
Kazakhstan says it has told OPEC it won't cut oil output, Interfax reports
MOSCOW : Kazakhstan has informed OPEC that it does not intend to reduce its oil production, Russia's Interfax news agency cited Kazakhstan's Deputy Energy Minister Alibek Zhamauov as saying on Thursday.
"We have already told OPEC that we are not going to cut back and we will produce at our capacity," Zhamauov said.
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Business Times
7 hours ago
- Business Times
Oil climbs 2% to two-week high on geopolitical tensions
[NEW YORK] Oil prices climbed about 2 per cent on Tuesday to a two-week high as persistent geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and the US and Iran looked set to keep sanctions on both Opec+ members Russia and Iran in place for longer. Brent crude futures rose US$1, or 1.5 per cent, to settle at US$65.63 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 89 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to close at US$63.41. 'Risk premium has ramped up this week as the prospect of a Russia/Ukraine ceasefire as well as an Iranian nuclear deal now appear to have been pushed back for weeks if not months,' analysts at energy advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note. Russia said work on trying to reach a settlement to end the war in Ukraine was extraordinarily complex and that it would be wrong to expect any imminent decisions but that it was waiting for Ukrainian reaction to its proposals. Russia is a member of the Opec+ group that includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, and was the world's second biggest producer of crude in 2024 behind only the US, according to US energy data. Opec member Iran, meanwhile, was set to reject a US nuclear deal proposal that would be key to easing sanctions on the major oil producer. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Iran was the third biggest producer of crude in Opec behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq in 2024, according to US energy data. In Canada, wildfires burning in Alberta have affected more than 344,000 barrels per day of oil sands production, or about 7 per cent of the country's overall crude output, according to Reuters calculations. Demand growth? In Europe, Euro zone inflation eased below the European Central Bank's (ECB) target last month on surprisingly benign services costs, underpinning expectations for further policy easing even as global trade tensions fuel longer-term price pressures. Central banks like the ECB use interest rates to keep inflation in check. Lower interest rates can spur economic growth and demand for oil by reducing consumer borrowing costs. But, in the US, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said higher inflation from US import tariffs could become evident quickly, but he said it would take longer to see a tariff-induced economic slowdown. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), however, revised down its forecast for global economic growth as the fallout from US President Donald Trump's trade war takes a bigger toll on the US economy. US job openings increased in April, but layoffs posted their biggest rise in nine months, suggesting that labor market conditions were softening amid a dimming economic outlook because of tariffs. The US has asked countries to make their best offers on trade negotiations by Wednesday as US officials ramp up efforts to deliver multiple agreements to Trump before a self-imposed deadline just five weeks away. Weekly US crude draw seen Analysts forecast energy firms pulled about 1.0 million barrels of crude from US stockpiles last week, reducing inventories for a second week in a row. That compares with an increase of 1.2 million barrels during the same week last year and an average decrease of 2.3 million barrels over the past five years (2020-2024). The American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) release weekly US oil inventory data on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, respectively. REUTERS

Straits Times
11 hours ago
- Straits Times
Power restored to 700,000 residents in Russian-held Ukraine after Ukrainian strikes
FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the bank of Kakhovka Reservoir near the town of Nikopol amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo MOSCOW - Emergency crews restored power on Tuesday to at least 700,000 residents across a swathe of southern Ukraine controlled by Russian forces, officials said, a day after Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks knocked out electricity substations. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, but the attacks, which targeted the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, appeared to be the largest of their kind on Russian-held territory since the war began in February 2022. "Thanks to the coordinated work of power engineers, the power supply to all customers has now been fully restored," Russia's Energy Ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. Crews from other regions helped complete repairs. Russia lays claim to Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and already controls most of both regions. It is trying to capture the rest as part of what it casts as its push to ensure its own security and secure the future of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers. Ukraine rejects Russia's portrayal of the conflict, calling it a colonial-style land grab by Moscow and vowing to retake the lost territory through a mixture of force and diplomacy. The drone attacks came hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Turkey for peace talks where Moscow said it would only agree to end the war if Kyiv cedes big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army. Russian-backed officials said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - Europe's largest nuclear facility seized by Russia in 2022 - was under control but difficult. Russian officials running the plant said radiation levels were normal at the facility, which operates in shutdown mode and produces no power at the moment. WIDESPREAD OUTAGE Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of Zaporizhzhia, said on Monday that more than 600,000 people in nearly 500 settlements across the region lost electricity after Ukrainian shelling damaged high-voltage infrastructure. In the Kherson region further west, Russia-appointed Governor Vladimir Saldo said debris from fallen drones had damaged two electricity substations, knocking out power to more than 100,000 residents of 150 towns and villages. Separately, emergency services officials in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy said on Tuesday that a Russian attack had killed three people and injured 28, including three children. "The Russians launched a savage strike on Sumy – directly targeting the city and its ordinary streets with rocket artillery," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on social media. The attack damaged an apartment building, three private residences, a warehouse and a hospital building, according to a statement from the emergency services. There was no immediate comment from Russia on these Ukrainian reports. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in their attacks. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. For many long months during the winter, Ukrainian towns and villages endured repeated electricity cuts as Russian forces focused strikes on generating capacity. Each side has accused the other of launching attacks on the Zaporizhzhia plant and running the risk of a nuclear accident. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week in response to a Ukrainian complaint that it saw no sign of Russia preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia plant and connect it to the Russian grid. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told Reuters on Tuesday that conditions for restarting the plant were not present due to a lack of water for cooling and the absence of a stable power supply. The IAEA has stationed monitors permanently at Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine's other nuclear power stations. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.


CNA
13 hours ago
- CNA
Russian billionaire says replacement of SAP software is costly but essential
MOSCOW :Russian steel billionaire Alexey Mordashov said that developing a homegrown alternative to the widely-used business software made by Germany's SAP will require more time and money than anticipated but is a matter of survival. SAP, which became Europe's largest company by market capitalization this year, makes software that helps businesses manage functions from marketing and human resources to logistics and procurement. SAP provided software to Russia's largest companies, including airline carrier Aeroflot and Russian Railways, but gradually curtailed its business in response to Moscow dispatching troops to Ukraine in 2022 and stopped operations in March 2024. Steelmaker Severstal, owned by Mordashov, and petrochemicals firm Sibur have jointly sought to develop an alternative to SAP software. "We have done a lot to study this issue over the past year, but it turned out that everything is much more expensive and complicated, requiring more meticulous refinement," he said at a technology conference. "We understand the importance of this task... because we need to survive," he added. SAP held up to 60 per cent of the Russian market for business software before the Ukraine conflict, with the rest mostly divided between Microsoft and Oracle. Currently, many Russian companies are still using pre-installed SAP software but lack access to updates and support from the German company, making their systems vulnerable to failures. Mordashov's statement highlighted the difficulties experienced by Russian companies as they try to develop alternatives to Western software amid Western sanctions. Severstal and Sibur initially teamed up with domestic software maker Consist but have since exited the partnership. Severstal is now looking into solutions provided by developer Business Technologies. Other Russian companies like Russian Railways and oil firm Gazpromneft have chosen to cooperate with developer 1C, and are planning to launch a domestic alternative to SAP software in 2027.