The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Saudi

  • FG condemns execution of Nigerian in Saudi

    The Federal Government has condemned the execution of a Nigerian national, Mrs. Kudirat Afolabi, widow and mother of two, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for drug related offences.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Mustapha  Sulaiman, said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

    ”While Nigeria respects the sovereignty of states, and abhors the violation of domestic laws of any country, the government, however, does not condone such inhumane treatment being meted on a Nigerian national.

    ”It also frowns at the Saudi authorities for not informing the Nigerian missions in Saudi Arabia of the arrest and prosecution of the deceased Nigerian, only to invite the mission to take the last will of the deceased prior to her execution on April 1.

    ”The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, therefore, wishes to assure Nigerians that it has engaged the Saudi authorities through their Ambassador in Nigeria over issues related to Nigerians,” he said.

    He said this was to ensure that the normal diplomatic practice of informing missions of the arrests of nationals is adhered to, and that fair hearing is given to other Nigerians undergoing judicial processes in Saudi Arabia.

  • Germany approves $450m Saudi arms sales despite ban

    German government has approved arms deliveries worth 450 million dollars to Saudi-led forces in Yemen during its first year in office in spite of a partial export ban, dpa reported.

    The government issued 208 permits to the eight participating countries during its first 12 months, it said.

    Germany’s coalition government agreed to ban arms sales to countries involved in the Yemen conflict in March 2018, but allowed existing orders to be fulfilled.

    READ ALSO: Germany seeks employment opportunities for Nigerians

    After the October 2018 killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Berlin also blocked sales that had been previously approved.

    The issue has generated a heated controversy; and which threatens to split the German government.

    Merkel’s Conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian allies in the Christian Social Union (CSU) however, wish to lift the restrictions.

  • EU adds Nigeria, Saudi to dirty-money blacklist

    Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Panama are among the countries added by the European Commission to blacklisted nations for posing threats because of lax controls on terrorism financing and money laundering.

    The listing of the countries is part of a crackdown against money laundering after several scandals hit banks in European Union (EU) in recent months.

    But the development has triggered criticism from several EU states. They are worried about their economic relations with the listed states, notably, Saudi Arabia.

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    The criteria used to blacklist countries include low sanctions against money laundering and terrorism financing, insufficient cooperation with the EU on the matter and lack of transparency over the beneficial owners of companies and trusts.

    Five of the listed countries are already included on a separate EU blacklist of tax havens. They are: Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and the three United States (U.S.) territories of American Samoa, Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands.

  • Trump defends ties with Saudi despite Khashoggi’s murder

    United States President Donald Trump has strongly defended ties with Saudi Arabia despite international condemnation of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.

    The kingdom is a “steadfast partner” that has agreed to invest “a record amount of money” in the U.S., Mr Trump said in a statement.

    The president acknowledged Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “could very well” have known about Khashoggi’s murder.

    “In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” he added.

    Mr Khashoggi was murdered on October 2 on a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

    Mr Trump’s statement said: “[It] could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”

    In an interview on Sunday, the president told Fox News that he had refused to listen to a recording of Khashoggi’s murder provided by Turkey, calling it “a suffering tape”.

    “The world is a very dangerous place!”, Mr Trump states, before holding up Saudi Arabia as an ally of the US against Iran.

    The kingdom spent “billions of dollars in leading the fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism” whereas Iran has “killed many Americans and other innocent people throughout the Middle East”, it says.

    The statement also stressed Saudi investment pledges and arms purchases. “If we foolishly cancel these contracts, Russia and China would be the enormous beneficiaries,” it adds.

    While admitting the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was “terrible”, Mr Trump wrote that “we may never know all of the facts” about his death.

    “The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed Mr Trump, saying after talks with the Turkish foreign minister that “it’s a mean, nasty world out there” and that the president was “obliged to adopt policies that further America’s national security”.

    In a statement, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said she was shocked the president was not going to punish Mohammed bin Salman over the “premeditated murder” of Khashoggi.

    Mr Trump has distilled his “America First” worldview down to its very essence. Morality and global leadership take a back seat to perceived U.S. economic and military security.

    Last week the Saudi public prosecutor blamed the murder on an unnamed intelligence officer who was allegedly tasked with persuading Khashoggi to return to the Gulf kingdom.

    A total of 11 people have been charged over the murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for five of them.

    Their cases have been referred to a court while investigations into another 10 people suspected of involvement continue.

  • Yemen’s Houthi attack kills one in Saudi

    One Yemeni resident was killed and 11 civilians were injured in a fresh ballistic missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi militias on Saudi Arabia’s border city of Jazan, Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.

    The spokesperson of Saudi-led coalition involved in a war in Yemen, Col. Turki Al-Malki, said in a statement that the attack took place on Aug. 8 at 20:34 p.m. local time (1734 GMT).

    Saudi air forces intercepted the missile launched from Northern Amran in Yemen.

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    The interception resulted in the projection of fragments throughout some residential areas, which caused the death of the Yemeni resident and injured 11 civilians.

    “This hostile act carried out by the Houthi rebels proves that the Iranian regime is still providing them with advanced capabilities, in flagrant defiance of the UN Security Council Resolutions 2216 and 2231, with the main objective of threatening Saudi Arabian, regional and international security,” he said.

    The spokesperson warned that the coalition would take all deterring measures against “such barbaric, frivolous launches” in conformity with international humanitarian law.

    Saudi cities, mainly those at the border, are the main targets of such attacks, but most of the missiles were intercepted and destroyed without reporting any injury among civilians.

    The attacks have been the responses of the Houthis against the coalition airstrikes on areas dominated by them in Yemen.

  • Oil slides as Saudi prepares to open taps

    Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) largest producer, Saudi Arabia, is offering extra oil on top of its contractual volumes to some buyers in its key market-Asia.

    WTI traded down 3.25 per cent at $68.70, while Brent tslumped 3.40 per cent at $72.77.

    The country is  boosting oil production to keep markets well-supplied amid disruptions from Venezuela to Libya and expected reduction of Iranian oil exports, according  Bloomberg report yesterday.

    Saudi Aramco has offered for August additional cargoes of its Arab Extra Light grade to at least two customers in Asia, Bloomberg’s sources say. One of those buyers who had been offered additional volumes of Arab Extra Light agreed to take them, according to one of the sources.

    While it is opening the taps, Saudi Arabia also cut last week its official selling prices (OSPs) for most of its grades to the Asian markets for August, in a sign that it wants to attract more customers now that it has raised production. The OSP for the Saudi flagship Arab Light grade for Asia was reduced by $0.20 to a premium of $1.90 above the Dubai/Oman benchmark. This was the first cut in Arab Light pricing for Asia in four months and a drop from the highest OSP since July 2014.

    Saudi Arabia had opened the taps even before OPEC and Russia agreed at the end of June to ease the production cuts to respond to the high oil prices and supply disruptions, judging from OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report that showed the Saudis boosted their crude oil production in June by more than 400,000 bpd.

    According to OPEC’s secondary sources, the ones the cartel uses to calculate quotas and compliance, Saudi Arabia’s oil production jumped in June by 405,400 bpd compared to May, to reach 10.420 million bpd.

    Reports have it that the Saudis are preparing to pump their highest-ever crude oil volumes in July, at 10.8 million bpd—above the current all-time high of 10.72 million bpd from November 2016, just before the OPEC+ deal entered into force.

  • OPEC output climbs as Saudi opens tap

    The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil output rose last month as Saudi Arabia pumped at a near-record rate. This is a sign the world’s top exporter is heeding calls from the United States (U.S.) and other consumers for more oil, a Reuters survey showed yesterday.

    The oil cartel pumped 32.32 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, the survey found, up 320,000 bpd from May. The June total is the highest since January this year.

    Saudi Arabia’s move comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has been urging Riyadh to offset losses caused by new U.S. sanctions on Iran and to dampen prices, which this year hit $80 a barrel for the first time since 2014.

    OPEC and a group of non-OPEC countries agreed last month to return to 100 per cent compliance with oil output cuts that began in January last year, after months of underproduction by Venezuela and other countries pushed adherence above 160 per cent.

    Oil broker at PVM, Tamas Varga, said the second half of this year is replete with uncertainty.

    He said: “We are entering the second half of the year with a huge amount of uncertainty surrounding the supply side of the equation.

    “Depending on your belief you could just as easily bet on $100 as $60 by the end of the year.”

    Saudi Arabia said OPEC decision would translate into an output rise of about 1 million bpd, although the group’s statement gave no clear volume.

    As published on Friday, Saudi Arabia has boosted supply to 10.70 million bpd in June, close to the record high of 10.72 million bpd, to make up shortfalls in Venezuela and other countries, and expected losses in Iran.

    This has lowered OPEC’s collective adherence with supply targets to 110 per cent from 167 per cent in May, meaning the group is still cutting more than agreed even after the Saudi increase.

    The Saudi supply boost, apparently set in train before OPEC met in Vienna on June 22 to discuss policy, has infuriated Iran and surprised some other OPEC members with its scale.

    Saudi Arabia’s Gulf allies, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, have yet to follow the Saudi lead, keeping output steady in June, the survey found.

    Among other OPEC members, Algeria also increased output in June due to a diminishing impact from maintenance work and Iraq pumped more as its southern exports rose.

    The biggest decrease came from Libya, which remains unstable due to unrest. Output fell sharply from near 1 million bpd after an attack in mid-June at the ports of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider shut them down.

    Nigerian supply dropped due to loading delays affecting several of the country’s crude streams.

    Iranian output, expected to decline as the U.S. re-imposition of sanctions discourages companies from buying the country’s oil, slipped in June as exports fell from inflated levels in May and April.

    Output fell further in Venezuela, where the oil industry is starved of funds because of economic crisis.

    OPEC has an implied production target for 2018 of 32.78 million bpd, based on cutbacks detailed in late 2016 and taking into account changes of membership since, plus Nigeria and Libya’s expectations of 2018 output.

    According to the survey, OPEC pumped about 460,000 bpd below this implied target in June, not least because of the decline in Venezuela and a similar involuntary drop in Angola, where the survey found output further declined in June.

  • Oil nears $75 as Saudi seeks price hike

    Oil prices rose yesterday to their highest since late 2014 as U.S. crude inventories declined after sources said top exporter, Saudi Arabia, is seeking to push oil prices higher.

    Brent crude oil futures rallied as high as $74.44 a barrel, the strongest since Nov. 27, 2014, the day  the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to pump as much as it could to defend market share.

    Brent futures were at $74.35  per barrel, up 87 cents from their last close.

    U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 71 cents to $69.18 a barrel. WTI had earlier hit $69.27, its best level since Dec. 2, 2014.

    “Oil prices continued to climb on Thursday as a decline in U.S. crude inventories and commentary from Saudi Arabia that it will be happy to see crude rise to $80 or even $100 helped boost prices,” RBC said in a note.

    OPEC and other major producers including Russia started to withhold output in 2017 to rein in oversupply that had depressed prices since 2014.

    OPEC and its partners will meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on April 20. OPEC will then meet on June 22 to review its oil production policy.

    Since the start of the supply cuts, crude inventories have gradually declined from record levels toward long-term average levels.

    Further supporting oil prices is an expectation that the U. S. will  re-introduce sanctions against Iran, OPEC’s third-largest producer, which can result in further supply reductions from the Middle East.

    August 2014 was the last time oil prices above $100 a barrel, but technical analyst Louise Yamada says the charts aren’t ruling out a return to triple digits.

    When asked if crude was never going to return to $100 a barrel on CNBC’s “Futures Now,” Yamada replied “not necessarily,” though emphasised that there are a few key levels that oil needs to hit first on the way up.

    “There are headwinds for oil, and remember that it’s been down almost 80 per cent since 2008 and from the 2011 high. “And I think if you were to get to these targets, you’re going to be running into the resistance of that four-year breakdown in 2014,” she said.

     

     

     

    But in the short term, the managing director of Louise Yamada Advisors does see crude running up to $78, thanks to some bullish formations in the charts.

    “This rally in oil has been a very slow-moving six-month process. But we do have (a) measured target from a head and shoulders that has been in place for three years that could take us to $75 or $78, where you run into the major resistance from the four-year breakdown in 2014,” she added.

     

  • Saudi crown prince accuses Iran of ‘direct military aggression’

    Saudi crown prince accuses Iran of ‘direct military aggression’

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Salman accused Iran of carrying out “direct military aggression” against Saudi Arabia, accusing Tehran of supplying Yemen’s Houthi rebels, against whom Riyadh is fighting, with missiles.

    On Saturday, a missile was fired across the border from Yemen towards the Saudi capital Riyadh.

    “The crown prince stressed that the involvement of the Iranian regime in supplying its Houthi militias with missiles is considered a direct military aggression,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

    In remarks during a phone call with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, he said the missile attack “could amount to an act of war against the kingdom,” SPA added.

    On Sunday, the Saudi-led alliance fighting the Houthi rebels said it closed all Yemeni ports, prompting national carrier Yemen Airways to halt all flights from Aden and Seiyun airports, the only two functioning airports in the country, after failing to get permits to operate.

    Yemen has been locked in a devastating power struggle between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-allied Houthis since the rebels took over the Yemeni capital Sana’a in late 2014.

    The conflict has intensified since March 2015, when the Houthis first advanced on Aden, prompting Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies to start an air campaign against the Shiite group.

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  • Saudi king swears-in new ministers amid anti-corruption crackdown

    Saudi king swears-in new ministers amid anti-corruption crackdown

    Saudi King on Monday swore in the new head of the National Guard, replacing a royal removed in a major crackdown described as an anti-corruption drive in the oil-rich kingdom.

    Prince Khaled Ayaf replaced Prince Meteib Abdullah, a son of late Saudi king Abdullah, as the minister of the National Guard.

    The newly appointed economy and planning minister, Mohammed al-Tuwaijri, was also sworn in during the ceremony attended by King Salman, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

    Al-Tuwaijri replaces Adel al-Faqieh, who was also dismissed on Saturday, in a cabinet shake-up that took place hours before Saudi authorities arrested dozens of royals and former state officials.

    The officials reportedly face charges ranging from involvement in dubious business deals, money laundering, embezzlement of public money and mishandling state-owned enterprises for personal financial gain, according to state media.

    The arrests took place after the Saudi king ordered the creation of an anti-corruption committee headed by his son, Crown Prince Mohammed.

    Among the royals facing investigation is Prince Alwaleed Talal, a business tycoon, who has investments in 21st Century Fox, Twitter and Citigroup.

    In a bid to reassure investors, his company, Kingdom Holding, said on Sunday it was aware of “various media reports regarding … the company’s chairman of the board,” referring to Alwaleed.

    It said it “reaffirms its full commitment to continue the company’s work, its commitment to its investors and shareholders, and affirms the support of the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

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