Blog posts tagged by tag: Oil

• Nigeria: Only by freeing Nigeria from its dependence on oil can Buhari truly take Africa’s giant to the next level

  In his election campaign, Muhammadu Buhari, the incumbent president and head of the All Progressives Congress (APC), ran on a platform promising to “take Nigeria to the next level”. More specifically, he pinpointed “next level agriculture”, “next level power”, “next level industrialization”, “next level tech & creative” and “next level school feeding” as the means to do so—vowing to his fellow Nigerians that “we are all going higher” as a result. After comfortably securing his second term—winning 55.6% of the votes in an election marred by characteristic delays, violence, voter apathy and condemnation by the opposition—Buhari must learn from the mistakes of his first term and immediately turn his attention to the significant challenges facing Nigeria. Particularly, the last five years have been yet another harsh reminder that Africa’s largest economy and most populous country remains fatally overdependent on its oil-related revenues, which still account for around two-thirds of government revenues and nearly 90% of export earnings. If he wishes to follow through on his campaign pledges, the former military general must therefore strive to free Nigeria from its reliance on its oil revenues, while cracking down on corruption and ensuring Nigeria’s institutions are left in better shape than he inherited them.

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  Tags: Nigeria, Oil, Resource Curse, Sub-Saharan Africa

• The History of OPEC: Has it been a Success?

  Vienna, Austria is home to some of the most picturesque buildings and monuments in Europe, but there is one very important building in the city center that you would be forgiven for missing. That's the OPEC headquarters. Although perhaps not the greatest tourist attraction in Vienna, the headquarters building gives off an aura of organization and unity. However, one could argue that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is anything but.

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  Tags: Oil

• OPEC deal: Will OPEC comply? Who will really benefit?

  The OPEC deal is done and the news sent oil prices soaring yesterday. The deal, which is designed to curb record-high global oil inventories, has been mooted as a possibility since last February when prices dropped to their lowest prices in over a decade.

  It’s taken almost a year, but the deal is done, overcoming disputes between the cartel’s three biggest producers, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. The deal, which also includes non-OPEC member Russia, represents the first time in 8 years that OPEC agreed to cut oil production and the first time Russia, one of the largest oil producers outside of the cartel, has agreed to cut production in 15 years.

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  Tags: Commodities, Energy Commodities, Oil, OPEC

• Russian economy update in wake of OPEC deal announcement

  On 27 September, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reached a preliminary deal on restricting crude supply in order to support prices. The OPEC deal, which had been mooted as a possibility since February, was the first such agreement in nearly 8 years.

  The announcement of the deal appeared to improve market sentiment, as global oil prices jumped 6% right after the announcement and headed towards USD 51 per barrel in the first few days of October.

  The oil production deal is good news for Russia, one of the hardest hit economies by the drop in oil prices observed in the last few years.

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  Tags: Oil, Russia

• The Oil Price Roller Coaster

  Crude oil prices are notoriously volatile and perhaps never more so than this year. So, if you're going to ride the oil price roller coaster, download a free copy of our FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast Commodities report to stay ahead of the curve here.

  

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  Tags: Energy Commodities, Oil, oil prices

• How will energy commodities perform this year?

  As the second quarter of 2016 begins and those of us located in the northern hemisphere move out of winter and into spring, a sense of hope starts to creep in as the days become longer and lighter after months of darkness and cold. However, unfortunately for many, the low-commodity-price environment does not seem to be changing much with the seasons. Energy commodities, in particular, are continuing to see low-prices, which is why we have created a new infographic depicting our latest price forecasts for Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil, Thermal Coal, and Natural Gas, which are available in our FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast Commodities report along with price forecasts and analysis on 29 other commodities in the energy, agricultural and metals sectors.

  

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  Tags: Energy Commodities, Oil, oil prices

• What is really going on with oil prices?

  As commodity prices have fallen globally over the last year, the one commodity that has stood out from the rest, which is often the case, has been crude oil. OPEC oil prices fell to a 14-year low on 20 January with the OPEC oil basket falling to USD 22.5. Many have cited the oversupply of oil as the reason for the price plummet, as well as uncertainty over the global economy resulting in decreased demand. The laws of supply and demand say that as supply increases and demand decreases, prices decrease. Despite the gradual decrease in prices over the last year, oil producing countries have continued with output at record high levels to gain as much market share as possible on competitors. The competition for market share even among fellow OPEC members was evident as production continued at record highs. Since February, however, a potential deal between Russia and key members of OPEC, including the unofficial leader Saudi Arabia, to freeze oil production at January output levels was announced to try to combat the low-oil price environment and stabilize prices at a higher level. Negotiations to finalize the deal happen in Doha on 17 April, but those ended without an agreement, despite many believing a deal was a foregone conclusion before the meeting even took place.

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  Tags: Energy Commodities, Oil, oil prices

• 2019 Economic Outlook for the Top Oil Producing Countries

  Over a year since the OPEC deal to cap oil production was announced, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the latest news and forecasts on oil prices and how top oil producing countries’ economies are performing in light of it all.

  

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP), Energy Commodities, Infographic, Oil, oil prices

• What is the Difference between WTI and Brent Crude Oil?

  Crude oil has had an eventful year thus far, with prices falling to historic lows, long-awaited production cuts that never happened, wildfires, and now Brexit has brought oil prices back into the media limelight. With that in mind we have written a little blog post here on the differences between Brent and  WTI crude oil. If you are curious as to what sets various crude oils apart, especially Brent and WTI, this blog post will shed some light on the differences as well as explain a bit about the Crude Oil futures markets and what role Brent and WTI play in the global oil commodity trade. But, before getting into the specifics of Brent and WTI, it might be helpful to first go through what quality metrics differentiate crude oils from one another. 

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  Tags: Energy Commodities, Oil, oil prices

• What impact could the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran have on Africa’s major oil exporters?

  As Iran ordered a ramping up of production by 500,000 on Monday, Persian tankers were already filling their hulls with millions of barrels of low-sulphur crude, destined mostly for European markets. Although there are some factors restricting the accessibility of Iranian crude to foreign markets, especially given that U.S. institutions are still barred from Iranian oil transactions, Iran will want to regain market share it has either lost, or never had access to. This will most likely translate to more supply of high-quality hydrocarbons and downside pressure on prices.

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  Tags: Africa, Commodities, Energy Commodities, Iran, Oil, OPEC