LONDON: Brent crude continued to hover near $70 per barrel on Wednesday with prices up 15 percent since early December, but some cautioned the oil market could be overheating.
Jean-Pierre Durante, head of quantitative research at Swiss bank Pictet, told Arab News the “price doesn’t seem justified on our fundamentals.”
Pictet is forecasting an average 2018 price of $63 per barrel, close to a recently revised figure of $62 per barrel predicted by Goldman Sachs.
Durante said oil was benefiting from bullishness about the global outlook — with stock markets buzzing, in part due to President Trump’s success in pushing through tax cuts at the end of 2017.
“For the fist time since the financial crisis we have synchronized growth around the world, in both advanced and emerging markets,” said Durante.
But he added: “Non-conventional production, in particular US shale oil, is expected to continue to play an important role in 2018 and 2019, forcing OPEC to keep restraining production.
The price has been buoyed recently by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, protests in Iran and fears about further disruption of supplies from strife-hit Venezuela, said Durante.
He also pointed to recent data from the American Petroleum Institute that showed US crude inventories fell by 11.2 million barrels in the week to Jan. 5 to 416.6 million barrels.
However, the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday forecast that US oil production would exceed 11 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2019, shattering previous records as American producers exploit higher prices to bring more shale to market.
Heightened US activity could weaken the price despite an extension of supply constraints agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC countries at a meeting in Vienna in November.
Worldwide, the agency sees oil consumption rising by about 1.7 million bpd in both 2018 and 2019, led by China and India.
Investors have been piling into oil since December with the Financial Times reporting on Monday that the net long position in Brent crept up to a record high of 565,459 contracts — or more than half a billion barrels of oil. Combined with West Texas Intermediate, the US oil benchmark, speculators have amassed bullish bets over 1 billion barrels of crude, said the FT.
But another warning about a possible bubble has come from Commerzbank’s Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research, who told CNBC that the price was likely to correct by at least 10 to 15 percent over the coming months “because the current fundamentals are not justifying this kind of strength,” he said.
Oil flirts with $70, but is the market overheating?
Oil flirts with $70, but is the market overheating?
Saudi Arabia leads outcome-based education to prepare future-ready generations: Harvard Business Review
- The Riyadh-based school group developed a strategy that links every classroom activity to measurable student competencies, aiming to graduate learners equipped for the digital economy and real-world contexts
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s education system is undergoing a sweeping transformation aligned with Vision 2030, shifting from traditional, input-focused methods to outcome-based education designed to equip students with future-ready skills, Harvard Business Review Arabic reported.
The transformation is being adopted and spearheaded by institutions such as Al-Nobala Private Schools, which introduced the Kingdom’s first national “learning outcomes framework,” aimed at preparing a generation of leaders and innovators for an AI-driven future, the report said.
Al-Nobala has leveraged international expertise to localize advanced learning methodologies.
The Riyadh-based school group developed a strategy that links every classroom activity to measurable student competencies, aiming to graduate learners equipped for the digital economy and real-world contexts. The school’s group approach combines traditional values with 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, communication, innovation and digital fluency.
According to the report, the shift addresses the growing gap between outdated models built for low-tech, resource-constrained environments and today’s dynamic world, where learners must navigate real-time information, virtual platforms, and smart technologies.
“This is not just about teaching content, it’s about creating impact,” the report noted, citing how Al-Nobala’s model prepares students to thrive in an AI-driven world while aligning with national priorities.
The report noted that Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education has paved the way for this shift by transitioning from a centralized controller to a strategic enabler, allowing schools such as Al-Nobala to tailor their curriculum to meet evolving market and societal needs. This is part of the long-term goal to place the Kingdom among the top 20 global education systems.
Al-Nobala’s work, the report stated, has succeeded in serving the broader national effort to link education outcomes directly to labor market demands, helping to fulfill the Vision 2030 pillar of building a vibrant society with a thriving economy driven by knowledge and innovation.
Last February, Yousef bin Abdullah Al-Benyan, Saudi Arabia’s minister of education, said that the Kingdom was making “an unprecedented investment in education,” with spending aligned to the needs of growth and development. He said that in 2025, education received the second-largest share of the state budget, totaling $53.5 billion.
