Oil prices posted their first weekly gain in more than a month, as optimism on the US debt deal outweighed global economic slowdown concerns.
Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, settled 0.37 per cent lower at $75.58 per barrel at the close of trading on Friday, while West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was down 0.43 per cent at $71.55 per barrel.
"Crude prices were having a great week as the US economic outlook dramatically improved as lawmakers seem likely to reach a deal on the debt ceiling," said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. "Debt ceiling optimism quickly disappeared on Friday and that sent oil prices sharply lower. The news wasn’t all negative for crude prices as Fed Chair (Jerome) Powell paved the way for a June hold."
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said he was confident about the prospects of reaching a budget agreement with senior Republican legislators to avert a default on the country's debt for the first time in its history.
He has met House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders for talks on the debt ceiling over the past two weeks to try to ensure the US can continue to meet its financial obligations. However, Mr McCarthy sent mixed messages by saying an agreement in principle may be reached as soon as this weekend, but adding on Friday that bipartisan talks in Washington are on a “pause.”
The US is weeks away from a potential default on its debt, an outcome that would adversely hit American consumers and send shock waves across the entire global financial system.
The debt ceiling, or debt limit, is the maximum amount of debt the Treasury Department can borrow to fulfil its financial commitments.
Continued wildfires in Alberta, Canada's top energy producing province are also supporting oil prices.
“In the near term, substantial wildfires are continuing to disrupt Canadian oil production with as much as 240,000 barrels per day offline,” Emirates NBD said.
Oil prices are down more than 10 per cent this year despite China, one of the top consumers of crude in the world, reopening its economy in January. Concerns about global economic growth amid the tightening of the monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve is putting downward pressure on oil prices.
In April, the International Monetary Fund lowered its global economic growth estimate for this year by 0.1 percentage points to 2.8 per cent, from what it previously projected in January as a result of monetary tightening, geo political tensions and high inflation.
Despite global economic headwinds, the International Energy Agency on Tuesday raised its 2023 global oil demand estimates again and said the current pessimism in the market is in “stark contrast” to the agency’s expectations of a tighter market in the second half of the year.
The IEA now expects global crude demand to rise by 2.2 million barrels per day in 2023, an increase of 200,000 bpd from its April forecast.
Earlier this month, Opec also stuck to its 2023 growth projection for oil demand, although the oil producers’ group has slightly lowered its forecast for regions other than China.
“Oil remains weighed down by persistent demand-side fears,” Han Tan, chief market analyst at Exinity told The National. “Oil’s upside is likely to be capped until markets can put to bed the angst surrounding the looming recession, especially if the Chinese economy can offer evidence of a broader and more resilient recovery.”
Earlier this week, Opec secretary general Haitham Al Ghais, while speaking at the sixth meeting of the Opec-China Energy Dialogue in Beijing, said the group attaches importance to its dialogue partnership with China, the world's second-largest economy, and aims to strengthen it.
In March, global oil demand climbed by 3 million bpd month-on-month to the highest level ever, even as international production fell by 0.5 million bpd in the same month driven by lower production in the US, China, Angola, Canada and the UK, according to data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (Jodi).
"Crude has gathered a little upward momentum over the last week or so," Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda said.
"Brent has continued to see resistance around $77-$78 [per barrel level] though, but a break of this, taking it back into December to March territory, would be encouraging, with $80 [per barrel level] then being the next big test."
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Major honours
ARSENAL
BARCELONA
- La Liga - 2013
- Copa del Rey - 2012
- Fifa Club World Cup - 2011
CHELSEA
- Premier League - 2015, 2017
- FA Cup - 2018
- League Cup - 2015
SPAIN
- World Cup - 2010
- European Championship - 2008, 2012
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The rules of the road keeping cyclists safe
Cyclists must wear a helmet, arm and knee pads
Have a white front-light and a back red-light on their bike
They must place a number plate with reflective light to the back of the bike to alert road-users
Avoid carrying weights that could cause the bike to lose balance
They must cycle on designated lanes and areas and ride safe on pavements to avoid bumping into pedestrians
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
More on animal trafficking
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 3 (Kroos 4', Ramos 30', Marcelo 37')
Eibar 1 (Bigas 60')
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
England World Cup squad
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
The Energy Research Centre
Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
"In the 1990s, we found out about global warming so we focused on energy savings and tackling the greenhouse gas effect.”
The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
