Oil prices slid nearly 3 per cent on Friday and posted weekly losses as investors grew wary of US President Donald Trump's moves and easing tension in the Middle East reduced risk premiums for the commodity.
Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, settled 2.68 per cent lower to $74.43 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, retreated 2.87 per cent to close at $70.40 a barrel.
For the week, Brent declined 1.1 per cent and WTI shed 0.4 per cent. Year-to-date, the benchmarks are down 0.3 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.
Earlier on Friday, oil prices had been on track to record a weekly gain on concerns of tightening supply and a weaker dollar.
During the week, worries about crude oil supply intensified when a drone strike – which Moscow blamed on Ukraine – hit a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pumping station in Russia's Krasnodar region.
Moscow said that oil shipments through the pipeline, Kazakhstan's main export route, had dropped by 30-40 per cent. landlocked Kazakhstan depends on the pipeline for more than 80 per cent of its oil exports and lacks alternative transportation options.
The Central Asian country has achieved record-high oil production levels despite damage to its export route, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing industry sources. The country’s oil and gas condensate production reached about 2.12 million barrels per day (bpd) on February 19, the sources said.
Oil markets have been volatile in recent weeks as investors weigh the prospects of a global trade war and a possible end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which could lead to the lifting of sanctions on Moscow’s energy industry.
This week, Washington and Moscow began talks aimed at ending the war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“While we anticipate the prospect of a peace agreement between Russia-Ukraine to have sizeable ramifications for natural gas, any associated easing in sanctions on Russia is not likely to comprise considerable increases in aggregate Russian crude oil flows,” MUFG said in a research note on Thursday.
Russia's crude oil production is limited by its Opec+ target of 9 million bpd, rather than by current sanctions, which affect the destination of its exports but not the overall volume, the Japanese lender said.
Despite US pressure to reduce prices, Opec+ is considering delaying planned monthly production increases set to begin in April, according to a Bloomberg report from Tuesday.
The group has held back 5.86 million bpd of supply from the market as part of a series of output curbs since 2022. It plans to gradually restore a total of 2.2 million bpd through monthly increases by late 2026.
Oil prices were also supported this week by a weaker dollar, lowering the cost of oil for investors.
After reaching its lowest point of the year, dipping below 106.4 on Thursday, the US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback's value against a group of major currencies, was up by 0.10 per cent at 106.48 at 11.57am UAE time.
The dollar weakened after Mr Trump hinted at a potential trade deal with China, easing market uncertainty surrounding tariffs.
On Wednesday, the US President said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the US, though he did not provide a timeline for the visit.
Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One that a new trade deal between the US and China is “possible”.
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
SUNDAY'S ABU DHABI T10 MATCHES
Northern Warriors v Team Abu Dhabi, 3.30pm
Bangla Tigers v Karnataka Tuskers, 5.45pm
Qalandars v Maratha Arabians, 8pm
In The Heights
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda
Rating: ****
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%3A
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Envision%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKarthik%20Mahadevan%20and%20Karthik%20Kannan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20The%20Netherlands%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Technology%2FAssistive%20Technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241.5%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204impact%2C%20ABN%20Amro%2C%20Impact%20Ventures%20and%20group%20of%20angels%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FIXTURES (all times UAE)
Sunday
Brescia v Lazio (3.30pm)
SPAL v Verona (6pm)
Genoa v Sassuolo (9pm)
AS Roma v Torino (11.45pm)
Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
Napoli v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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