saudi stocks will see fourth tranche inclusion in FTSE
Russell and the second and final tranche entry into S&P Dow
Jones as an emerging market starting on September 23.

Saudi stocks initially joined the two indexes earlier this
year.

The market was also supported by news that Saudi oil supply
was uninterrupted despite weekend attacks on the kingdom's oil
facilities and by a cut in Saudi interest rates.

#Qatar Airways Loss Widens on Higher Costs - Bloomberg

Qatar Airways Loss Widens on Higher Costs - Bloomberg:





Qatar Airways reported a near ten-fold increase in annual losses as higher fuel costs and a weaker regional economy compounded an already tough operating environment from Saudi-led airspace closures. Simone Foxman reports on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Middle East." (Source: Bloomberg)

#SaudiArabia Snaps Up Fuels as Attacks Force Refinery Curbs - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Snaps Up Fuels as Attacks Force Refinery Curbs - Bloomberg:

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter and a powerhouse of the oil refining industry, is scouring global fuel markets for cargoes in the wake of unprecedented attacks on its energy industry.

Aramco Trading Co., which buys and sells fuels on behalf of the state oil company, purchased diesel cargoes and also sought one-off supplies of aviation fuel this week, according to people involved in those markets. Fuel oil, which can be used instead of crude for power generation, has also been bought. Exports of naphtha -- a building-block product for making gasoline and plastics -- have also been disrupted. 

While the kingdom does import fuels from time to time anyway, traders say the scale of its current purchasing is well above normal. On Saturday, vital oil-production facilities at Abqaiq were attacked, resulting in a temporary halt to a large swath of the nation’s output capacity. To keep crude flowing to customers, Saudi Arabia cut processing at its own refineries by 1 million barrels a day, and stepped up fuel imports.

Indonesia says #AbuDhabi extends investment proposals worth at least $1 bln - Reuters

Indonesia says Abu Dhabi extends investment proposals worth at least $1 bln - Reuters:

Indonesia is considering investment proposals from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund worth at least $1 billion, an Indonesian minister said on Thursday.

The proposals offer two scenarios for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to invest in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister of maritime affairs, said in a statement.

In one of the scenarios, the fund could directly invest about $1 billion in property projects including in tourism areas.

#Saudi bourse executive says Tadawul ready for Aramco IPO - Reuters

Saudi bourse executive says Tadawul ready for Aramco IPO - Reuters:

Saudi bourse Tadawul is ready for Aramco’s initial public offering and it has done massive changes and upgrades to its system to handle the mega deal, the bourse’s chief of markets, Mohammed al-Rumaih, said at a conference.

Oil prices edge up after turbulent week as #SaudiArabia reassures on output - Reuters

Oil prices edge up after turbulent week as Saudi Arabia reassures on output - Reuters:

Oil prices edged higher in Asian trade on Thursday after days of turbulence, with markets soothed by Saudi Arabia’s pledge to restore full production by end-September at facilities knocked out in drone and missile attacks last weekend.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 24 cents to $63.84 a barrel by 0634 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was up 21 cents to $58.32 a barrel.

The steadying of nerves came after Saudi Arabia set out the timeline to resume full operations, and also said it had managed to restore supplies to customers at levels prior to the attacks by drawing from its oil inventories.

MIDEAST STOCKS- #Saudi stocks rise on oil supply pledge, interest rate cut - Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Saudi stocks rise on oil supply pledge, interest rate cut - Reuters:

Saudi Arabia’s stock market edged up in early trading on Thursday after Riyadh said oil production lost in weekend attacks on two Aramco plants would be restored by the end of September.

Saudi Arabia said it continues to supply oil to its customers from its stockpiles and the attacks would have no impact on government revenues.

The Saudi index was up 0.2%. National Commercial Bank and Saudi Telecom both rose 1%.