Oil Has Best Week in Four Months With Saudi Cut Buoying Prices - Bloomberg

Oil Has Best Week in Four Months With Saudi Cut Buoying Prices - Bloomberg

Oil posted the biggest weekly gain since late September as Saudi Arabia’s plan to slice output spurred a surge in physical crude buying.

Futures in New York advanced $3.72 this week and Brent oil topped $55 a barrel for the first time since February. Saudi Arabia’s pledge earlier this week to cut production by 1 million barrels a day in February and March has made for a tighter supply outlook sooner than anticipated. Meanwhile, prospects for additional stimulus under a Biden administration spurred broader market gains.

Saudi Arabia’s surprise cut appears to have caught some Asian buyers by surprise and demand for U.S. crude for export to Asia has gained this week. Unipec, the trading arm of China’s largest refiner, bought its eighth cargo of North Sea crude in a pricing window run by S&P Global Platts this week and was seeking more in what may be the heaviest buying of its kind on record.

“The decision by the Saudis was a big deal and it’s an underpinning for prices,” said Bill O’Grady, executive vice president at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis. “Clearly, maintaining the oil price was paramount and they were willing to let others take advantage in order to accomplish that.”

PRICES Brent for March settlement advanced $1.61 to end the session at $55.99 a barrel West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose $1.41 to settle at $52.24 a barrel. Both benchmarks are at the highest since late February

Party city #Dubai becomes escape hatch as Europe locks down | Financial Times

Party city Dubai becomes escape hatch as Europe locks down | Financial Times

Fireworks explode from the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, during New Year’s Eve celebrations 

in Dubai © Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

Soccer stars, actors and television personalities from Cristiano Ronaldo to Maya Jama were among those who enjoyed the holiday period in Dubai, working and playing in the Gulf tourist hotspot as Europe suffers under a strict coronavirus lockdown. 

As 2021 began with barely a pop elsewhere, the airport in the United Arab Emirates’ trade hub has been rammed as British, French and Russian tourists flooded into what has recently become the world’s most open city, where visitors can enjoy restaurants, bars and even socially distanced raves. 

After a tough lockdown, the city started opened up its economy gradually in May. With the UAE rolling out a fast vaccination programme, bookings for the city’s hotels are buoyant and a moribund property market is resurgent. 

“Dubai has taken away impediments — people see somewhere relatively safe and so they are prepared to travel,” said Simon Casson, president of hotel operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at the Four Seasons group. “There are few hotels in the world today that are enjoying the levels of demand that Four Seasons Dubai is.”

Oil Surges With Stimulus Hopes Adding to Rally From #Saudi Cuts - Bloomberg

Oil Surges With Stimulus Hopes Adding to Rally From #Saudi Cuts - Bloomberg

Oil extended gains Friday morning with expectations for more U.S. stimulus stoking optimism already buoyed by Saudi Arabia’s unilateral plan to cut output.

Futures in New York rose as much as 2% before easing off the high, while Brent oil topped $55 a barrel for the first time since February. Saudi Arabia’s pledge earlier this week to cut production by 1 million barrels a day in February and March added vigor to the rally, while Democrat gains in the U.S. Senate spurred broader markets higher in expectation of additional stimulus.

“Expectations of a $2,000 stimulus check for everybody is boosting the outlook and assets more generally,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. “It encourages people to believe the economic recovery will be stronger, that you’ll see more spending, more activity and more oil demand as a result.”

PRICES

• Brent for March settlement advanced $1.02 to $55.40 a barrel as of 10:42 a.m. in New York
• West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rose 75 cents to $51.58 a barrel

#Qatar Comes Out of GCC Embargo with a Much Stronger Hand - Bloomberg

Qatar Comes Out of GCC Embargo with a Much Stronger Hand - Bloomberg

Bringing Doha back.

 

Source: Royal Council of Saudi Arabia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

On Tuesday, Qatar was welcomed back into the fold of Gulf Arab states after a three-and-a-half-year embargo. As my colleague Hussein Ibish noted, this does not mean the country has resolved its disputes with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt — the neighbors that imposed its isolation. No lambs were fattened for the returning prodigal, no laudations composed in welcome. Still, there is no gainsaying the fact that Doha has emerged stronger for the experience.

Among the quartet, there was a sense of resignation that the embargo failed in its objective, which was to bring Doha to heel, or at least in line with the Saudi-Emirati consensus on issues ranging from political Islam to the threat posed by Iran. Those issues underpinned the 13 demands they issued to Qatar in the summer of 2017. For good measure, the Qataris were also asked to close down Al Jazeera, the TV network that frequently criticizes the governments of neighboring countries.

The Emiratis, who were the prime movers behind the embargo, now claim the list of demands was no more than a “maximalist negotiating position.” But the concessions they were able to extract from the Qataris were minimalist. Judging from the official pronouncements, Doha has simply decided not to gloat over its neighbors’ failure.

The UAE’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi, credited for last fall’s normalization of relations with Israel, has maintained silence on the subject of reconciliation with Qatar.

#Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Resets Ahead of Biden Presidency - Bloomberg

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Resets Ahead of Biden Presidency - Bloomberg

On a day that Saudi Arabia jolted the oil market with an output cut it called a “gesture of goodwill,” the kingdom’s de-facto ruler took center stage in a mirrored concert hall, ready to resolve a different crisis.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had presided over the rift with Qatar for more than three years. But now there were just two weeks before a new U.S. leader took office, and President-elect Joe Biden had promised to treat Saudi Arabia as a “pariah.” Combined with threats from Iran and a weakening economy, the prince’s calculation had been shifting: reconciliation looked better than conflict.

So on Tuesday, as television cameras rolled in the northwestern Saudi town of Al Ula, Prince Mohammed hugged Qatar’s ruler and ended the split, casting himself as a peacemaker. Hours later, Saudi Arabia announced it would cut oil production by a million barrels a day to support prices for fellow producers -- a directive that the energy minister said came straight from the crown prince and which sent the shares of U.S. energy companies soaring.

With those moves, Prince Mohammed underscored his public presence with a conciliatory tone - at least for now. Since the 35-year-old prince rose to power in 2015, the world’s largest crude exporter had entered into a series of uncharacteristically high-risk ventures: a war in Yemen, partially cutting ties with Canada, waging a bitter oil price war with Russia, and flirting with a trade war with Turkey.

Residents alert: Rents in #Dubai to be fixed for 3 years | ZAWYA MENA Edition

Residents alert: Rents in Dubai to be fixed for 3 years | ZAWYA MENA Edition

A new law has proposed that rents in Dubai should be fixed for three years following the signing of a rental agreement contract, Al Bayan, an Arabic daily, reported on Thursday.

Sultan Butti bin Mejren, the Director-General of the Dubai Land Department (DLD), said a notification to this effect would be issued soon.

The new law is applicable from the date a tenant signs a rental agreement contract.

Mejren said that fixed rental price would boost tenants’ confidence in Dubai.

Earlier, though the draft of the new law was prepared in November 2019, the notification wasn’t issued.

Oil near 11-month highs on #Saudi output cut pledge, equities rally | Reuters

Oil near 11-month highs on Saudi output cut pledge, equities rally | Reuters

Oil prices held near 11-month highs on Friday and were on track for a strong weekly gain as Saudi Arabia’s pledge to cut output continued to buoy market sentiment.

Brent crude climbed 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $54.51 a barrel by 0531 GMT. It touched $54.90 on Thursday, the highest since February.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 14 cents, or 0.3%, to $50.97. The contract closed up 0.4% on Thursday after also hitting its highest since February at $51.28.

Both benchmarks are on track for gains of about 5% for this week.