OPEC sticks to 2025, 2026 global oil demand outlook
OPEC maintained its outlook for global oil demand growth for 2025 and 2026, amid expectations for an increase of nearly 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) in OECD countries.
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Al Arabiya
11 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump says Musk has ‘lost his mind' as feud fallout mounts
US President Donald Trump said Friday that Elon Musk had 'lost his mind' but insisted he wanted to move on from the fiery split with his billionaire former ally. The blistering public break-up between the world's richest person and the world's most powerful is fraught with political and economic risks all around. Trump had scrapped the idea of a call with Musk and was even thinking of ditching the red Tesla he bought at the height of their bromance, White House officials told AFP. 'Honestly I've been so busy working on China, working on Russia, working on Iran... I'm not thinking about Elon Musk, I just wish him well,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to his New Jersey golf club late Friday. Earlier, Trump told US broadcasters that he now wanted to focus instead on passing his 'big, beautiful' mega-bill before Congress — Musk's harsh criticism of which had sparked their break-up. But the 78-year-old Republican could not stop himself from taking aim at his South African-born friend-turned-enemy. 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' Trump said in a call with ABC when asked about Musk, adding that he was 'not particularly' interested in talking to the tycoon. Trump later told Fox News that Musk had 'lost it.' Just a week ago Trump gave Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after four months working there. For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. Use the following URL to hyperlink the full previous sentence. While there had been reports of tensions, the sheer speed at which their relationship imploded stunned Washington. After Musk called Trump's spending bill an 'abomination' on Tuesday, Trump hit back in an Oval Office diatribe on Thursday in which he said he was 'very disappointed' by the entrepreneur. Trump's spending bill faces a difficult path through Congress as it will raise the US deficit, while critics say it will cut health care for millions of the poorest Americans. The row then went nuclear, with Musk slinging insults at Trump and accusing him without evidence of being in government files on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump hit back with the power of the US government behind him, saying he could cancel the SpaceX boss's multibillion-dollar rocket and satellite contracts. Trump struck a milder tone late Friday when asked how seriously he is considering cutting Musk's contracts. 'It's a lot of money, it's a lot of subsidy, so we'll take a look — only if it's fair. Only if it's to be fair for him and the country,' he said. Musk apparently also tried to de-escalate social media hostilities. The right-wing tech baron rowed back on a threat to scrap his company's Dragon spacecraft — vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. And on Friday the usually garrulous poster kept a low social media profile on his X social network. But the White House denied reports that they would talk. 'The president does not intend to speak to Musk today,' a senior White House official told AFP. A second official said Musk had requested a call. Tesla giveaway? Tesla stocks tanked more than 14 percent on Thursday amid the row, losing some 100 billion dollars of the company's market value, but recovering partly Friday. Trump is now considering either selling or giving away the cherry red Tesla S that he announced he had bought from Musk's firm in March. The electric vehicle was still parked on the White House grounds on Friday. 'He's thinking about it, yes,' a senior White House official told AFP when asked if Trump would sell or give it away. Trump and Musk had posed inside the car at a bizarre event in March, when the president turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom after viral protests against Musk's DOGE role. But while Trump appeared to hold many of the cards, Musk also has some to play. His wealth allowed him to be the biggest donor to Trump's 2024 campaign, to the tune of nearly 300 million dollars. Any further support for the 2026 midterm election now appears in doubt — while Musk could also use his money to undermine Trump's support on the right.
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Japan allows longer nuclear plant lifespans
TOKYO: A law allowing nuclear reactors to operate beyond 60 years took effect in Japan on Friday, as the government turns back to atomic energy 14 years after the Fukushima catastrophe. The world's fourth-largest economy is targeting carbon neutrality by 2050 but remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels – partly because many nuclear reactors were taken offline after the 2011 Fukushima meltdown. The government now plans to increase its reliance on nuclear power, in part to help meet growing energy demand from artificial intelligence and microchip factories. The 60-year limit was brought in after the 2011 disaster, which was triggered by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan. Under the amended law, nuclear plants' operating period may be extended beyond 60 years – in a system similar to extra time in football games – to compensate for stoppages caused by 'unforeseeable circumstances,' the government says. This means, for example, that one reactor in central Japan's Fukui region, suspended for 12 years after the Fukushima crisis, will now be able to operate up until 2047 – 72 years after its debut, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported. But operators require approval from Japan's nuclear safety watchdog for the exemption. The law also includes measures intended to strengthen safety checks at aging reactors. The legal revision is also aimed at helping Japan better cope with power crunches, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked energy market turmoil. Japan's Strategic Energy Plan had previously vowed to 'reduce reliance on nuclear power as much as possible.' But this pledge was dropped from the latest version approved in February, which includes an intention to make renewables the country's top power source by 2040. Under the plan, nuclear power will account for around 20 percent of Japan's energy supply by 2040 – up from 5.6 percent in 2022. Also in February, Japan pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent in the next decade from 2013 levels, a target decried by campaigners as far short of what was needed under the Paris Agreement to limit global warming. Japan is the world's fifth largest single-country emitter of carbon dioxide after China, the United States, India and Russia.
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Oil Steady after US Stockpile Build
Oil prices steadied on Thursday after falling more than 1% the previous day because of a build in US gasoline and diesel inventories and cuts to Saudi Arabia's July prices for Asia. Brent crude futures were up 23 cents, or 0.35%, at $65.09 a barrel by 1148 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 16 cents, or 0.25%, to $63.01 a barrel. Oil prices closed around 1% lower on Wednesday after official data showed that US gasoline and distillate stockpiles grew more than expected, reflecting weaker demand in the world's largest economy. Geopolitics and the Canadian wildfires, which can reduce oil production, provide price support despite a potentially over-supplied market in the second half of the year with expected OPEC+ production hikes, PVM analyst Tamas Varga said. The price cut by Saudi Arabia followed the OPEC+ move over the weekend to increase output by 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) for July. The strategy of OPEC's Saudi Arabia is partly to punish over-producers by potentially unwinding 2.2 million bpd between June and the end of October, in a bid to wrestle back market share, Reuters previously reported. "Oil demand will be shaped by trade negotiations between the US and its trading partners," PVM's Varga said.
