Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Oil prices jumped as much as 2.5 per cent on Friday before paring gains at the close of trading after reports Iran was planning a retaliatory strike on Israel in the coming days, leading to supply concerns.
Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, settled 0.4 per cent higher at $73.10 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, added 0.33 per cent to $69.49 a barrel.
Crude prices were able to recover from a 6 per cent fall on Monday, but still posted a weekly decline. Brent and WTI are down 5.11 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, so far in 2024, and have slid more than 16 per cent since the Israel-Gaza war broke out on October 7 last year.
"Taking off the risk premium, the fundamentals still look fairly weak for oil in the coming months," Daniel Richards, a senior Middle East and North Africa economist at Dubai's Emirates NBD, said on Friday.
The conflict between Israel and Iran is continuing to simmer, with Tehran set to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, Axios quoted Israeli intelligence sources as saying on Thursday. Iran is also recruiting terrorist cells inside Israel to conduct retaliatory attacks, security officials told The National this week.
The two countries traded threats at the UN Security Council on Monday, with Iranian ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani condemning the strikes on Tehran at the weekend. He said Iran had the “inherent right” to respond to Israeli attacks, while Israel warned of “swift and decisive” consequences for any retaliation.
Israel carried out the attack in response to a barrage of ballistic missiles fired by Iran this month. Iran said the October 1 attack on Israel was in response to the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
Opec member Iran produces more than three million barrels of oil a day.
But "geopolitical tensions have proved to be a temporary boost to oil bulls", said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. "The global economic outlook and supply / demand dynamics remain comfortably bearish for oil."
Concerns about a dip in demand, mainly in China, have weighed on the market. Oil consumption in China, the world's second-biggest consumer of crude, has slowed in recent months, which analysts attribute to a slowing economy and a long-term shift towards the use of electric vehicles.
There are signs, however, that the world's second-largest economy is steadying, as the country's manufacturing sector posted its first expansion in six months, suggesting that Beijing's aggressive stimulus measures – aimed at addressing slowing manufacturing, a property market downturn and rising unemployment – are having a positive effect.
China's biggest economic stimulus initiative since the Covid-19 pandemic included lowering interest rates, reducing mortgage rates for existing homeowners and a major cash injection into the economy.
Meanwhile, the World Bank expects the global oil supply to exceed demand by an average of 1.2 million barrels per day next year, it said in its latest Commodity Markets Outlook this week. Partly accounting for the large oil supply is a “major shift” in China, where the World Bank said demand for the commodity has “essentially flatlined” since last year due to lower industrial production and a shift to electric vehicles.
In addition, several countries that are not part of Opec or Opec+ are expected to increase oil production, the World Bank said. The price of Brent crude oil is expected to average $80 per barrel this year, before falling to $73 and $72 per barrel in 2025 and 2026, respectively, it said.
In the US, petrol stockpiles posted a surprise decline last week to hit a two-year low on accelerating demand, while crude inventories also registered an unexpected drop as imports waned, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
FIGHT INFO
Men’s 60kg Round 1:
Ahmad Shuja Jamal (AFG) beat Krisada Takhiankliang (THA) - points
Hyan Aljmyah (SYR) beat Akram Alyminee (YEM) - retired Round 1
Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) beat Bhanu Pratap Pandit (IND) - TKO Round 1
Men’s 71kg Round 1:
Seyed Kaveh Soleyman (IRI) beat Abedel Rahman (JOR) - RSC round 3.
Amine Al Moatassime (UAE) walk over Ritiz Puri (NEP)
The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
The years Ramadan fell in May
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
