White House faces oil standoff with Saudi Arabia and UAE as prices soar | US foreign policy | The Guardian
Joe Biden’s hardline stance on Russia has won him widespread plaudits, but with the most serious oil shock in decades now a reality, the US president’s attempt to cushion the blowback continues to meet resistance from the two allies he needs most.
Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman, and his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, are yet to agree to a phone call with the west’s most powerful man – a scenario all but unthinkable during previous administrations.
Biden’s immediate priority is for both countries to help exert maximum economic pressure on Russia by cranking up their oil output. Each capital is a major supplier of oil, with excess capacity, which would soften the effect on US consumers through fuel prices before midterm elections in November that threaten Democratic control of Congress.
With relations between the Middle East oil powers and Washington at their lowest ebb in modern times, though, a reckoning is due that may realign the regional order on terms that favour Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Both leaders have made it clear that they will settle for nothing less, and are ready to extract their price.
Sunday 13 March 2022
#Russia threatens to make external debt payments in roubles | Financial Times
Russia threatens to make external debt payments in roubles | Financial Times
Russia has threatened to pay international bondholders in roubles rather than dollars just days before a key interest payment on its external debt comes due.
Russia has threatened to pay international bondholders in roubles rather than dollars just days before a key interest payment on its external debt comes due.
Anton Siluanov, Russia’s finance minister, said on Sunday that it was “absolutely fair” the country would make all of its sovereign debt payments in roubles until western sanctions that he claimed have frozen $300bn of the country’s reserves were lifted.
Moscow is scheduled to make a combined $117mn in interest payments this Wednesday on two dollar-denominated bonds, according to JPMorgan. Neither bond’s contracts gives Russia the option of paying in roubles, according to the Wall Street bank.
The latest warning to foreign bondholders ratchets up the chances the country will default on its debt for the first time since the Russian financial crisis in 1998, as its financial system comes under heavy strain from the measures western governments have taken following the invasion.
“We need to pay for critical imports. Food, medicine, a whole array of other vital goods,” Siluanov told a state television interviewer. “But the debts we need to pay to the countries that have been unfriendly to the Russian Federation and have limited our use of foreign currency reserves — we will pay off our debt to these countries in the rouble equivalent,” he said.
Siluanov said that almost half of Russia’s $643bn foreign reserves had been hit by the sanctions, but did not disclose the denominations and jurisdictions where Russia holds other currencies.
Most Gulf bourses fall amid Ukraine conflict uncertainty | Reuters
Most Gulf bourses fall amid Ukraine conflict uncertainty | Reuters
Most stock markets in the Gulf ended lower on Sunday, weighed down by uncertainty about the conflict in Ukraine.
A Russian missile attack on a large Ukrainian military facility near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday killed 35 people and wounded 134, a Ukrainian official said. read more
Saudi Arabia's benchmark share index (.TASI) fell 0.6%, with oil behemoth Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) sliding 2.8%, extending losses for a third consecutive session.
Aramco has risen more than 10% so far this year as crude prices soared since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Among other losers, Dur Hospitality (4010.SE) retreated 5.4% after the firm called off initial discussions relating to a merger with Taiba Investment Co (4090.SE).
In Qatar, the index (.QSI) dropped 1.1%, with most index stocks in negative territory including the Gulf's biggest lender Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA), which was down 2%.
Bucking the trend in the Gulf, Oman's index (.MSX30) finished 0.5% higher.
Oman aims to list 35 state-owned enterprises in the next five years and plans to take one or two oil companies public this year, the CEO of the Muscat Stock Exchange told CNBC Arabia on Sunday. read more
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) edged up 0.3%, helped by a 2.4% rise in top lender Commercial International Bank (COMI.CA).
A Russian missile attack on a large Ukrainian military facility near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday killed 35 people and wounded 134, a Ukrainian official said. read more
Saudi Arabia's benchmark share index (.TASI) fell 0.6%, with oil behemoth Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) sliding 2.8%, extending losses for a third consecutive session.
Aramco has risen more than 10% so far this year as crude prices soared since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Among other losers, Dur Hospitality (4010.SE) retreated 5.4% after the firm called off initial discussions relating to a merger with Taiba Investment Co (4090.SE).
In Qatar, the index (.QSI) dropped 1.1%, with most index stocks in negative territory including the Gulf's biggest lender Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA), which was down 2%.
Bucking the trend in the Gulf, Oman's index (.MSX30) finished 0.5% higher.
Oman aims to list 35 state-owned enterprises in the next five years and plans to take one or two oil companies public this year, the CEO of the Muscat Stock Exchange told CNBC Arabia on Sunday. read more
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) edged up 0.3%, helped by a 2.4% rise in top lender Commercial International Bank (COMI.CA).
#Oman to list 35 state-owned companies in five years - bourse CEO tells CNBC Arabia | Reuters
Oman to list 35 state-owned companies in five years - bourse CEO tells CNBC Arabia | Reuters
Oman aims to list 35 state-owned enterprises in the next five years and plans to take one or two oil companies public this year, the CEO of the Muscat Stock Exchange told CNBC Arabia on Sunday.
Oman’s state-owned energy company OQ is considering local listings for some of its downstream and upstream assets but has no plan to float the parent company now, a senior executive at the state-owned energy group told Reuters in November. read more
Oman is following Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) and other Gulf oil producers in looking at sales of stakes in energy assets, capitalising on a rebound in crude prices to attract foreign investors. read more
Oman aims to list 35 state-owned enterprises in the next five years and plans to take one or two oil companies public this year, the CEO of the Muscat Stock Exchange told CNBC Arabia on Sunday.
Oman’s state-owned energy company OQ is considering local listings for some of its downstream and upstream assets but has no plan to float the parent company now, a senior executive at the state-owned energy group told Reuters in November. read more
Oman is following Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) and other Gulf oil producers in looking at sales of stakes in energy assets, capitalising on a rebound in crude prices to attract foreign investors. read more
EXCLUSIVE Russians liquidating crypto in the #UAE as they seek safe havens | Reuters
EXCLUSIVE Russians liquidating crypto in the UAE as they seek safe havens | Reuters
Crypto firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are being deluged with requests to liquidate billions of dollars of virtual currency as Russians seek a safe haven for their fortunes, company executives and financial sources said.
Some clients are using cryptocurrency to invest in real estate in the UAE, while others want to use firms there to turn their virtual money into hard currency and stash it elsewhere, the sources said.
One crypto firm has received lots of queries in the past 10 days from Swiss brokers asking to liquidate billions of dollars of bitcoin because their clients are afraid Switzerland will freeze their assets, one executive said, adding that none of the requests had been for less than $2 billion.
"We've had like five or six in the past two weeks. None of them have come off yet – they've sort of fallen over at the last minute, which is not rare - but we've never had this much interest," the executive said, adding that his firm normally receives an inquiry for a large transaction once a month.
Crypto firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are being deluged with requests to liquidate billions of dollars of virtual currency as Russians seek a safe haven for their fortunes, company executives and financial sources said.
Some clients are using cryptocurrency to invest in real estate in the UAE, while others want to use firms there to turn their virtual money into hard currency and stash it elsewhere, the sources said.
One crypto firm has received lots of queries in the past 10 days from Swiss brokers asking to liquidate billions of dollars of bitcoin because their clients are afraid Switzerland will freeze their assets, one executive said, adding that none of the requests had been for less than $2 billion.
"We've had like five or six in the past two weeks. None of them have come off yet – they've sort of fallen over at the last minute, which is not rare - but we've never had this much interest," the executive said, adding that his firm normally receives an inquiry for a large transaction once a month.
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