NEW YORK: Oil futures tumbled Thursday to the lowest points for more than four years, as markets reacted with skepticism to an OPEC decision on a record output cut to lift sagging prices. On the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), light sweet crude for delivery in January dived 3.84 dollars to close at 36.22 dollars a barrel, the weakest since July 2004.At one point the price fell as low as 35.98 dollars, which was the lowest since June 30, 2004. On London’’s Inter Continental Exchange (ICE), Brent North Sea crude for February slumped 2.17 dollars to settle at 43.36 dollars a barrel. The relentless slide in prices from record highs of 147 dollars a barrel earlier this year is now seen as a sign of the deep troubles of the global economy, which will mean weaker energy demand. The fall came even after ministers of the OPEC 13-member cartel, meeting in Oran, Algeria, agreed to the reduction in a bid to shore up prices. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which produces about 40 percent of the world’’s crude, approved a record output cut on Wednesday of 2.2 million barrels a day. It was the third time in three months that OPEC has lowered production, and the largest reduction since the cartel introduced production quotas in 1982. Before the latest cuts, OPEC’’s official daily output target was 27.3 million barrels a day.However, the decision failed to prevent prices plunging even further, as rising US energy reserves also heightened global demand worries amid a sharp worldwide economic slowdown.”The verdict (of falling prices) was a resounding vote of no-confidence in the cartel’’s ability to curtail production given its previous tendencies to backslide on commitments, particularly by countries who are financially strapped,” said MF Global oil analyst Ed Meir.
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ISLAMABAD: The government here on Thursday announced that manufacturers and dealers of fertiliser should not compel farmers to buy DAP with urea.
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ISLAMABAD: Multilateral creditors, especially the Asian Development Bank (ADB), for the first time in a decade have come down hard on the consumption-
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LAHOREINDIAN leaders should think twice before issuing statements as their mindless remarks against Pakistan are not only adding fuel to fire
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LAHORE TEHRIK-e-Istiqlal Pakistan (TIP) President Air Marshal (retd) Muhammad Asghar Khan has demanded fresh elections after immediate dissolu
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LAHORE AN ELECTION tribunal of the Lahore High Court on Thursday adjourned till January 20 the hearing of an election petition of the PML-Q Pr
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LAHORETHE Tehrik Minhajul Quran (TMQ) and Muslim Christian Dialogue Forum (MCDF) organized a Happy Christmas function at TMQ secretariat on Th
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KARACHI: City District Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal Thursday said that an First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged at Zaman Town Police Station against those responsible for the unfortunate incident in which an oil pipeline was burst in Korangi area resulting in the gushing out of crude oil in the surroundings.The City government started relief and rescue work in the area soon after the incident and the situation was gradually returning to normalcy, he said. Mustafa Kamal said the incident took place while cutting of newly constructed Road-16,000 in Korangi without permission by the SSGC workers. The oil spillage affected about 2 to 3 km area. He said road was being cut without permission from the CDGK or town administration for which an FIR has already been registered with the police concerned.The City nazim called for action against those involved in the incident and said that people within a radius of 2-2.5 km have been affected due to this incident. According to him 200 affected families were provided with food and other basic utilities. The CDGK, he said, has hired large number of clay-loaded trucks to carry out the operation to remove oil from roads and affected areas while community police was also helping citizens in the cleaning of their houses and oil cleaning material being provided free of cost. He said 50 vehicles used during Eidul Azha operation also performed perfumed spray in the area. Mustafa Kamal reiterated that at present 13 different organizations are controlling Karachi’’s municipal affairs and collect taxes within their jurisdiction but no one comes forward for provision of basic facilities and services to citizens.
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LAHOREA DIVISION bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday will take up for regular hearing a petition against the appointments of Punjab Servi
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Pakistan News
MADRID: The U.S. economy looks set to pick up next year or early in 2010, although this scenario is by no means certain, the IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a newspaper interview on Thursday.”There is a reasonable probability of the U.S. economy starting to recover at the end of 2009 or the start of 2010,” he told a Spanish newspaper.He based this view on the likelihood that the housing market has touched a low point and as demand reacts to fiscal stimuli but added: “We recognize, however that the possibility of a recovery is plagued with uncertainty.”If the U.S. housing market continued to fall then deflation could not be ruled out, the former French finance minister said.”We are faced with an abrupt fall in activity and we should use all instruments available with the aim of simultaneously tackling three aims, the first restoring the stability and confidence of national financial markets.”He reiterated that the IMF would cut its current 2.2 percent forecast for global growth next month and again criticized governments for not providing sufficient economic stimulus to lift consumer confidence.The European Union’’s plan to spend the equivalent of 1.5 percent of the union’’s GDP was too timid, he said.The IMF recommends global governments spend a combined 2 percent of global gross domestic product or $1.2 trillion to reduce the risk of a damaging global recession.
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