Iran appeared on Friday to be the main obstacle for an Opec deal to cut oil production. Bloomberg
Iran appeared on Friday to be the main obstacle for an Opec deal to cut oil production. Bloomberg
Iran appeared on Friday to be the main obstacle for an Opec deal to cut oil production. Bloomberg
Iran appeared on Friday to be the main obstacle for an Opec deal to cut oil production. Bloomberg

Opec+ postpones meeting amid differences over output curbs


Jennifer Gnana
  • English
  • Arabic

Opec+, the oil exporters group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, postponed meetings to discuss output increases to Friday, amid reservations from some producers.

The group convened earlier on Thursday as crude futures in New York crossed the $75 per barrel threshold for the first time in three years.

Oil prices are trading 50 per cent higher than at the start of the year.

Brent, the main international gauge for oil prices, and West Texas Intermediate, the North American benchmark, bridged their gap and were trading at similar levels late Thursday.

Brent rose 1.8 per cent to reach $75.96 per barrel at 10.26pm UAE time, while WTI surged 2.45 per cent to hit $75.27.

Opec+, which came together last year to introduce historic production cuts to rebalance an oil market ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, had initially planned to keep the curbs until April 2022.

But delegates at the Opec+ session today suggested that the group is likely to extend the curbs well into the end of next year.

The group is also considering adding 400,000 barrels per day of crude every month from August to December, potentially returning 2 million bpd of oil back to the markets.

However, disagreements over the volume and pace of future cuts forced the meeting to adjourn to Friday.

Opec+ will now convene its joint ministerial monitoring committee at 3pm Vienna time, followed by its ministerial conference at 4.30pm.

"If the group announces a smaller than expected output hike, this could push oil prices higher," said Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM.

"However, a higher-than-expected production increase may exert downward pressure on oil prices in the short term."

Markets have already priced in a much-anticipated return of 500,000 bpd by the group.

Should Opec+ consider returning half a million bpd of production, the price response is likely to be "muted" given the recent rallies seen in the markets, Mr Otunuga said.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)

Best Women's Player:  Lucy Bronze

Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi

 Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)

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 Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs

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2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit

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Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'

Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.

Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.

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Liverpool 4
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West Ham United 0

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Updated: July 02, 2021, 4:17 AM