Author: Steven Sahiounie

Appetite for Iranian crude is growing in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, after the extension of supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia boosted global prices , while Tehran is stepping up output and exports despite US sanctions, Reuters reported. Although China’s “teapots”, or small independent refiners, are stocking up on Iran’s discounted oil as they exploit robust margins to fill strong seasonal demand, big state refiners are still keeping away. Iran’s crude exports of about 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) stand at their highest in more than four years, with more than 80% shipped to China, data…

Between September 10-14 in 1960, representatives from five oil-producing countries –Fuad Rouhani of Iran, Tala’at al-Shaibani of Iraq, Ahmed Sayed Omar of Kuwait, Abdullah Al-Tariki of Saudi Arabia and Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo of Venezuela– gathered in the Al-Shaab Hall in Baghdad to found OPEC. This historic milestone marked the beginning of a new chapter in the oil industry. The five Founder Members were soon joined by other oil-producing countries with mutual interests, such as supporting oil market stability and protecting the right of all countries to exercise permanent sovereignty over their natural resources in the interest of development. For…

On an International Energy Agency’s Op-Ed published on September 12, OPEC has stated it is an extremely risky and impractical narrative to dismiss fossil fuels, or to suggest that they are at the beginning of their end. In past decades, there were often calls of peak supply, and in more recent ones, peak demand, but evidently neither has materialized. The difference today, and what makes such predictions so dangerous, is that they are often accompanied by calls to stop investing in new oil and gas projects. “Such narratives only set the global energy system up to fail spectacularly. It would…

According to the former International Monetary Fund and Morgan Stanley economist, the majority of analysts are missing the trend because they evaluate the nominal value of central banks’ dollar holdings on the basis of data released by the IMF. “However, if we take into account changes in the value of the dollar, then, according to our calculations, we’ll see that the dollar share in foreign reserves has lost about 11% since 2016,” Jen told Die Welt on Thursday. He argued that Washington’s decision to freeze Russia’s dollar reserves after the launch of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine had been the…

The walkouts at the “Detroit Three” will halt production of the Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck, along with other popular models. UAW President Shawn Fain said the union will hold off for now on more costly company-wide strikes, but said all options are open if new contracts are not agreed. Fain laid out plans for the unprecedented, simultaneous walkouts in a Facebook Live address less than two hours before the expiration of the old contract. The walkouts capped weeks of clashes between Fain and Detroit Three executives over union demands for a bigger share of profits…

Over 100 entities and 20 individuals have been included into Washington’s blacklist The US authorities have expanded Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia, adding 20 nationals and more than 100 companies to its updated blacklist. The latest list released by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury on Thursday includes Russian automakers AvtoVAZ, Moskvich, GAZ Group, Sollers, as well as state-owned road company Avtodor, and the country’s largest manufacturer of locomotives and rail equipment Transmashholding. Ak Bars Bank, one of the leading Russian regional universal lenders, has also been sanctioned. The measures also target former president of Transmashholding,…

Crude inventories will be severely depleted by 2024, the International Energy Agency says Oil markets could face the sharpest supply shortage in more than a decade at the end of this year due to extended output cuts by major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Wednesday. A “significant supply shortfall” may trigger price volatility on the market amid insufficient global inventories, the agency said. It expects oil markets to face a deficit of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second half of the year after Moscow and Riyadh announced plans to extend export and…

Exports to the sanctioned country have dropped 35% since last year, the head of a business association says A number of Italian corporations that were forced to leave the Russian market due to Western sanctions would like to return, the president of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs in Russia (GIM Unimpresa) said on Thursday. Vittorio Torrembini told the Izvestia news outlet that Italy’s exports to Russia have dropped by around 35% since February 2022, when the US, EU, and their allies imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. “I have repeatedly said that the Russian market…

The 2024 election will be the most important in American history, the ex-president says Former US President Donald Trump has said America is in rapid decline, and re-electing him would give the country a last chance to turn things around. “Our country’s going to hell. Our country’s going down,” Trump told journalist Megyn Kelly in an interview for the SiriusXM satellite radio station, aired on Thursday. The US “has one last chance,” which makes the presidential vote in 2024 “the most important election we’ve ever had,” he claimed. The former leader acknowledged that he said the same about his victorious presidential race of 2016, but…

The ex-president believes the Russian leader’s remarks prove that he is “right” about the conflict in Ukraine Donald Trump has said he welcomed friendly comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stated that Moscow would be glad if the former US president were to make good on his vow to resolve the Ukraine crisis within a matter of days. Speaking to NBC News’ Kristen Welker for an interview published on Friday, Trump was asked about the recent praise from the Russian leader, who said last week that “Mr. Trump keeps saying he will resolve all burning issues within several days, including the…