#2017 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Jobs

[orbemnews]

Jobless Claims to Show the Pandemic’s Toll on the Economy: Live Updates Here’s what you need to know: The Avalon Cafe and Biscuit Bar in Detroit closed because of the pandemic. Conditions should improve in the coming months, economists say.Credit…Elaine Cromie for The New York Times The economy’s ability to heal from the damage inflicted by the pandemic will be tested Thursday morning when the Labor Department reports the latest data on initial jobless claims. With caseloads dropping and restrictions on business activity being eased in many places, filings for unemployment benefits have come down, too. In late February, the government reported that initial claims had sunk to their lowest level since November on a seasonally adjusted basis. But the pace of reopenings has been uneven. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said Tuesday that the state was lifting all restrictions on business and eliminating its mask requirement, moves that drew criticism from President Biden. Elsewhere, officials have been more cautious — in Chicago, parks and playgrounds reopened, while in Massachusetts, capacity restrictions on restaurants have been lifted. “The labor market is continuing to gradually improve,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco. “Job growth will accelerate, perhaps as soon as the second quarter, with decent gains in leisure and hospitality and travel.” Even so, the number of new filers, at more than 700,000 per week last month, remains extremely high by historical standards, a sign of the continuing devastation a year after the pandemic struck. Another reading will come Friday, when the Labor Department reports on hiring and unemployment in February. Economists expect the survey to show a gain of 200,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 6.3 percent. In January, the job market hit a soft spot, with employers adding just 49,000 positions. That offered little hope to the nearly 10 million Americans out of work. But conditions should improve in the coming months, economists say, with vaccination efforts gaining speed and another relief package nearing passage on Capitol Hill. Mr. Anderson expects annualized growth of 7.2 percent in the second quarter (1.75 percent on a quarterly basis), paced by consumer spending and the aid infusion from Washington. “The amount of sheer spending by the government is moving the needle,” Mr. Anderson said. By summer, spending should return to pre-pandemic levels, he said, but it could take another two years for the labor market to recover fully. Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair. The central bank has played down inflation concerns.Credit…Al Drago for The New York Times Global stocks dropped on Thursday, extending losses from the previous day when U.S. bond yields jumped higher again. The S&P 500 index is set to open more than half a percentage point lower when trading begins. It fell 1.3 percent on Wednesday, led by tech stocks. The Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 1.1 percent on Thursday, with some of the biggest loses in semiconductor companies. The Nikkei 225 in Japan and Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed more than 2 percent lower. The 10-year U.S. yield was 1.47 percent on Thursday. On Wednesday, the yield jumped 9 basis points, or 0.09 percentage point, to 1.48 percent. Rising yields have rattled tech stocks especially hard because they have been some of the biggest gainers over the past year and partly supported by central bank’s easy money policies. The market volatility has actually been caused by good economic news: an economic rebound, which investors worry will cause inflation. Few economists see a significant risk of runaway inflation, but investors say that the mere possibility of painful 1970s-style price growth might drive the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to tamp down a heated economy. And that would be bad for bonds, The New York Times’s Matt Phillips wrote. Despite policymakers mostly brushing off the worries, more investors think the Fed might have to intervene. To address these worries, the Fed could buy the long-dated bonds where yields are rising or put in place a policy of yield curve control, The Times’s Jeanna Smialek wrote. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, is set to speak Thursday at a Wall Street Journal event, where he may be asked to address the recent bond activity. Elsewhere in markets: The latest report on state unemployment claims will be released by the Labor Department on Thursday. As businesses have reopened, the numbers have fallen in recent weeks, but at more than 700,000 per week, they remain extremely high by historical standards. Most commodity prices fell. Futures on West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, dropped 0.5 percent to about $61 a barrel. Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery and terminal in Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials volunteered to cut oil production by one million barrels a day at the last OPEC meeting.Credit…Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, are expected to meet by videoconference on Thursday to consider a potential but by no means certain production increase of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day. Analysts say the combined group, called OPEC Plus, could increase the supply of oil without undermining its price on global markets. After collapsing last spring, oil prices have risen to pre-pandemic levels in recent weeks, with Brent crude reaching nearly $67 a barrel in late February. Vaccination programs against the coronavirus are gathering pace, potentially leading to increased economic activity and greater demand for oil this year. In addition, production growth from shale producers in the United States is expected to be restrained this year. Petroleum heavyweights that are curtailing production, like Russia and the United Arab Emirates, would like to put some of that oil back on the market. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s de facto leader, continues to urge caution while apparently seeking even higher prices. After January’s OPEC meeting, Saudi Arabia voluntarily agreed to cut its own production by one million barrels a day, to about 8.1 million barrels a day. That cut is scheduled to expire in April, and it remains uncertain what the Saudis will do. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi oil minister, clearly enjoys surprising the market and upending what he thinks are traders’ expectations. On Wednesday, a preparatory technical committee meeting did not produce a formal recommendation, analysts say. “Once again, it seems that Russia and U.A.E. are pressing for a collective OPEC Plus increase, while Saudi Arabia and Algeria are seeking to keep output unchanged for the time being,” wrote Helima Croft, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, an investment bank, in a note to clients. In January, OPEC Plus reached an unusual compromise that allowed modest increases to Russia and Kazakhstan that were offset by the substantial cuts that Saudi Arabia volunteered after the meeting. The outcome of the meeting on Thursday may depend once again on how much production the Saudis are willing to sacrifice to gain higher prices. Disney will close 30 percent of its stores in North America this year.Credit…Joshua Lott for The New York Times After 33 years as a shopping mall mainstay, Mickey Mouse is mostly calling it a day. The Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday that it would dramatically downsize its chain of Disney Stores, which have struggled amid the pandemic and a broader consumer shift to online shopping. At least 60 locations in North America — 30 percent of the Disney Store footprint in the region — will close this year. The company described the closures as the “beginning” of its downsizing effort. A significant number of overseas stores are also expected to close. According to its 2020 annual report, Disney has about 60 stores in Europe. The Disney Store chain was founded in 1987 and once numbered more than 1,000 locations worldwide. For a time in the early 1990s, during a boom for shopping malls, Disney even experimented with an adjacent spinoff chain of Mickey’s Kitchen restaurants, where items included Dumbo burgers, Pinocchio pizzas and fries shaped like Donald Duck. Disney redesigned many Disney Store locations in 2017 in an attempt to boost business, incorporating live video feeds from its theme parks and shifting the merchandise mix away from toys and toward fashion-conscious young adults. Results were mixed. In 2019, as shopping malls continued to struggle, Disney expanded its merchandising presence at Target stores, a move that analysts viewed as the beginning of the end for the stand-alone Disney Store business. ShopDisney, the company’s online store, will expand over the next year and become more integrated with Disney’s theme park apps and social media platforms, according to Stephanie Young, president of Disney Consumer Products, Games and Publishing. The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, has said the central bank would not cut support for the economy anytime soon. Credit…Pool photo by Susan Walsh The market conniptions of recent days are a direct result of several developments that point to the brightening prospects of economic recovery. Vaccinations are rising, retail sales and industrial production have been surprisingly solid and, perhaps most important, the Biden administration is expected to push its $1.9 trillion stimulus plan through Congress in the coming days. One clear consequence is expected to be strong growth. Wall Street economists now expect output to rise by nearly 5 percent in 2021. Such robust growth — it would be the best year for the economy since 1984 — would seem like a good thing for stocks. But growth brings with it the possibility of rising inflation, which in turn could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates — and that’s what investors are reacting to, with different consequences for the stock and bond markets, Matt Phillips reports for The New York Times. Few economists see a significant risk of runaway inflation, but investors say that the mere possibility of painful price growth might drive the Fed to raise interest rates to tamp down the economy. That would be bad for bond owners. If the Fed raised rates, rates around the bond market would climb. Then the price of bonds that investors hold would have to fall until they produced yields that were comparable to the new, higher rates in the market. In expectation of that, investors are demanding a higher return now in the form of a higher yield on their bonds. Higher rates can be a problem for the stock market’s performance. One reason is that high interest rates make owning bonds more attractive, coaxing at least some dollars out of the stock market. Higher rates can also make borrowing more expensive for companies, especially smaller ones that have potential but lack a track record of profitability. Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, testifying in October. Before the ban on political ads, he had said he wanted to maintain a hands-off approach toward speech on Facebook.Credit…Pool photo by Michael Reynolds Facebook said on Wednesday that it planned to lift its ban on political advertising across its network, resuming a form of digital promotion that has been criticized for spreading misinformation and falsehoods and inflaming voters. The social network said it would allow advertisers to buy new ads about “social issues, elections or politics” beginning on Thursday, according to a copy of an email sent to political advertisers and viewed by The New York Times. Darren W. Woods, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, in an interview before an annual presentation to investors promised that Exxon would try to set a goal for not emitting more greenhouse gases than it removed from the atmosphere, though he said it was still difficult to say when that might happen. Under pressure from activist investors, Exxon said this week that it was adding two new directors with no previous ties to fossil fuels to its board. The company recently said it would create a new business that captured carbon dioxide from industrial plants and buried it deep in the ground. It also recently invested in Global Thermostat, a company that aims to suck carbon dioxide out of the air. Source link Orbem News #claims #Economy #Jobless #Live #Pandemics #Show #toll #Updates

[772venezuela-blog]

Special Topic Brief

Venezuelan as a Petrostate

Venezuela is home to the world's largest oil reserves. It is a perfect example of what happens when a government relies primarily on oil and natural gas as its main source of revenue, also known as a petrostate. In a petrostate, economic and political power are highly concentrated in an elite minority(Mähler, 8). Often political institutions are weak and unaccountable, and corruption is widespread. (huffingtonpost.com) There are many other countries described as petrostates including Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

In a petrostate, the country is are often vulnerable to what economists call Dutch Disease. The resource boom from the oil and natural gas attracts a large inflow of foreign capital. This leads to a boost in the local currency and a boost of imports, leading to labor and capital leaving other critical sectors of the economy such as agriculture and manufacturing. The other sectors of the economy that lose people and capital are thought to be an important part of a nation's economy to continue to grow and stay competitive. (Rowan & Toro, 2) As this happens unemployment rises and the country develops an unhealthy dependence on the export of natural resources. This causes the economy of the petrostate to be vulnerable in unpredictable swings in global energy prices.(Mähler, 8). Not only is there effect on the economy but there is also an effect on governance. Petrostates rely on export income instead of income taxes leading to a weak tie between the people and the state.

How Did This Happen?

Oil was discovered in Venezuela in the 1920s. Since then, poor governance has driven what used to be one of Latin America's most prosperous states into economic and political devastation. In the 1930s Venezuela had three foreign companies that controlled 98 percent of the Venezuelan oil market. The government stepped in and required that half of the oil profits go to the state. In 1958, after a succession of military dictatorships, Venezuela elected its first stable democratic government. The three major political parties signed the Punto Fijo pact, stating that oil jobs would be handed out to political parties in proportion to voting results, concentrating oil profit in the state. In the next few years, Venezuela would join the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and raise oil companies income tax to 65 percent of profits.

During the 1970s there was an oil boom. Because of conflicts in other oil-exporting countries, Venezuelan oil quadrupled in price, adding over $10 billion to state coffers. Not only was money flowing into the state, but analysts also estimate that as much as $100 billion was embezzled between 1972 and 1997 alone. During this oil boom, President Carlos Andres Perez nationalized the oil industry, creating state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) to oversee all exploring, producing, refining, and exporting of oil. Perez allowed PDVSA to partner with foreign oil companies as long as it held 60 percent equity in joint ventures and structured the company to run as a business with minimal government regulation.

In the 1980s oil prices fell. The economy plummeted and inflation sourced. This was the beginning of the rise of Hugo Chavez, a military officer, as he launched a failed coup and rose to national fame. Chavez launched the Bolivarian revolution. His platform pledged to use Venezuela’s vast oil wealth to reduce poverty and inequality. In Venezuela, they became a petrostate during the time that they were establishing themselves on a government standpoint. The country was in the process of changing its Constitution and type of leadership. In the case of Chavez, he used the wealth from Venezuela's natural resources to repress political opposition.

Venezuela has many indicators that describe a typical failing petrostate:

Oil dependence. Oil sales account for 96 percent of export earnings and as much as 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Falling production. Oil output has declined for decades, reaching a new low in 2019.

Spiraling economy. In 2018, GDP shrunk by double digits for a third consecutive year.

Soaring debt. Venezuela has missed billions of dollars in payments since defaulting in late 2017.

Hyperinflation. Annual inflation is running at more than 2.3 million percent.

Growing autocracy. President Nicolas Maduro has violated basic tenets of democracy to maintain power.

In 2014 global oil prices fell causing Venezuela’s economy to free fall. The people were already feeling the effects of a failed petrostate and unrest brewed. Maduro consolidated power through the oppression of opponents, censorship of the media and meddling in elections and was reelected in May 2018 in a race that is largely considered to be unfair and undemocratic. In 2017 Venezuela defaulted on their debt. Venezuela’s failure is a combination of uncontrolled corruption by an authoritarian government, a failed ideology of Chavismo and mismanagement of natural resources(Mähler, 15). All of this has led to a grave humanitarian crisis. There are severe shortages of basic goods, such as food and medical supplies. In 2017, Venezuelans lost an average of twenty-four pounds in body weight. Nine out of ten live in poverty. In 2018 roughly one in ten people has fled the country.

Why does this matter?

During the government of President Hugo Chávez, corruption has exploded to unprecedented levels. Billions of dollars were stolen or are otherwise unaccounted for. The dramatic rise in corruption under Chávez is ironic since he came to power largely on an anti-corruption campaign platform. During the early day’s of his presidency, the economy was booming. Oil was high and people were happy. They did not care about the corruption of its leaders and the slow loss of democratic norms. There was enough money for everyone, including enough money to line to pockets of Chavez’s political supporters. The main reason behind the corruption has been the record oil income obtained by the nation. The money went directly into Chavez’s pockets; a mediocre management team working without transparency or accountability; the ideological predilections of Chavez (Chavismo), which have led him to try to play a “messianic” role in Latin America, and even world affairs; and the policies of handouts put in place by Chavez to keep the Venezuelan masses politically loyal. (https://www.cato.org) Chavez used oil money to keep the Venezuelan people unaware and loyal to him by centralizing his control of the media, the economy, and government. These policies secured the building blocks to keep a populist like Chavez in power.

Mähler, Annegret. Oil in Venezuela: Triggering Violence or Ensuring Stability? A Context-Sensitive Analysis of the Ambivalent Impact of Resource Abundance. German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), 2009, www.jstor.org/stable/resrep07612.

Rowan, Michael, and Francisco Toro. “Death-Throes of a Petrostate.” The World Today, vol. 59, no. 3, 2003, pp. 22–24. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40476958.

[jobskenyaone-blog]

Nov 2017 New Job Vacancy at The Organization in Nigeria

Nov 2017 New Job Vacancy at The Organization in Nigeria

Nov 2017 New Job at The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Nigeria Nov 2017 Latest Job at The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Nigeria Nov 2017 Career  Recruitment at The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Nigeria Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – We coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its…

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OPEC Various Jobs in Nigeria Nov 2017

OPEC Various Jobs in Nigeria Nov 2017

Nov 2017 – Recruitment at The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) OPEC Job Opportunity

Career Opening at The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Nov 2017

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OPEC PR Coordinator Job Vacancy in Nigeria October 2017

OPEC PR Coordinator Job Vacancy in Nigeria October 2017

Oct 2017 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) PR Coordinator Vacancy in Nigeria Career Opportunity: PR Coordinator Job Description

Employment Vacancy : Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Job Recruitment

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Apply For Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Jobs Recruitment 2017

Apply For Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Jobs Recruitment 2017

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Jobs Recruitment 2017: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), hereby invites applications from interested and qualified candidates for immediate employment in the following positions listed below. Interested candidates should submit their resume using the guide on this page.

OPEC Nigeria Recruitment 2017 – At OPEC we…

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Studies Department Job Vacancy in Nigeria March 2017

Studies Department Job Vacancy in Nigeria March 2017

Head Petroleum Studies Department Recent Job Opportunity at Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Nigeria March 2017   Head Petroleum Studies Department Recent Career Vacancy at Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Nigeria March 2017   Head Petroleum Studies Department Recent Employment Vacancy at Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries…

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Head, Petroleum Studies Department Recent Job at Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) 2017

Head, Petroleum Studies Department Recent Job at Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) 2017

Head, Petroleum Studies Department Recent Job at Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) 2017 Tags: OPEC , PhD Jobs Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – We coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a…

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Saudi Arabia Shuts off America’s Oil Taps Again

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( Bloomberg Viewpoint)– For the second time in 3 years, Saudi Arabia is slashing the volume of crude it’s sending out to America in an attempt to force down stockpiles on the planet’s most visible oil market and consequently accelerate the rebalancing of supply and demand.

Weekly U.S. oil inventory information– typically published on a Wednesday and covering the duration as much as the previous Friday– is routinely read by oil analysts and traders alike. In spite of their imperfections, the figures offer the most current photo of modifications in the oil balance and impact trading choices and crude rates around the globe.

Shifts in the circulation of crude into and out of American ports can have a huge influence on the level of U.S. inventories. Riyadh has plainly decided it’s time to do its bit to bring them below heights reached in May and June, when the coronavirus pandemic and the kingdom’s own output walking integrated to drive the fastest ever rise in U.S. business crude stockpiles. In the five weeks in between March 20 and April 24, the inventories increased at a rate of 2.1 million barrels a day and by the first week of June it was hitting brand-new highs.

Excess stockpiles function as a drag on oil prices and the most noticeable stockpiles remain in the U.S. because the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reports levels weekly. That’s in plain contrast to other places all over the world where the information are much less prompt, if they are released at all. China, for instance, stopped divulging official information on stock levels in 2017.

It’s no wonder then that Saudi Arabia need to concentrate on the U.S.. This is precisely the very same policy that it adopted three years ago, quickly after the larger OPEC alliance was formed and its very first output offer was running into difficulty.

At the time, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and 10 non-OPEC allies, consisting of Russia and Mexico, agreed to cut their production by 1.66 million barrels a day from the start of 2017 to lower swollen worldwide oil stocks built up as an outcome of the very first U.S. shale boom. Poor implementation of the cuts and increasing U.S. oil production suggested stocks kept growing, despite OPEC making its first output reduction in 8 years.

Quick forward to today and the decrease in the circulation of Saudi oil to the U.S. is significant. In May and June tankers full of Saudi crude were arriving off the Gulf and West coasts of the U.S. almost daily, often more than one a day. But in July and August that has actually decreased to bit more than one a week, as the chart listed below programs.

That surge in ships, which I discussed here, briefly drove U.S. imports of Saudi crude near a six-year high, contributing to the upward push on stockpiles. It was short-lived and imports in the last week of July were simply 190,000 barrels a day, their second-lowest level in weekly information that extends back a years.

The figure might fall even further in the coming weeks. There are only 6 tankers bring 9 million barrels of Saudi crude presently showing a U.S. port as their destination, according to tanker-tracking data kept an eye on by Bloomberg. With a journey time of about six weeks from the Persian Gulf to any of the major U.S. oil ports, that’s all the Saudi crude that’s likely to show up by mid-September.

And things aren’t likely to improve much after that. In setting its main crude costs for September, Saudi Arabia has actually made considerable cuts to prices for European clients, where it’s taking on Russia, and smaller ones for purchasers in Asia. The kingdom has kept rates for the U.S. the same from last month.

By doing so, Saudi Arabia is ensuring that its crude stays uncompetitive versus domestic heavy sour grades from the Gulf of Mexico, or imports from Canada, in a market where the hoped-for recovery in demand has actually stalled.

The leaders of Saudi Arabia and the U.S. both wish to see oil rates rising from current levels– the kingdom’s spending plan still depends on oil incomes and the U.S. shale market desperately requires higher prices to recuperate. President Donald Trump may be rather pleased to see unrefined imports from Saudi Arabia curtailed– after all, it would feed in perfectly to his rhetoric on U.S. energy dominance.

By once again focusing its output cuts on the U.S. market, Riyadh is wanting to duplicate the success of the second half of 2017, when oil rates increased by 51%from a low of $4482 in mid-June to $6787 by the end of the year.

Unless the Covid-19 pandemic relieves its grip on oil demand, Saudi Arabia might discover 2020 more of an obstacle.

This column does not always show the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Julian Lee is an oil strategist for Bloomberg. Formerly he worked as a senior expert at the Centre for Global Energy Researches.

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[forextraderpost]

Crude Oil Price Outlook Eyes OPEC Output Restart, US and China Demand

Crude Oil Fundamental Outlook: Neutral

Crude oil prices may be exposed to competing fundamental forces

US and China Oil demand recovering, OPEC to raise output next

All eyes turn to US jobs report which may boost market sentiment

Crude oil prices may struggle finding further upside momentum ahead as the commodity could be exposed to competing fundamental forces. WTI has been slowly recovering from April’s bottom as countries around the world have been gradually easing lockdown measures imposed to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus. This has been helping to push up demand for the commodity.

The United States and China, which are the two largest economies in the world, have seen their demand for crude oil rise after finding a bottom during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak. Oil consumption has appeared to recover more swiftly from China as the US contends with a surge in cases and deaths as of late. Still, these two economic powerhouses have been arguably aiding to boost the price of oil.

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the two nations combined accounted for about 34 percent of global oil consumption in 2017. 20% of that was from the US. Should cases and deaths continue rising here, that may lead to stricter lockdown measures, reversing progress in restoring oil demand to pre-COVID levels. That may weigh on oil in the near term.

OPEC+ Gradually Restoring Oil Output

Meanwhile the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is planning on reversing some of the output cuts initiated earlier this year heading into August. According to Bloomberg, the OPEC+ alliance took off about 10 percent of world supply earlier this year. Now in August the cartel, as well as external partners, are expecting to restart roughly 1.5 million barrels of output next month.

All Eyes on US Jobs Report

That may keep prices under pressure as financial markets await the US jobs report on Monday. On the whole, data out of the world’s largest economy continues to broadly outperform relative to economists’ expectations. Higher-than-expected employment gains may boost expectations of future growth, especially with the Federal Reserve in no rush at all to raise rates or unwind its balance sheet any time soon.

With that in mind, it is a neutral call for the crude oil fundamental outlook.

Discover your trading personality to help find forms of analyzing financial markets

World’s Largest Consumers of Oil Are Seeing Demand Recover

— Written by Daniel Dubrovsky, Currency Analyst for DailyFX.com

To contact Daniel, use the comments section below or @ddubrovskyFX on Twitter

The post Crude Oil Price Outlook Eyes OPEC Output Restart, US and China Demand appeared first on Forex Trader Post.

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U.S. Embassy Various jobs recruitment in Abuja Oct 2017

U.S. Embassy Various jobs recruitment in Abuja Oct 2017

Oct 2017 U.S. Embassy recruitment for Document Control Assistants in Abuja

U.S. Embassy Career opportunity -Nigeria

U.S. Embassy Current open jobs Oct/Nov 2017

  The U.S. Embassy in Abuja, is seeking to employ a suitable and qualified candidate for the position below in the Economic Section:

  Job Title: Document Control Assistant Ref: AID-620-S-00-18-00001-00 Location: Abuja Period of…

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OPEC Environmental Coordinators Job in Nigeria August 2017

OPEC Environmental Coordinators Job in Nigeria August 2017

OPEC Environmental Coordinators Job Opportunity in Nigeria August 2017

Career Opportunity: Environmental Coordinator Job Description

Employment Vacancy : Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Job Recruitment

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – We coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets…

[businessliveme]

Two Biggest Arab Economies Get in Sync With Best Pickup in Years

(Bloomberg) — Business conditions in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates improved the most in years, signaling that recoveries may be taking hold in the Arab world’s two biggest economies.

In May, Saudi Arabia’s Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to its highest since December 2017. A similar gauge for the U.A.E. posted its best reading since October 2014. Both moved further above the threshold of 50 that separates contraction from growth, reaching 59.4 in the U.A.E. and 57.3 in Saudi Arabia.

In the U.A.E., the improvement was “partly due to external demand, particularly from Saudi Arabia and Oman,” Khatija Haque, head of Middle East and North Africa research at Emirates NBD, said in a report on Monday. Output and new export orders in OPEC’s third-biggest producer expanded the fastest on record.

Even as oil has fallen from a peak in late April, the impact of stronger crude prices may be starting to feed through to the Gulf’s energy powerhouses. A united front from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies is helping to restore some stability to oil despite deteriorating U.S.-China trade relations and rising tension in the Middle East.

In Saudi Arabia, growth quickened in output and new orders, with companies citing “stronger underlying demand conditions,” according to Haque. “The rebound in the headline PMI this year suggests that the private sector is starting to benefit from higher oil prices and the resulting improvement in the government’s fiscal position,” she said in a separate report.

Discounting probably also supported the gains in new work and output in the U.A.E., with selling prices falling for an eighth consecutive month. Job growth remains stagnant, however, as competition reduced margins and forced companies to look for savings elsewhere.

Fewer than 1% of U.A.E. firms surveyed in May said they increased their headcount even as more than half reported higher output. Wages also remained “broadly unchanged,” according to Emirates NBD.

“The rebound in activity this year has not yet translated into job growth, or higher wages,” Haque said. “This is likely to weigh on expat population growth and household consumption.”

The post Two Biggest Arab Economies Get in Sync With Best Pickup in Years appeared first on Businessliveme.com.

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[mikemortgage]

From worn-out sandlot to ‘bursting with production,’ Texas monster field revives U.S. oil fortunes

MIDLAND, Tex. — In a global collapse of oil prices five years ago, scores of U.S. oil companies went bankrupt. But one field withstood the onslaught, and even thrived: the Permian Basin, straddling Texas and New Mexico.

A combination of technical innovation, aggressive investing and copious layers of oil-rich shale have transformed the Permian, once considered a worn-out patch, into the world’s second most productive oil field.

And this transformation has apparently inoculated Texas against its traditional economic enemy, the boom-and-bust cycle pegged to oil prices.

'Very, very scary': This mammoth new shale drilling method is about to supersize the future of fracking

The great oil paradox: Too many good crudes, not enough bad ones

The plunge in oil prices is putting even the Permian Basin under water

Moving sticky crude: Oilsands firms throw new tech at old foe

Even now, with prices still far below their peak, the Permian is bursting with production and exploration, and the biggest concern is how to create more capacity to get all that oil to market.

The shale-drilling frenzy in the Permian has enabled the United States not only to reduce crude-oil imports, but even to become a major exporter for the first time in half a century. Its bounty has also empowered the U.S. diplomatically, allowing it to impose sanctions on Iran and Venezuela without worrying much about increasing gasoline prices. Mounting Texas crude exports have pressured global oil prices down and are a major reason that Russia and Saudi Arabia recently cut their own production to push oil prices back up.

“OPEC producers never thought the Permian could be the next star world producer,” said René Ortiz of Ecuador, a former secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. “They never thought one field — one, and not a country — could actually be the monster field of their imaginations.”

Last year alone, the Permian’s production rose one million barrels a day, and it could surpass the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest, within three years. Now producing four million barrels a day, the Permian generates more oil than any of the 14 members of OPEC except Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

All told, domestic oil production increased two million barrels a day last year, for a record of 11.9 million barrels, making the U.S. the world’s top producer.

Permian production has quadrupled over the past eight years, in contrast with the decline of most other established oil fields, for several reasons.

Companies found ways to lower exploration and production costs in tapping the Permian’s accommodating shale. New technologies for drilling and hydraulic fracturing helped bring the break-even price for the best wells from more than US$60 a barrel to as low as US$33.

The Permian, as vast as South Dakota, is distinct from other shale fields because of its enormous size, the thickness of its multiple shale layers —  some as fat as 1,000 feet — and its proximity to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. Some shale fields produce too much natural gas, which is worth less than oil. Others have uneven layers of rock difficult to drill through. The Permian is rich in oil, and its shales are relatively easy to tap with today’s rigs.

Separator tanks stand at the Royal Dutch Shell processing facility in Loving, Tex.

Today the biggest risk, at least for producers, is that too much output might drive down prices too much and jeopardize their profitability. They could also prompt another round of aggressive actions from OPEC and its new ally, Russia.

“If U.S. production grows another two million barrels a day, we could take market share, but how long would OPEC allow that to happen?” said Scott D. Sheffield, chairman of Pioneer Natural Resources, a major Permian producer. “You could have another price war.”

That may be inevitable.

As many as 15 oil and gas pipelines serving the Permian are expected to be completed by the middle of 2020, potentially increasing exports from the Gulf of Mexico to eight million barrels a day after 2021, according to a recent Morningstar Commodities Research report.

The Permian has been producing oil for a century, and provided much of the fuel the allies needed to win World War II. By 2008, it was a field in steep decline. Many major oil companies left, selling their land to smaller ones for a song.

But as the big companies looked for fields deep under oceans and in the Arctic, independents like Concho Resources and Parsley Energy pioneered shale drilling here, giving the field new life.

When oil prices took a dive, the upstarts experimented. They drilled longer wells and spaced them closer together in a zipper design to penetrate more shale. They tinkered with their formulas of chemicals and sands that they blasted through the rocks, and they used computer technology to steer drill bits more accurately.

“OPEC changed the price of poker and the Permian had the best hand,” said Dale Redman, chief executive of ProPetro, one of the basin’s biggest fracking service companies. “They unleashed our creativity. They forced us to do things better and cheaper.”

ProPetro laid off 250 workers three years ago, after oil prices fell below US$30 a barrel. But the company has since hired back those employees and added hundreds more, including 600 when they completed an acquisition on Jan. 1.

What makes the payroll additions all the more remarkable is that they come in the wake of the most recent downturn in oil prices — US$76 a barrel in early October to US$42 in late December, before recovering to more than US$55 on Friday.

Conveyors stand above a sand pile at the Black Mountain Sand Vest Mine in Winkler County, Tex.

Despite the ups and downs, there are signs of expansion everywhere in the West Texas desert. Trucks line up at dawn for half a mile to pick up sand at local mines for the day’s fracking jobs. Competition for workers is so fierce that fast-food restaurants have blinking signs advertising their salaries. Anadarko Petroleum and Plains All American Pipeline are constructing new regional offices to add to those built in recent years for Chevron and Apache.

Motel rates and apartment rents have climbed so much that trailer parks are the only option for many workers. But few seem to mind.

“I will have work here forever,” said Mike Wilkinson, a truck driver who came from Dallas a year ago and moved into a trailer with his teenage daughter. “As hard a place as this is to look at, they are going to need guys like me to move equipment around here for years to come.”

A worker passes in front of residential units at the Permian Lodging camp in Midland, Texas, U.S. Thousands of workers now reside in dormitory-like compounds in the Permian Basin, a more than 75,000-square-mile expanse of sedimentary rock.

Wilkinson has reason for enthusiasm, given the giant new investments that Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and Shell have begun to make here despite all the price uncertainty.

With a major acquisition in New Mexico last year, Exxon Mobil became the most active driller in the basin, and projects that it will increase production fivefold by 2025. Also growing rapidly here, Chevron estimates that one in six of every barrels it produces globally will come from the Permian by 2021.

After regaining a foothold in the Permian last year, BP is expected to invest heavily, contributing to a total investment of more than US$10 billion by the major oil companies here this year, according to energy consultant IHS Markit.

Royal Dutch Shell is just beginning to catch up, after buying acreage from Chesapeake seven years ago. It has 1,300 wells that produce 145,000 barrels of oil a day and associated gas, a 200 per cent increase since January 2017. The company projects it can increase production to 200,000 barrels a day by 2020.

Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, said his company was seeking to increase its footprint in the Permian, the most recent sign that big oil companies will continue to snap up smaller ones.

“For Shell, the Permian is absolutely critical,” said Gretchen Watkins, president of Shell Oil. “The Permian is massive; it’s a game changer for U.S. shale. It is the powerhouse field.”

But the output of shale wells declines quickly, making the drilling here a never-ending treadmill. And that has been a challenge for the small companies that have been the innovators here but are now facing demands from investors to show financial discipline.

Typical of the smaller producers is Parsley Energy, one of the most active drillers in the basin with some of the most productive wells. Its share price was cut in half over the past two years as it outspent its cash flow grabbing land and ramping up production.

Late last year, as oil prices fell, Parsley changed course. It is reducing spending on exploration and production this year by US$300 million. It decommissioned two of its 16 rigs late last year, and two more in January.

“We all have to be prepared,” said Matt Gallagher, Parsley’s chief executive, for a six-month slump in prices. “We’re one Twitter message away from a deal with Iran and US$40 oil.”

The multinationals have the wherewithal to stick by their aggressive development plans and take a longer view.

They bring an arsenal of tools that the smaller companies lack. With their size and reach, they can make the best deals for equipment such as drill rigs and fracking services. Many have their own pipelines, refineries and global trading personnel to sell their oil for the highest price.

In January, Chevron agreed to acquire a refinery in Pasadena, Tex. from Brazilian company Petrobras for US$350 million to refine more products coming from the Permian. The announcement came only days after Exxon Mobil announced a major expansion of its Beaumont, Tex. refinery to process more local crude.

The major companies also aim to cut production costs even further with increasingly sophisticated applications of artificial intelligence. Shell, for instance, has developed algorithms to replicate and standardize the most effective drilling and fracking methods worldwide.

“We are not here through one boom and bust,” said Amir Gerges, Shell’s Permian general manager. “We are here developing a generational resource.”

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US President Donald Trump has threatened to inflict "severe punishment" on Saudi Arabia if it is found to have killed the prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi Arabia, which has dismissed as "lies" claims by Turkish officials that Mr Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi agents, has vowed to respond to any punitive action by Western powers "with greater action".

But what are the possible implications?

Saudi ties with West at risk over Khashoggi

What we know about Saudi journalist's disappearance

Why Khashoggi case alarms Saudi activists

1. Oil supply and prices

Saudi Arabia possess about 18% of the world's proven oil reserves and is the world's biggest oil exporter, according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).

This gives the country significant power and influence on the global stage. 

If, for example, sanctions were imposed by the US or other countries, the Saudi government could respond by cutting its oil production, which would push up global prices unless other exporters made up the shortfall.

In an editorial published on Sunday, the general manager of Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, Turki Aldakhil, said that imposing sanctions on the kingdom would result in an "an economic disaster that would rock the entire world".

"If the price of oil reaching $80 (£61) angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100 (£76), or $200 (£152), or even double that figure," he wrote.

Any increases would trickle down to consumers, increasing prices at petrol pumps.

2. Military contracts

Saudi Arabia had the third-largest defence budget in the world in 2017, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

That year the country signed a $110bn (£84bn) arms deal with the US, with options running as high as $350bn over 10 years. The deal was described by the White House as the single biggest in US history.

Other countries supplying weapons to Saudi Arabia include the UK, France and Germany.

Mr Aldakhil's editorial suggested that as a counter-measure to any sanctions, Riyadh could possibly look to China and Russia to fulfil its military needs.

3. Security and terrorism

Western powers have stressed that Saudi Arabia plays a crucial role in maintaining security in the Middle East and combating extremism and terrorism.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has defended maintaining a close relationship with Saudi Arabia despite its forces being accused of war crimes in the conflict in Yemen by insisting it "has helped keep people on the streets of Britain safe".

The kingdom, which is the birthplace of Islam, is a member of the US-led global coalition battling the Islamic State (IS) group and last year formed an Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition with 40 other Muslim states.

Mr Aldakhil speculated that the "trusted exchange of information between Riyadh and America and Western countries will be a thing of the past" if measures are taken in response to the disappearance of Mr Khashoggi.

4. Regional alliances

Saudi Arabia has worked closely with the US to counter the influence of Iran.

The Sunni and Shia Muslim powers have engaged in proxy conflicts across the Middle East for decades. 

In Syria, Saudi Arabia has backed rebel factions trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, while Iran has, along with Russia, helped turn the tide of the war decisively in his favour.

In his editorial, Mr Aldakhil warned that improved relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia as a result of US sanctions and new arms deals could "lead to a closeness to Iran and maybe even a reconciliation with it".

Why Saudi Arabia and Iran are bitter rivals

Sunnis and Shia: Islam's ancient schism

Saudi Arabia country profile

5. Trade and investment

The Al Arabiya general manager also said US companies could be "deprived" of access to the Saudi market.

US goods and services trade with Saudi Arabia totalled $46bn in 2017, with the US enjoying a trade surplus of $5bn. The US commerce department estimated that the bilateral trade supported an estimated 165,000 jobs in the US in 2015.

In August, Saudi Arabia froze all new trade with Canada over its "interference" in the kingdom's domestic affairs, describing Ottawa's call to release detained civil society and women's rights activists a violation of Saudi sovereignty.

The kingdom also blocked imports of Canadian grain and decided to order home thousands of Saudis on government-funded scholarships at Canadian universities.

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Oil prices rise, supported by U.S. jobs data, Iran sanctions

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Crude futures rose on Friday as U.S. unemployment data eased concerns approximately demand in the world’s top oil consumer, with both benchmarks set for a weekly gain ahead of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

FILE PHOTO: Oil pumpjacks are seen near Aneth, Utah, U.S., October 29, 2017. REUTERS/Andrew Cullen

The U.S. Labor Department’s employment report showed that average hourly earnings increased 0.3 percent in September, while the unemployment rate fell to approach a 49-year low of 3.7 percent.

“A strong economy, low unemployment would propose the U.S. consumer is going to continue to fare well with higher energy prices,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures rose 35 cents to $74.68 a barrel by 1:07 p.m. EDT (1707 GMT).

Brent crude LCOc1 futures gained 9 cents to $84.67 a barrel. On Wednesday, the global benchmark hit a late 2014 high of $86.74.

Both benchmarks were on track for a weekly gain of approximately 2 percent.

Oil prices at four-year highs have triggered concerns approximately demand as U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for rising gasoline prices for American consumers.

Prices have eased slightly after Saudi Arabia & Russia said they would raise output to at least partly make up for expected disruptions from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest producer, due to the sanctions that take effect on Nov. 4.

But the pull-back did little to dent a 15-20 percent rise in oil prices since mid-August, which has pushed them to their highest since late 2014.

Washington wants governments & companies around the world to stop buying Iranian oil to put pressure on Tehran to renegotiate a nuclear deal.

However, India will buy 9 million barrels of Iranian oil in November, two industry sources said, indicating that the world’s third-biggest oil importer is to continue purchasing crude from the Islamic republic.

Many analysts say they expect Iranian exports to drop by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd).

“Iranian exports could fall below 1 million bpd in November,” U.S. bank Jefferies said. “It now appears that only China & Turkey may be willing to risk U.S. retaliation by transacting with Iran.”

The investment bank said there was enough oil to meet demand, yet “global spare capacity is dwindling to the lowest level that we can document.”

However, Goldman Sachs says the rally may not last.

“While upside price risks will prevail for now, fundamental data external of Iran has not turned bullish in our view,” Goldman said in a note to clients.

“We expect fundamentals to gradually become binding by early 2019 as new spare capacity comes online… pointing to the global market eventually returning into a modest surplus in early 2019.”

U.S. drillers cut two oil rigs in the week to Oct. 5, General Electric Co’s (GE.N) Baker Hughes energy services firm said on Friday RIG-OL-USA-BHI, as rising costs & pipeline bottlenecks in the nation’s largest oil field have hindered new drilling since June.

Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York, Christopher Johnson in London & Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Susan Thomas, Marguerita Choy & Kirsten Donovan

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.