The International Energy Agency maintained its global oil demand forecast for 2019 despite trade war headwinds as falling oil prices will help make up for slower economic growth.
Global oil demand will reach 1.4 million barrels per day in 2019, up from 1.3 million bpd in 2018, the Paris-based energy watchdog said in a report on Friday. The IEA is more bullish than Opec, which is projecting an increase of 1.29 million bpd in oil demand in 2019, with lower Chinese demand growth compared with 2018 offset by an increase in consumption in Latin America and the Middle East from a year earlier.
“The impact of higher oil prices in 2018 is fading, which will help offset lower economic growth,” said the IEA, the energy watchdog for industrialised countries. “However, the mood music in the global economy is not very cheerful. Confidence is weakening in several major economies.”
Oil demand is being affected by signs of a slowing global economy as the trade war tensions between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, intensify. The International Monetary Fund in October lowered its forecast for global economic expansion in 2019 to 3.7 per cent, the first time it cut its growth projections since July 2016. The fund cited the trade war, vulnerable emerging markets and sluggish growth in the eurozone as major contributors to its downgrade.
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US-China trade war forces IMF to cut global economic forecast for first time since July 2016
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The gloomy economic growth outlook and an oil glut has contributed to a slide of more than 30 per cent in oil prices since reaching a four-year high of $86 a barrel in early October. Brent closed Friday up 1.5 per cent to $62.7 a barrel.
Opec, which pumps more than a third of the world’s oil, and producers led by Russia, commonly known as Opec +, started this month trimming output by 1.2 million bpd as crude demand begins to falter.
Opec alone lowered its output by 751,000 bpd in December to 31.58 million bpd, the biggest cut since Opec+ began trimming output in January 2017, according to second sources data quoted in Opec’s monthly report released last week.
The IEA is projecting US oil production will keep on rising in 2019 but at a slower pace than 2018, thanks to high shale oil output. US oil output, which had an “unexpected” growth of 2.1 million bpd in 2018, is set to expand by 1.3 million bpd in 2019, the energy watchdog said.
“While the other two giants voluntarily cut output, the US, already the biggest liquids supplier, will reinforce its leadership as the world's number one crude producer,” the IEA said. “By the middle of the year, US crude output will probably be more than the capacity of either Saudi Arabia or Russia.”
Saudi Arabia, which has an oil output capacity of 12 million bpd, pumped 10.55 million bpd in December and shouldered the bulk of the Opec cuts during that month, with a 468,000 bpd trim to its production, according to the secondary sources quoted by Opec.
Meanwhile Russia boosted its output to a new record of about 11.5 million bpd in December, according to the IEA.
“While Saudi Arabia is determined to protect its price aspirations by delivering substantial production cuts, there is less clarity with regard to its Russian partner,” the IEA said.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
Company%20Profile
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Bugatti Chiron Super Sport - the specs:
Engine: 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16
Transmission: 7-speed DSG auto
Power: 1,600hp
Torque: 1,600Nm
0-100kph in 2.4seconds
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0-300kph in 12.1 seconds
Top speed: 440kph
Price: Dh13,200,000
Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport - the specs:
Engine: 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16
Transmission: 7-speed DSG auto
Power: 1,500hp
Torque: 1,600Nm
0-100kph in 2.3 seconds
0-200kph in 5.5 seconds
0-300kph in 11.8 seconds
Top speed: 350kph
Price: Dh13,600,000
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
A meeting of young minds
The 3,494 entries for the 2019 Sharjah Children Biennial come from:
435 – UAE
2,000 – China
808 – United Kingdom
165 – Argentina
38 – Lebanon
16 – Saudi Arabia
16 – Bangladesh
6 – Ireland
3 – Egypt
3 – France
2 – Sudan
1 – Kuwait
1 – Australia
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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