Wael Mahdi | – The successful outcome of the 175th meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last week is no reason for the producer group to cheerfully forget about why the gathering was such a tough one. Up until the last minute, there were concerns that OPEC may not reach an agreement to cut production, leading to a drop in oil prices. Before addressing the reasons that made the meeting successful, it is important to discuss the factors that made it …

By Jamie Dettmer | – A view of the meeting of oil ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, at their headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Dec. 6, 2018. Despite repeated calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for oil production to remain steady, the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with Russia and its allies, announced Friday they would cut their pumping of crude to reduce oil flows onto the global market by 1.2 million barrels of per day, a bigger-than-expected cut. …

By Esfandyar Batmanghelidj -|- In the view of veteran observers of the oil industry, Trump has “gone nuclear.” Speaking during a background briefing on Tuesday, a senior state department official announced that the Trump administration wants to completely eliminate imports of Iranian oil by its current customers. The official told journalists that, during a tour of countries that has already begun with a visit to Japan, U.S. officials will be “requesting that their oil imports go to zero, without question.” Until recently, there had been an expectation …

By Sara Hsu | – In a challenge to longstanding American dominance of the oil industry, China is reportedly planning to launch a pilot program to pay for oil in its own RMB, potentially starting in the second half of this year. Regulators have asked several financial institutions to prepare to price oil imports in RMB. Two of China’s top suppliers, Russia and Angola, may be asked to trade in RMB, and China recently began trading oil futures in its own currency. China surpassed the U.S. as top oil importer last …

The yuan-denominated crude contract launches, meaning for the first time non-Chinese can trade in Chinese commodity markets By Myra P. Saefong | – China, the world’s largest oil importer, is launching a yuan-denominated crude futures contract with the potential to become a benchmark for global oil transactions. But it must overcome many challenges to earn a place alongside the internationally recognized U.S. dollar-denominated contracts. Tim Seymour, managing partner of Seymour Asset Management, notes that because the contract covers a product handled in the Shanghai Free …

By John Campbell | – Laundering money by purchasing real estate in foreign countries is an old song. The wealthiest parts of London and New York are filled with expensive houses and apartments, respectively, that are apparently unoccupied by their foreign owners most of the time. Mayfair and Belgravia in London and midtown Manhattan are especially popular. In Manhattan, One57, located at 157 West 57th Street, is one of the most notorious of the supertalls, apartment houses more than one thousand feet high. It includes …

Translated by Alan Lee | – The people of Hong Kong were shocked when news came out last week that former home affairs secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping, along with the former foreign secretary of Senegal Cheikh Gadio, was arrested by US authorities for allegedly having bribed the president of Chad and the foreign minister of Uganda to gain exclusive oil drilling rights on behalf of a Chinese energy company. The US Department of Justice didn’t mention the name of the company in question; all it …

By Slav Irina |  – The richest man in Africa says crude oil prices would do Nigeria a favour if they stay lower for longer. Last week at the UN General Assembly, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, whose main business is in cement but also holds interests in agricultural commodities and petrochemicals, said that agriculture—not crude oil—is the way forward for Nigeria, and that Africa “will become the food basket of the world.” The latest economic data from Dangote’s home country tend to support his view. GDP grew …