Higher Oil Prices Here to Stay as Saudi Arabia, Russia Curb OPEC+ Supply - Bloomberg
When crude surges above $90 a barrel and the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Russia get on the phone to congratulate each other on a job well done, oil consumers should take note.
After half a year in the doldrums, the price of the world’s most important commodity is on a tear as the biggest players in OPEC+ get serious about making sure supply doesn’t exceed demand. The 1 million barrel-a-day output cut the Saudis initially pledged solely for the month of July will now be in place until year-end, alongside a smaller export reduction from Russia.
It’s not just the size of the supply deficit likely to result from this — about 2.7 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter according to Rystad Energy A/S — that should worry consumers. It’s the fact that the West’s somewhat-estranged ally Riyadh, and its outright foe Moscow, are now bound so firmly together in their push for higher prices.
“Crude tightness seems quite legitimate and quite real,” said Greg Sharenow, managing director at Pacific Investment Management Co. “This certainly keeps oil markets on the boil.”
Aman Group Gets $360 Million From Likes of Mubadala, Alpha Wave Ventures - Bloomberg
Aman Group, which operates some of the world’s most expensive hotels, secured a $360 million investment from a group including a United Arab Emirates wealth fund and an investment firm backed by an influential member of that nation’s royal family.
The investment values Aman, run by Chief Executive Officer Vlad Doronin, at $3 billion, the hospitality firm said Friday in a statement. The fresh funds come from a group that includes a unit of Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. and Alpha Wave Ventures, a private equity fund co-managed by US firm Alpha Wave Global and Chimera Capital — part of a business empire overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed.
Aman, which has 34 hotels across 20 countries, secured a $900 million investment last year from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Cain International.
“The validation of Aman’s strategy by prominent investors in regions where we have considerable expansion planned enables us to leverage the extraordinary potential of the Aman brand and accelerate the pipeline to deliver sustainable growth,” Doronin said in the statement.
US, India, Saudi, EU to unveil rail, ports deal on G20 sidelines -White House official | Reuters
A multinational rail and ports deal linking the Middle East and South Asia will be announced on Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, a White House official said.
The pact comes at a critical time as U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to counter China's Belt and Road push on global infrastructure by pitching Washington as an alternative partner and investor for developing countries at the G20 grouping.
The deal will benefit low and middle-income countries in the region, and enable a critical role for the Middle East in global commerce, Jon Finer, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, told reporters at the bloc's annual summit in New Delhi.
It aims to link Middle East countries by railway and connect them to India by port, helping the flow of energy and trade from the Gulf to Europe, U.S. officials have said, by cutting shipping times, costs and fuel use.
A memorandum of understanding for the deal will be signed by the European Union, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and other G20 partners, Finer said.
Spanish minister calls for govt to block STC's push for 9.9% Telefonica stake | Reuters
Spain's acting labour minister on Friday called on the government to block the acquisition by Saudi Arabia's STC Group (7010.SE) of a 9.9% stake in Telefonica (TEF.MC), for the first time signalling opposition to the deal within the coalition.
"My opinion is that we cannot allow this operation to continue," Yolanda Diaz, who belongs to the hard-left junior coalition partner in the Socialist-led caretaker government and is also a deputy prime minister, told reporters in Rome.
"I will certainly work to ensure that this operation does not take place," she said, citing Telefonica's strategic importance as an operator handling data transmission and adding that she had conveyed her stance to acting Economy Minister Nadia Calvino, who is also a deputy premier.
Calvino, whose ministry has oversight authority over all financial transactions, on Wednesday vowed to protect Spain's strategic interests but stressed the need to preserve the country's ability to attract foreign investment.
She said Madrid was analysing the application of the relevant defence mechanisms, the sector, its relation with Spain's security and defence of Spain, STC's shareholding, the exercise of voting rights and the participation on the board or other decision-making bodies of the company.
Madrid could potentially stymie STC's stake purchase due to Telefonica providing services to Spain's defence industry and the government can intervene in acquisitions of holdings above 5%.
Saudi Arabia's largest telecoms operator on Tuesday said it had built a stake in Telefonica worth 2.1 billion euros ($2.25 billion), following the playbook of other Middle Eastern companies in investing in European and Latin American telecom operators.
