No oil production freeze agreement after talks break down in Qatar
Published time: 17 Apr, 2016 18:05
Edited time: 17 Apr, 2016 19:38

Despite crisis talks in Qatari capital Doha stretching late into the late, OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers have failed to agree on a cap that would prop up oil prices, which have been collapsing over the past year.

At the final press conference on Sunday evening, Qatar's energy and industry minister, Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, said countries at the talks would “need more time” for consultations, before attempting to make a deal, likely at the next scheduled talks in June.

Sources told Reuters that members of the Middle East-dominated OPEC plan to negotiate among themselves, before presenting a more united position to those outside the group.

The 18 countries that gathered in Doha, which included Russia and Saudi Arabia, represent nearly three quarters of the world’s oil output. According to a leaked draft of a final agreement, the signees would agree to cap production at January 2016 levels.

But the talks hit a last minute hitch, when Saudi Arabia demanded that regional rival Iran also freeze its own output. Iran, which had planned to send a delegation to the meeting, before pulling out at the last moment, says it has no intentions of curtailing production, after suffering years of recently-lifted EU and US nuclear sanctions.

“We respect Iran’s position, and will continue negotiations,” said bin Saleh al-Sada.

"Some OPEC countries decided to change their terms at the last moment, trying to get concessions from countries that are not here. We were insisting on trying to concentrate on the countries which are," said Russia's energy minister Alexander Novak. "We were expecting more, and we were expecting a deal, rather than heated discussions. But we believe the door remains open."

Earlier this year oil prices fell to a 13-year low of $30 per barrel, prompted by rising production and stuttering BRICS economies. Since then, they have recovered to about $45 per barrel, but most analysts predict a steep fall on the back of the latest impasse.

Thousands of Kuwait oil workers go on strike against pay cuts
Published time: 17 Apr, 2016 11:35

More than 7,000 oil workers in Kuwait have begun an open-ended strike to protest government plans to cut wages and benefits. The strike threatening a slash in production comes during talks in Qatar discussing an output freeze to boost oil prices.
“The overall number of workers exceeds 13,000, and here we have 7,000 [taking part in the strike],” the oil workers union chief Saif al-Qahtani was quoted as saying by TASS. He added that the union is aiming to reach their goals by halting output.

Hit by the sharp nosedive in world crude prices, the Kuwait government is considering a new payroll scheme for industry employees. If introduced, it will include the country's 20,000 oil workers, meaning an automatic cut in their wages, benefits and incentives.

Spokesman for the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Sheikh Talal Khaled al-Sabah, says the company had offered “suspension” of all spending cuts if the union agreed to negotiate a settlement.

"The strike will go ahead as planned," union chief al-Qahtani told AFP, holding the industry and the oil minister responsible. In addition to cutting wages and benefits, the workers are also protesting plans to privatize parts of the industry.

The workers’ union boycotted negotiations called for Thursday by the Social Affairs and Labor Ministry. On Saturday, they also turned down an appeal from Kuwait's acting Oil Minister Anas al-Saleh to call off the strike. He had promised there would be no reduction to their salaries and benefits.

Once the strike began, the national oil conglomerate activated an “emergency plan” to ensure local and international markets were not affected, KPC spokesman al-Sabah said.

The measure ensures all petrol stations and Kuwait International Airport will continue to get supplies. The spokesman, cited by Kuwait’s news agency KUNA, urged Kuwaitis “not to listen to rumors that the strike has affected the needs of the local market.”

He added that national “reserves of gasoline and petrol derivatives are enough to meet the country's demands for 25 days and strategic reserves could suffice for 31 more days.”

Kuwait is OPEC’s third largest oil producer with deposits making up to eight percent of the world’s reserves. According to rough estimates, the country’s industry extracts around three million barrels per day.

If the open-ended strike continues, it could reduce oil production in Kuwait just as major world producers are meeting in Qatar’s capital Doha on Sunday to discuss ways of freezing output to increase crude prices. The meeting, however, has begun in disarray as Saudi Arabia, the principal oil exporter, threatened not to agree to the deal unless oil-rich Iran does.

In turn, Iran says frozen output would make it impossible to take advantage of the lifting of economic sanctions, which followed after a nuclear deal with six leading world powers was struck.

SAUDIJSKA ARABIJA OTVORENO ZAPRIJETILA SAD-U
:: 18 TRAVANJ 2016.

Vlasti Saudijske Arabije su zaprijetile su administraciji predsjednika SAD-a Baracka Obame da će rasprodati imovinu u SAD u vrijednosti od 750 milijardi dolara ako Kongres usvoji zakon koji bi omogućio da se saudijskoj državi sudi za umiješanost u terorističke napade 9/11...

Prijetnju koja bi mogla imati ne samo ekonomske već i ozbiljne diplomatske posljedice administraciji Baracka Obame donio je saudijski ministar vanjskih poslova Adel al-Jubeir koji je posjetio Washington u ožujku.

Saudijska Arabija najavila je da će ukoliko SAD uperi prst u njih kao pomagače koji su teroristima dali potporu za terorističke napade u rujnu 2001. prodati vrijednosne papire i drugu imovinu u SAD-u od 750 milijardi dolara.

Kad im standard padne jebeno onda eto plodnog tla za dzihadiste, Ali fina da vise nece imat para za bacanja onda nece imat odakle pravit dzamije po evropi.

Problem za njih je da su stvorili nove generacije degena odgojene u luksuzu i obilju kojeg im nafta davala. Kako će to preuzeti da vodi države po principu bez nafte. Nemoguće.

Vrhovni religiozni lider fatwom zabranio selfies sa mačkama. I sa ostalim životinjama.

Ovim majmunima samo zamijeni državnu zastavu sa ISIL zastavom neće nitko ni primjetiti razliku režima. Obami i sličnima bi malo nedostajala kraljevska obitelj.

Spominje se i Bosna puno. U lijepom društvu sa vehabijama i SA. SDA će Bošnjake u crno zaviti.

AMERIČKA administracija ponudila je Saudijskoj Arabiji oružje i drugu vojnu opremu u vrijednosti većoj od 114 milijardi dolara, što je više nego ikada u 71 godini dugom savezništvu ove dvije zemlje, javlja Reuters.

Izvještaj koji je potpisao William Hartung iz Centra za međunarodnu politiku rekao je da se ponuda sastoji od 42 posebna ugovora, a većinu opreme tek treba isporučiti.

Ugovori obuhvaćaju sve od municije i osobnog naoružanja do tenkova, ofenzivnih helikoptera, raketa zrak-zemlja i brodova.

Ugovorom o svjetskoj trgovini oružjem, koji je krajem 2014. godine potpisalo 87 država, zabranjuje izvoz konvencionalnog oružja u zemlje koje narušavaju ljudska prava ili podstiču ratne zločine.

Education
According to The Economist magazine, the Saudi government has attempted in years past to raise employment by forcing "companies to fill at least 30% of their positions" with Saudi citizens. However, "employers complained bitterly about the lack of skills among young locals; years of rote-learning and religious instruction fail to prepare them for the job market." As a consequence, "the quota has now been dropped and replaced with a more flexible system."[62]

According to another source (scholar David Commins), the kingdom depends "on huge numbers of expatriates workers to fill technical and administrative positions" in part because of an educational system that in spite of "generous budgets", has suffered from "poorly trained teachers, low retention rates, lack of rigorous standards, weak scientific and technical instruction and excessive attention to religious subjects".[63][64][65]

Corruption
The cost of maintaining the Royal Family is estimated by some to be about US$10 billion per year.

Sprema se veliko sranje u tom djelu svijeta. Jedini ozbiljni neprijatelj S.A je Iran, koji masovno kupuje sofisticirano rusko i kinesko oruzje, ali nastoji proizvesti što više oružja i vojne opreme u vlastitim tvornicama.

Europu treba ograditi minskim poljima, prije nego bude kasno.