PARIS: The head of the International Energy Agency on Wednesday called on OPEC and its allies to take measures to help bring oil prices down to “reasonable levels.”
“I very much hope to see in the next meeting or meetings they... make the necessary steps in order to comfort the global oil markets and help bring the prices down at reasonable levels,” Fatih Birol told reporters.
The head of the IEA, which unites oil consuming nations, also took aim at Russia over gas.
“Russia can easily increase exports to Europe about 15 percent... and significantly comfort the European gas markets,” said Birol.
Natural gas prices in Europe have surged this year and Russia, the region’s major supplier, has been slow to step up deliveries.
OPEC nations and their allies, including Russia, agreed in July to slowly increase their oil output each month toward pre-pandemic levels as the world economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
They have declined to move faster despite a jump in prices to over $80 per barrel, a level that many analysts worry could undermine the global economic recovery.
They are due to review their strategy at a meeting in December.
The United States and a handful of other oil consuming nations announced on Tuesday releases of supplies from their strategic petroleum reserves.
The move is aimed at blunting soaring prices at the pump that are biting into consumers’ pocketbooks and pushing up transportation costs.
“The rise in oil prices is placing a burden on consumers in these countries and also in several emerging countries,” Birol said.
“It also puts additional pressure on inflation in a period where economic recovery remains uneven and still faces a number of risks,” he added.
Inflation is pushing central banks toward raising interest rates, a move which would slow the global economic recovery as well as dent oil demand.
Global crude prices rose following the announcement of the releases from strategic reserves as the move was less ambitious than anticipated.
Birol added the releases were not a collective response by IEA members, which he said have happened only three times due to major supply shocks like the 1991 Gulf War, Hurricane Katrina and the Libyan civil war.
IEA urges OPEC to take ‘necessary steps’ to lower oil prices
https://arab.news/2e8jg
IEA urges OPEC to take ‘necessary steps’ to lower oil prices
Work suspended on Riyadh’s massive Mukaab megaproject: Reuters
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has suspended planned construction of a colossal cube-shaped skyscraper at the center of a downtown development in Riyadh while it reassesses the project's financing and feasibility, four people familiar with the matter said.
The Mukaab was planned as a 400-meter by 400-meter metal cube containing a dome with an AI-powered display, the largest on the planet, that visitors could observe from a more than 300-meter-tall ziggurat — or terraced structure —inside it.
Its future is now unclear, with work beyond soil excavation and pilings suspended, three of the people said. Development of the surrounding real estate is set to continue, five people familiar with the plans said.
The sources include people familiar with the project's development and people privy to internal deliberations at the PIF.
Officials from PIF, the Saudi government and the New Murabba project did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Real estate consultancy Knight Frank estimated the New Murabba district would cost about $50 billion — roughly equivalent to Jordan’s GDP — with projects commissioned so far valued at around $100 million.
Initial plans for the New Murabba district called for completion by 2030. It is now slated to be completed by 2040.
The development was intended to house 104,000 residential units and add SR180 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP, creating 334,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2030, the government had estimated previously.
(With Reuters)
