Oil Updates — Crude dips; Russian oil slashes OPEC’s share of Indian market to 22-year low 

Brent crude slipped 98 cents, or 1.20 percent, to $80.68 a barrel at 10.10 a.m. Saudi time. (Shutterstock)
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Updated 25 April 2023
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Oil Updates — Crude dips; Russian oil slashes OPEC’s share of Indian market to 22-year low 

RIYADH: Oil prices slipped slightly on Monday as concerns over rising interest rates, the global economy and the outlook for fuel demand were balanced by the prospect of tightening supplies.

Brent crude slipped 19 cents, or 0.23 percent, to $81.47 a barrel at 04:45 p.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 6 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $77.81. 

Both contracts fell more than 5 percent last week for their first weekly declines in five weeks as US implied gasoline demand fell from a year earlier.

Norway’s oil fund to vote against climate resolution at BP 

Norway’s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s largest investors, said it will vote against a resolution calling on British oil major BP to adopt tougher greenhouse gas targets. 

While BP already aims to reduce emissions, the motion filed by activist group Follow This ahead of an April 27 shareholder vote calls on the company to align with the Paris climate deal’s goal to limit global warming. 

Norges Bank Investment Management, which operates the Norwegian fund, said last year that it plans to take a tougher line on companies that do not adopt credible climate plans. 

It did not give a reason for rejecting the motion. But the fund has said in the past that while it sometimes backs environmental, social and governance proposals put forward by activist groups, it carefully judges each case on its merits. 

Follow This in an emailed statement said NBIM as a major investor should show leadership on climate issues. 

“NBIM failed the first real test of its new climate voting policy,” Follow This founder Mark van Baal wrote. 

The Norwegian fund, itself built on oil and gas revenue, owned 2.73 percent of BP’s shares worth some $2.8 billion at the end of 2022. 

BP’s board has recommended that shareholders vote against the resolution saying it was “unclear” what it wanted the company to do. 

Investor advisers ISS and Glass Lewis also recommended BP shareholders oppose the resolution, while Britain’s Local Authority Pension Fund Forum asked investors to back it. 

In February, BP rowed back on plans to slash its 2019 oil and gas output levels by 40 percent by 2030, and now it envisages a 25 percent cut, angering climate activists. 

Russian oil slashes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’s share of Indian market to 22-year low 

The share of OPEC’s India’s oil imports fell at the fastest pace in 2022/23 to the lowest in at least 22 years, as intake of cheaper Russian oil surged, data obtained from industry sources show, and the major producers’ share could shrink further this year. 

Members of OPEC, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, saw their share of India’s oil market slide to 59 percent in the fiscal year to March 2023, from about 72 percent in 2021-2022, a Reuters analysis of the data that dates back to 2001-2002 showed. 

Russia overtook Iraq for the first time to emerge as the top oil supplier to India, pushing Saudi Arabia down to No. 3 in the last fiscal year, the data showed. 

OPEC’s share shrank as India, which in the past rarely bought Russian oil due to high freight costs, is now the top oil client for Russian seaborne oil, rejected by Western nations following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

India shipped in about 1.6 million barrels per day of Russian oil in 2022/23, the data showed, about 23 percent of its overall 4.65 million bpd imports. 

(With inputs from Reuters) 


Kuwait forecasts 54.7% rise in fiscal deficit as oil revenues weaken 

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Kuwait forecasts 54.7% rise in fiscal deficit as oil revenues weaken 

JEDDAH: Kuwait expects its fiscal deficit to widen sharply in the 2026–2027 budget year as lower oil income weighs on public finances, with the shortfall projected to rise 54.7 percent to 9.8 billion dinars ($31.9 billion). 

Announcing the draft budget, Finance Minister Yaqoub Al-Refaei estimated total expected revenues at 16.3 billion dinars, marking a 10.5 percent decline compared with the previous fiscal year. 

Kuwait is pushing Vision 2035 reforms to diversify its economy and boost non-oil growth but remains exposed to oil price volatility despite moderate inflation and strong non-oil expansion. 

“The minister disclosed that oil revenues were budgeted at 12.8 billion dinars, a 16.3 percent contraction compared to the current budget ending March 31, 2026,” the Kuwait News Agency, known as KUNA, reported. 

Highlighting a positive trend for fiscal diversification, non-oil revenues are projected to rise 19.6 percent to 3.5 billion dinars. 

He noted that total expenditure is expected to reach 26.1 billion dinars, with salaries and subsidies accounting for 76 percent, capital spending 11.8 percent, and other expenditures 12.2 percent. The FY 2026–2027 budget is based on a conservative oil price estimate of $57 per barrel. 

The minister, however, stressed that Kuwait’s fiscal break-even price — the price needed to balance the budget — is significantly higher, at $90.5 per barrel. 

The draft budget, covering April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027, includes capital spending of 3.1 billion dinars, with significant allocations for infrastructure and strategic projects, according to a release by the Ministry of Finance. 

Of this, 318 million dinars will fund the Ministry of Public Works for developments such as Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, the Umm Al-Hayman plant expansion, the North Kabd station, and the expansion of Kuwait International Airport’s Terminal 2. 

Additional allocations support the health ministry’s cancer control center, as well as the Defense and Interior ministries for military equipment. 

Higher spending is also driven by a 741.2 million-dinar increase in the public treasury’s contribution to social insurance to cover pension fund deficits. 

Conversely, support for fuel used in power generation and refined products declined by 449.2 million dinars due to falling global oil prices. 

The ministry highlighted that the budget would create 14,518 new positions, reflecting efforts to boost employment while continuing to diversify revenue sources.