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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

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

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.

Read more here:
Libya, Nigeria may attend OPEC, non-OPEC July meeting

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

ZAWIYAH, Libya The video showed a small rubber dinghy crowded with terrified migrants. Next to it, a uniformed man in a Libyan coast guard boat was yelling and wielding a bullwhip.

The whip slithered through the air and struck a shirtless migrant. The Libyan cracked the whip again, forcing some of the panicked migrants to fall into the sea and struggle to clutch the side of the boat.

We have to punish them to make them calm down, said Ramzi Ali, a member of the coast guard unit, shrugging after playing the video on his cellphone. We need to keep control. They can take our life.

The European Union has poured tens of millions of dollars into supporting Libyas coast guard in search-and-rescue operations off the coast. But the violent tactics of some units and allegations of human trafficking have generated concerns about the alliance.

The sea incident and other accounts of abuses come amid a deepening battle between human rights groups and authorities over the flow of tens of thousands seeking refuge to Europe.

(Jason Aldag,Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

The tensions are particularly prevalent in the seaside city of Zawiyah, where the coast guard is aligned with a powerful militia and armed groups are fighting to control revenue from smuggling people and oil. The factions are among the European Unions dubious partners in efforts to stop mostly African migrants from reaching its shores.

To most migrants, being rescued by the coast guard means a forced return to Libya, where they are exposed to more abuse, incarcerated and even sold again to smugglers.

They beat everyone and took everything, said Jafar Khalifa Ibrahim, 36, an Ethiopian migrant, recalling the April day that he and scores of others in a rickety boat were intercepted by a coast guard unit, robbed of their few possessions and deposited in an abysmal detention center.

[They are not treated like humans]

In the spacious office of the Zawiyah coast guard, a rail-thin commander seated on a couch devoured his lunch. Abd al-Rahman Milad was tired and hungry after a long night of patrolling.

His deputy, Ali, had just proudly shown the video to a Washington Post journalist. When he heard Alis explanation for whipping migrants, Milad nodded in approval.

Six years ago, at the start of the Arab Spring uprising, Milad left Libyas Naval Academy and joined rebels who were revolting against Moammar Gaddafis regime. I was shot nine times during the revolution, said Milad, 31, raising a scarred hand.

After Gaddafis fall and death, militias vied for control of territory, influence and the North African nations petroleum resources. Milads powerful tribe the Awlad Bu Hmeira seized Zawiyahs refinery. With the help of his tribe, Milad took control of the port and made himself head of the local branch of the coast guard, U.N. investigators said in a report last month.

He soon became known by his nom de guerre: al-Bija.

With three competing governments, including one backed by the West, rule of law is largely absent in Libya today. Power is mostly in the hands of militias, which run town councils and operate the coast guard in coastal cities.

NATO airstrikes in 2011 to help oust Gaddafi destroyed much of the Libyan Navys fleet and its ability to patrol its 1,100-mile coastline. With the economy shattered, coast guard employees have not been paid in months. Meanwhile, Libya has become the largest crossing point for migrants to Europe. More than 70,000 have reached Italy this year, and more than 2,100 have drowned trying.

[A day in Libyas capital, just as the civil war reignites]

Warlords such as Milad have filled the void, dispatching their crews to patrol Libyas waters with boats labeled Libyan Coast Guard.

Milad said his men lack resources and get little credit for their operations. Why doesnt Europe do more to support smaller coast guards like us? he said. We stop oil traffickers. Weve rescued thousands of migrants and taken them back to Libya.

But U.N. investigators and human rights activists say Milad and his crew patrol the seas to protect their own criminal activities.

A militia called the al-Nasr Brigade, commanded by one of Milads tribesmen, became active in migrant smuggling and started a detention center, said U.N. investigators. Milad and his coast guard unit, they added, are closely linked to the militia in oil and migrant smuggling. Milads crew hands migrants over to the detention center, a squalid facility where they are starved and often beaten. The center, U.N. investigators said, is used to sell migrants to other smugglers. And female migrants were sold on the local market as sex slaves.

The U.N. investigators said that Milad and other coast guard members are directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats using firearms. Some Libyan and Western security officials said the coast guard charges smugglers a fee for each boat, and those who do not pay are targeted.

Milad denied that his units traffic in migrants. The smugglers, he said, wear uniforms similar to those worn by his men, so the international aid agencies think the coast guard is trafficking in humans.

They cant prove we are involved, he said.

A spokesman for Libyas Navy, under control of the Western-backed government, called the accusations against the coast guard fabrications.

Instead of having these organizations support us to save more people, they attack us as if they are aiding the smugglers not the Navy, said the spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ayoub Qassem. He said Milads coast guard unit is one of the most active in rescue missions and in stopping illegal migrations, and so he has many enemies.

At a meeting in Brussels last month, E.U. leaders described the Libyan coast guard as a key ally and pledged more financial assistance to Libyas Navy.

Catherine Ray, an E.U. spokeswoman, said that the organization takes seriously the allegations against the coast guard, and that better training was a way to improve conditions. To date, she said, 133 members of the Libyan coast guard have been trained in courses that puts a strong focus on human rights and womens rights.

Humanitarian organizations are unconvinced.

They say gun-wielding coast guard units have tried to stop them from rescuing migrants at sea. Several migrants in detention centers in Zawiyah and Tripoli told The Washington Post that the coast guard seized their cellphones, money and jewelry.

European authorities should not be providing support to the Libyan coast guard, either directly or indirectly, said Annemarie Loof, an operational manager with Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian group. This support is further endangering lives.

Milad denied that his men robbed migrants but said that sometimes migrants give them phones and other possessions for safekeeping.

In Zawiyah, the mere mention of Milads name allows passage through militia checkpoints. He and other coast guardsmen own Mercedes and expensive SUVs. When asked how they earn money, Milad said they had other jobs but declined to provide more details.

But his power is also under threat.

In recent months, clashes have erupted between tribes for control of the citys migrant smuggling trade.

In April, Milad and his crew spotted a boat filled with migrants. As they approached, smugglers in another boat opened fire on them, he said. Less than an hour later, four of the smugglers were dead, and three others injured.

The smugglers belonged to another influential tribe, and in Libya, tribal allegiance trumps all other relationships.

We tried to avoid shooting them because of the tribal situation, said Milad. But we had to fight back.

As per custom and tradition, elders from both tribes negotiated a blood-money settlement to prevent revenge attacks. Milad was ordered to pay $185,000 to the smugglers families.

But Milad is considering not handing over the sum, which would allow his rivals to buy more weapons and influence.

If we pay, do you think they will not chase us again? he said.

Read more:

A European deal with Libya could leave migrants facing beatings, rape and slavery

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Libya's coast guard abuses migrants despite E.U. funding and ... - Washington Post