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AFP on July 12, 2017, 11:50 pm

Newborn among migrants reaching Italy after rescue off Libya

Rome (AFP) - The first of more than 3,500 would-be migrants picked up off the coast of Libya in recent days arrived Wednesday in Italy, as Rome pressures other countries into taking their share.

The early morning saw a coast guard vessel with 481 migrants aboard reach the southern Sicilian port of Pozzallo, while the Phoenix vessel of Maltese NGO Moas began disembarking 422 more further up the coast at Trapani.

One migrant was a newborn Cameroonian named Christ, whose mother gave birth to him Tuesday aboard a rickety wooden boat.

Rescuers applauded as she made her way up a ladder to haul herself on to the Aquarius, a vessel chartered by SOS Mediterranee and MSF.

The little boy's father has still to attempt the hazardous trip to Europe from Libya.

MSF midwife Alice Gautreau tweeted how she cut the child's umbilical cord.

"Little Christ is doing fine, his mother too. But it would have been better for both if she had not had to give birth in the middle of the Mediterranean, surrounded by 100 men," Gautreau added.

Vessels from four other NGOs -- Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), SOS Mediterranee, Save the Children and ProActiva Open Arms -- were on their way to Italian ports with a cargo of some 2,700 more migrants, including many children, picked up Tuesday, those organisations said.

Italy has been urging its EU partners to make a "concrete contribution" to dealing with the crisis both in terms of trying to limit departures from Libya and also taking in a portion of those who survive the perilous journey.

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni warned last week that his country did not have "unlimited" capacity to keep taking people having already accepted around 85,000 of the 100,000 people who have arrived this year.

EU interior ministers last week pledged to back an urgent European Commission plan to help Italy by earmarking 35 million euros ($40 million) in aid.

The issue was high on the agenda of Wednesday talks in the northeastern city of Trieste between Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attending a Western Balkans summit.

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Newborn among migrants reaching Italy after rescue off Libya - Yahoo7 News

OPEC wants an orderly recovery in oil production fromLibya, Nigeria and Iran andhas a flexible output target under its cuts agreementto accommodate more crude from the three member nations,the groups Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countrieswas anticipating a revival in production from the three when it set a targeted output range from 32.5 million to 33 millionbarrels a dayunder its Novemberagreement, Barkindo told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday at a conference in Istanbul. Nigeria will support a cap on its production,the countrysMinister of State for Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Kachikwu told reporters in Abuja.

OPECs Barkindo discusses the recovery of oil production in Libya and Nigeria

(Source: Bloomberg)

What we would like to see is an orderly recovery that would not disrupt significantly the re-balancing of the market, which is a very delicate process which has taken longer than expected because of the change in fundamentals, Barkindo said.By setting a range for the production ceiling, OPEC was making provisions for the expected recovery of production from Libya, Nigeria and Iran, he said.

OPEC decided in November to reduce its output by 1.2 million barrels a day to 32.5 million starting Jan. 1 to clear a global glut. Other producers including Russia joined the deal, which was extended through March 2018.

Libya and Nigeria were both exempted from the cuts due to their internal strife, while Iran was allowed to raise production by 90,000 barrels a day as it was recovering from sanctions. Crude slid into a bear market last month amid concerns that cutbacks by OPEC and allied producers are being partially offset by a rebound in supply from Libya and Nigeria and by U.S. shale output.Benchmark Brent crude has dropped 16 percent this year and was 10 cents lower at $47.64 a barrelin London on Thursday at 7:24 a.m. local time.

OPEC pumped 32.6 million barrels a day in June, and its output exceeded demand in the first half of this year, according to a report the group issued Wednesday.

Libya and Nigeria may be asked to cap their output soon in an effort to help re-balance the market, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq said Monday at the Istanbul event.Both African nations are expected to send representatives to the next meeting of theOPEC and non-OPEC Joint Technical Committee on July 22 inRussia, Barkindo said.

OPEC recognizes thatLibya, Nigeria, and Iran have faced severe challenges, and it welcomes their increased production,he said. We are glad these countries are recovering fast.

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Nigerias output limit would come into play when the nation can pump at a stable rate of 1.8 million barrels a day, about 100,000 more than its currently producing, Kachikwu said. We still are below the 1.8 million barrel a day benchmark set for us by OPEC, he said. I think that over the next one or two months, hopefully, we can get to that point where we can say the recovery has been tested, it is systemic and predictable.

Nigeria will miss an OPEC ministerial committee meeting in Russia scheduled for July 24, but Kachikwu plans to meet with Saudi Arabia and Russia after that, he said.

Libyas output has risen to 1.05 million barrels a day, or 45,000 barrels a day more than the country was pumping at the beginning of July, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified for lack of authorization to speak to the media. The nations output is at the highest level since June 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The global cuts accord between OPEC and non-OPEC producers faced headwinds in the first quarter this year and didnt cause crude stockpiles to decline fast enough, Barkindo said.The current market downturn is lasting longer than previous slumps, due largely to 700,000 to 800,000 barrels a day of additional supply from the U.S., he said.

Supply and demand now show us we are on the right course to achieving OPECs goal of reducing stockpiles to their five-year average, he said.

Shale producers need to join us so that together we can restore stability and maintain it, Barkindo said. The global economy itself benefits from stable oil markets.

Continued here:
OPEC Can Absorb 'Orderly' Oil Recovery From Libya, Nigeria, Iran - Bloomberg

ISTANBUL/LONDON Libyan and Nigerian officials may attend a joint meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC nations later this month as oil producers look for ways to cap rising production to help support oil prices.

Both countries have boosted production since they were exempted from an OPEC-led deal to cut output, weighing on global prices LCOc1. This has prompted more talk among producers about including them in the pact.

"We have spoken to (OPEC Secretary General Mohammad) Barkindo and in the next two weeks there will be conversations with them (Libya and Nigeria) and possibly we will invite them to the technical summit," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Istanbul.

Six ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC nations including Kuwait, Venezuela, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Oman will meet on July 24 in St Petersburg, Russia, to discuss the current situation in the oil market.

Nigeria's oil minister, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, was invited to the meeting but is unable to attend due to another commitment, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam al-Marzouq told reporters at the same Istanbul event.

Instead, the group will probably ask a technical committee involving the six OPEC and non-OPEC members, which is due to convene before the ministers hold their talks, to meet Nigerian and Libyan representatives to discuss their production plans, he said.

"We extended the invitation but unfortunately there is a previous commitment for the Nigerian oil minister," the minister said. "We did not talk about capping, at least we can talk about production plans right now," he added.

The monitoring panel, called the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee which Kuwait chairs, could recommend expanding the pact to the wider group, which holds its next meeting in November.

Both Nigeria and Libya were given exemptions to the supply cut, under which OPEC, Russia and other non-OPEC producers are reducing their output by about 1.8 million barrels per day because their output has been curbed by conflict.

OPEC delegates have said bringing Nigeria or Libya into the production pact would likely focus on capping their output, rather than asking them to cut their supply so soon after it had recovered from involuntary curbs.

Kachikwu has said that Nigeria was not opposed in principle to joining OPEC's production cap, but would have to wait and see if production returned to acceptable levels.

OPEC has not been in touch with Libya on the issue of capping the country's output, an OPEC delegate said. The Libyan government has not received an invitation to attend the ministerial meeting in Russia, he added.

In comments to Reuters on Monday, the head of Libya's National Oil Corporation did not indicate any willingness to cap output yet, saying Libya's humanitarian problems must be considered in any talks on the subject.

NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla added Libya could assist with efforts to stabilize the market by informing OPEC about its plans to restore production.

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London; editing by Louise Heavens and David Evans)

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is increasingly unlikely to nominate Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen next year for a second term, and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn is the leading candidate to succeed her, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing four people close to the process.

A day ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony to Congress on the state of the U.S. economy, two of her colleagues cited low wage growth and muted inflation as reasons for caution on further interest rate increases.

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Libya, Nigeria may attend OPEC, non-OPEC July meeting

Oil climbed Tuesday, as a lower 2018 forecast on U.S. crude production and speculation of possible output curbs in Libya and Nigeria fueled the strongest session gain for prices in over a week.

Expectations for a second-consecutive weekly decline in U.S. crude supplies also provided support.

August West Texas Intermediate crude CLQ7, +1.44% rose 64 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $45.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the largest dollar and percentage gain since July 3, FactSet data show. September Brent crude LCOU7, +1.20% on ICE Futures Europe added 64 cents, or 1.4%, to $47.52 a barrel.

In a monthly report issued Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration lowered its WTI and Brent oil-price forecasts for this year and next and cut its 2018 U.S. production forecast by 1% to 9.90 million barrels a day.

Still, on an annual basis, 2018 domestic production remains on track to reach a record high.

Read: Lower oil prices set to slow 2018 growth in U.S. crude production, says EIA

Earlier Tuesday, Enrico Chiorando, a U.K.-based analyst at energy consultancy Love Energy, noted that investors remain cautious, with several banks cutting their forecasts on oil.

Read: Forget about oil rising above $50 this summer, Barclays says

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries faces overwhelming pressure to curb global supplies, possibly by bringing Libya and Nigeria, which have been exempt from production cuts, into the fold, Chiorando said.

Also read: OPEC mulls oil production caps for Libya, Nigeria

Oil prices fell roughly 4% last week, but saw a tepid recovery Monday, boosted by news that OPEC could pressure Nigeria and Libya to curb their oil production, which has been on the rise. Both are members of OPEC but exempt from the group-led agreement to cut global output by 2%. The exemption was meant to allow their production to rebound following years of fighting between the countries governments and local insurgents.

Check out: U.S. shale oil investment surges more than 50% in 2017, IEA says

Libya and Nigeria have been invited to attend a meeting of OPECs monitoring panel on July 24 in Moscow.

Traders and analysts were also looking ahead to monthly oil reports from OPEC and the International Energy Agency, to be released Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

The American Petroleum Institutes weekly U.S. petroleum supplies data will be released later Tuesday. Separately, the EIAs weekly supply report will be released Wednesday.

Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the government agency to report a decline of 2.6 million barrels in crude supplies for the week ended July 7. Inventories had dropped by more than 6 million barrels the previous week.

The S&P Global Platts survey also calls for an increase of 400,000 barrels for gasoline stocks, and a rise of 1.2 million barrels for distillates.

On Nymex, August gasoline RBQ7, +0.91% rose 1.8 cents, or 1.2%, to $1.518 a gallon, while August heating oil HOQ7, +0.81% climbed 2.3 cents, or 1.6%, to $1.476 a gallon.

Natural-gas prices traded at their highest levels of this month so far as warm weather forecasts raised demand prospects.

August natural gas NGQ17, -0.36% settled at $3.047 per million British thermal units, up 11.8 cents, or 4%.

Weather forecast revisions have continued to lean bullish over the past 48 hours, with expectations for above average temperatures across the Midwest and western U.S., as well as parts of the east coast, all expected to boost cooling demand and connected gas power burn, said Robbie Fraser, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric.

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Oil up over 1% on lower US output forecast, Libya, Nigeria production-cap talk - MarketWatch

The health ministry has confirmed that at least four people including two foreign workers had been killed and 21 wounded over two days of fighting.

FILE: Libyans take part in a demonstration in the capital Tripoli on 31 July 2014. Picture: AFP.

TRIPOLI - Clashes between rival Libyan factions east of Tripoli extended into a second day on Monday, keeping the coastal road shut and preventing residents from returning to their homes, a local town council spokesman said.

The fighting began on Sunday when armed groups opposed to the United Nations (UN)-backed government in Tripoli tried to approach the capital and met resistance from rival groups that have aligned themselves with the government.

It is the latest in a series of attacks by armed opponents of the Government of National Accord (GNA), which have continued despite the GNA's attempts to win the cooperation of militias operating in the city and to calm bouts of violence inside or close to the capital.

"At the moment we can hear heavy gunfire," said Al-Shareef Jaballah, a spokesman for the municipality of Garabulli, about 50 km from Tripoli, speaking to Reuters by telephone shortly after midday.

"The clashes have resulted in severe damage to houses and shops because of indiscriminate shelling, and forced a large number of residents ... to flee," he said.

"The coastal road is still closed. The residents who have fled their homes are trapped because of the closure of the road."

The health ministry later confirmed that at least four people including two foreign workers had been killed and 21 wounded over two days of fighting.

The GNA has struggled to impose its authority since arriving in Tripoli in March last year. It has been rejected by factions that control eastern Libya, where military commander Khalifa Haftar has been consolidating his position and installing military-appointed mayors.

As temperatures have climbed this month, parts of western Libya have once again been suffering from power and water cuts that residents have criticised the GNA for failing to resolve.

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Fighting persists east of Libya capital, residents displaced - Eyewitness News