OPEC+ set to further speed up output hikes, sources say
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
OPEC+ will likely agree to further accelerate oil output increases on Saturday at its first meeting since oil prices jumped, and then retreated, following Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran.The group, which pumps about half of the world's oil, has been curtailing production since 2022 to support the market. But it has reversed course this year to regain market share and as U.S. President Donald Trump demanded the group pumped more to help keep gasoline prices lower.The group may agree to raise output by as much as 550,000 barrels per day in August, up from monthly increases of 411,000 bpd it approved for May, June and July, and 138,000 bpd in April, two sources familiar with the discussions said.Eight members of the group - Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Algeria - are due to meet online on Saturday at 0900 GMT to decide policy for August.The eight began unwinding their most recent output cut of 2.2 million bpd in April. They then accelerated the hikes in May, June and July, despite the extra supply weighing on crude prices.The acceleration came after some OPEC+ members, such as Kazakhstan and Iraq, produced above their targets, angering other members that were sticking to cuts.Kazakh output returned to growth last month and matched an all-time high.OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, is looking to expand its market share against the backdrop of growing supplies from other producers like the United States, sources have said.So far, OPEC+ has announced production increases of 1.37 million bpd between April and July, representing 62% of the production cut of 2.2 million bpd that it is unwinding.The group still has in place other layers of cuts amounting to 3.66 million bpd.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
43 minutes ago
- NDTV
Gaza Truce Talks To Resume In Doha Before Netanyahu Heads To US
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are set to resume Sunday in Doha for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. Netanyahu had earlier announced he was sending a team to Qatar, a key mediator in the conflict, though he said Hamas's response to a draft US-backed ceasefire deal contained "unacceptable" demands. Under mounting pressure to end the war, now approaching its 22nd month, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet on Monday with US President Donald Trump, who has been making a renewed push to end the fighting. A Palestinian official familiar with the talks and close to Hamas said international mediators had informed the group that "a new round of indirect negotiations... will begin in Doha today". The talks would focus on conditions for a possible ceasefire, including hostage and prisoner releases, and Hamas would also seek the reopening of Gaza's Rafah crossing to evacuate the wounded, the official told AFP. Hamas's delegation, led by its top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, was in Doha, the official told AFP. Israel's public broadcaster said the country's delegation had left for the Qatari capital in the early afternoon. Netanyahu met Israeli President Isaac Herzog for talks on Gaza and efforts to expand ties with Arab states before his departure for the United States at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT). In Tel Aviv on Saturday, protesters gathered for a weekly rally demanding the return of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the war. Macabit Mayer, the aunt of captives Gali and Ziv Berman, called for a deal "that saves everyone". 'Enough' Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told AFP the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel. However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel's withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system. On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said 14 people were killed by Israeli forces on Sunday. The agency said 10 were killed in a pre-dawn strike on Gaza City's Sheikh Radawn neighbourhood, where AFP images showed Palestinians searching through the rubble for survivors with their bare hands. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific strikes without precise coordinates. Sheikh Radawn resident Osama al-Hanawi told AFP: "The rest of the family is still under the rubble." "We are losing young people, families and children every day, and this must stop now. Enough blood has been shed." Since the Hamas attack sparked a massive Israeli offensive with the aim of destroying the group, mediators have brokered two temporary halts in fighting, during which hostages were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel's rejection of Hamas's demand for a lasting ceasefire. 'Dying For Flour' The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip. Karima al-Ras, from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, said "we hope that a truce will be announced" to allow in more aid. "People are dying for flour," she said. A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. The UN human rights office said more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points. The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
War on words: Conflict corrupts language
Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels used to make speeches inciting violence against Jews War distorts everything, including language. Govts invent sterile phases and crude metaphors to make violence seem less disturbing and/or to diminish those perceived to be the enemy. But repeated use of such vocabulary changes societies using it, corrupting its soul and desensitising people to brutality or even genocide. It's About Control Ultimately, the goal of war vocabulary is to maintain control and justify actions that would otherwise be deemed as extreme or beyond the borders of reasonability. Writer John Rees says that George Orwell recognised this long ago. He understood that corruption of language was not a side-effect of political decay but the mechanism itself. Words only have meaning in relation to other words. And if one starts shifting those associations, meanings themselves change. Take Israel's war in Gaza following the Oct 7 terror attack. Israeli authorities have consistently deployed a strategy that plays on Israeli citizens' fears and anxieties to justify the relentless bombardment of the Palestinian enclave. Therefore, Israel's military actions are portrayed as necessary 'security measures'. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo And the Israeli phrase that captures this perfectly is 'mowing the grass'. The latter essentially refers to Palestinians as weeds that need to be cut from time to time to keep the backyard neat. Former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant also referred to Palestinians as 'human animals', reinforcing the perception that Palestinian lives weren't equal to Israeli lives. Moral Detachment This strategy was also used by the Nazis, describing Jews as 'the tapeworm in the human organism'. Joseph Goebbels claimed that 'Jews have to be killed off like rats'. Stalin's USSR adopted this playbook, but in a more sophisticated form. Political dissidents in Soviet Russia were described as 'bloodsuckers', 'vampires' or 'vermin' that had to be purged. We see this Soviet vocabulary continue in Russia's war against Ukraine where Ukrainians are described as 'khokhols', a derogatory reference to hair, and Ukraine as 'malorossiya' or little Russia. But another layer has been added to the terminologies, that of moral detachment. The latter allows even greater flexibility to bend international rules and normalise brutality. Thus, the term war is replaced by 'special military operation' as Russia has done with respect to its Ukraine aggression. Similarly, American media came up with 'US military intervention' in Afghanistan and Iraq instead of US invasion that American actions against those two countries amounted to. Civilian Afghan and Iraqi lives lost in those wars were put down as 'collateral damage'. Impersonal War Machines Worse, sterile terminologies that justify mass death and suffering are likely to get a boost with AI and autonomous defence platforms. When a drone operator takes out a target thousands of miles away, he only sees a blip on the screen. When autonomous tanks roll through civilian areas, the operator is playing a video game in his bunker. These technologies desensitise us to the horrors of war and normalises conflict. Then people are no longer killed but 'neutralised'. Countries are not invaded but 'restructured'. Civilian targets become 'human shields' to be destroyed. And war becomes the solution for 'root causes'.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Trump's 2018 tariffs on Indian steel and aluminium set to stay, even as trade deal deadline nears
New Delhi: The proposed India-US bilateral agreement (BTA) is not likely to resolve the fraught issue of American tariffs on Indian steel and aluminium, two people directly involved in the process said, with days to go before the deadline for the first phase of the deal. The two sides have been racing against time to dust off the deal before president Donald Trump's 9-July deadline for countries to offer lower tariffs on US goods. The duties—raised earlier this year—are set to remain in force even after the agreement is unveiled, the people cited above told Mint on condition of anonymity. 'As a formal political green signal is awaited from Donald Trump following the approval of the deal's terms by the US Trade Representative, the long-standing duties on Indian metal exports—50% on steel and 50% on aluminium—will not be rolled back in this round of negotiations,' said the first person cited above. The Indian negotiating team, led by commerce ministry secretary-designate Rajesh Agrawal, returned to New Delhi on Friday after a series of intense discussions in Washington. The team focused on achieving incremental progress in priority areas such as market access for Indian textiles, pharmaceuticals and services, while setting aside contentious issues like metals and autos for future rounds. According to the second person, the tariffs are part of a broader global regime. 'Every country is facing similar duties that have been levied on steel and aluminium. India has also imposed safeguard duties. These issues were discussed, but there is no interim relief for India on this front,' this person said. As per this person, both sides may revisit these tariffs in a future round of negotiations. The Trump administration had originally imposed tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium in 2018, citing national security concerns under Section 232 of US trade law. On 12 March 2025, Trump removed all country-specific exemptions and raised the aluminium tariff to 25%. Less than three months later, the US further doubled these tariffs to 50% for both metals, with the revised rates taking effect from 4 June. Mint reported on 3 June that India would seek the removal of US steel tariffs through trade talks rather than opting for immediate retaliation. It also reported on 5 July that the first tranche of the India-US BTA is now on Trump's desk for final approval, after being greenlit by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. These measures are part of a broader reciprocal tariff hike by the US under Trump's second term, including a 25% tariff on imported automobiles that came into effect on 3 April. The White House order stated that the aim is to "more effectively counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced, excess steel and aluminium in the US'. Trade analysts point out that while India has a limited export exposure to the US in steel and aluminium compared to other sectors, the continuation of high duties reflects Washington's protectionist stance and leaves little room for near-term relief. 'This signals that the US is prioritizing domestic industrial revival and employment over trade concessions, especially in politically sensitive sectors like metals,' said Abhash Kumar, a trade export and assistant professor of economics at Delhi University. The no-change in tariffs on Indian metals stands in contrast to the deal the Trump administration has struck with the UK. Under their existing bilateral trade framework, metal imports from the UK continue to face a 25% tariff, while both sides work towards a resolution involving quotas and adjusted duties. Indian industry groups had been hoping that the BTA would offer at least partial relief on these duties, especially since high tariffs erode the price competitiveness of Indian exporters in the US market. 'While metals are not among India's top exports to the US, the principle of reciprocity and fair treatment matters. Our manufacturers are competing against suppliers from countries with more favourable terms,' said Arun Kumar Garodia, former chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) and director of Corona Steel, manufacturers of light engineering goods and trading. Meanwhile, India has challenged the legitimacy of these tariffs at the World Trade Organization (WTO), arguing that they constitute safeguard measures—temporary restrictions allowed under WTO rules to protect domestic industries from import surges. In a notification to the WTO in May, India conveyed its intention to suspend concessions under the Safeguards Agreement in response to the US action. However, Washington rejected India's position. In a communication circulated to WTO members on 23 May, Washington reiterated that the tariffs were imposed under Section 232 for national security reasons and not as safeguard measures under WTO provisions. Experts believe that WTO proceedings may not yield quick results. 'India's legal pushback at the WTO is important to maintain multilateral discipline, but realistically, dispute resolution takes time and won't immediately help exporters,' said Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian Trade Service official and co-founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI). Queries sent to the commerce ministry remained unanswered at press time. As per the GTRI report, in FY2025, India exported $4.56 billion worth of iron, steel, and aluminium products to the US. This included $587.5 million in iron and steel, $3.1 billion in articles of iron or steel, and $860 million in aluminium and related articles. These products now face sharply higher tariffs, that could make it difficult for Indian exporters to remain competitive.
