OPEC+ Agrees on Modest Output Boost from August Kuwait Awarded Higher Production Baseline As Part of Deal
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THULHIJJA 9, 1442 AH MONDAY, JULY 19, 2021 16 Pages Max 45º Min 32º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18489 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net NOTICE Few customers at livestock French shocker ‘Titane’ wins Nihonmatsu greets Kuwait’s 4 market before Eid Al-Adha Palme d’Or as Lee slips up Olympians in Kuwaiti style Eid Mubarak to all our readers! 13 15 Kuwait Times will not publish its print edition from July 20-23. Readers can stay informed with breaking news and information via KuwaitTimes.net and our digital media channels on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook: @KuwaitTimes OPEC+ agrees on modest output boost from August Kuwait awarded higher production baseline as part of deal VIENNA: The world’s leading oil producers Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak agreed yesterday to continue to modestly boost told public television channel Rossia 24 that the Amir greets people of Kuwait on Eid output from August, after the United Arab Emirates meeting confirmed “our desire to be constructive blocked a deal earlier this month. An OPEC+ meet- and to find a consensus”. “The pandemic is not yet ing agreed to raise output by 400,000 barrels per overcome, but we are seeing that thanks to vaccina- day (bpd) each month from August to help fuel a tion all over the world, demand for our production is global economic recovery as the pandemic eases, recovering as is the use of cars and air planes,” he the Vienna-based group said in a press statement. said. “It is therefore very important for us to fulfil The grouping will “assess market developments” our responsibilities and allow a recovery of the in December, it said. The deal also extends a deadline world economy.” on capping output from April 2022 to the end of Kuwaiti Minister of Oil and Minister of Higher 2022. Earlier in July, negotiations of OPEC+ mem- Education Mohammad Al-Faris, in a statement bers on easing production cuts became deadlocked received by KUNA after heading Kuwait’s delega- due to a row between the world’s largest oil exporter tion online, noted Kuwait’s achievement in agreeing Saudi Arabia and neighboring United Arab Emirates. to raise the country’s future baseline production to Since May, the 23-member grouping, which also 150,000 barrels per day, as part of extending the includes Russia, had raised oil output bit by bit, agreement, starting from May 2022. after slashing it more than a year ago when the He expressed his joy over the cooperation and coronavirus pandemic crushed demand. The aim understanding between all OPEC+ members for the was to return to pre-pandemic production levels, benefit of the oil markets, hailing the efforts of Saudi with the alliance still pumping 5.8 million bpd less Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz and his Russian than it was before the pandemic. counterpart Novak to reach the agreement. The sit- KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah is received by HH the Crown Prince In a rare challenge to OPEC leader Saudi Arabia, uation is currently optimistic in oil markets, boosted Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah after he returned home on Saturday after a private visit the UAE rejected the proposed deal earlier this by the growing numbers of coronavirus vaccina- abroad. — KUNA month as “unjust”, leading to a stalemate. But in a tions and resumption of tourism in many countries, compromise, yesterday’s discussions agreed to adjust which created economic recovery and increased KUWAIT: The Amiri Diwan yesterday relayed The Amiri Diwan, in turn, addressed Eid greet- output quotas next May for the UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, demand for oil, said Faris. Eid Al-Adha greetings from HH the Amir Sheikh ings to HH the Amir, HH the Crown Prince and Russia and Saudi Arabia itself, meaning their actual Observers had expected a deal. “A flurry of talks Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to HH the Prime Minister. HH the Amir Sheikh cuts will be less. Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin were held on Saturday to try and close the gap,” Kuwait’s citizens and residents, wishing they Nawaf returned home on Saturday after a pri- Salman, who chairs the OPEC group, declined to say tweeted Herman Wang, an editor of S&P Global Platts, continue to live in amity, security and safety. vate visit abroad. — KUNA how the quotas were set and beneficiaries chosen, which specializes in coverage of the energy industry. saying it had been part of “consensus building”. Continued on Page 2 vast crowds that descend on Makkah News in brief Saudi stages in normal times when the ritual draws some 2.5 million pilgrims. Iran quake felt in Kuwait Since Saturday, groups of pilgrims second hajj have been performing the “tawaf” at KUWAIT: A 5.4-magnitude earthquake, occur- Makkah’s Grand Mosque, circling the ring in the southwest of Iran, was felt in Kuwait, of COVID era Kaaba, a large cubic structure draped in Kuwait National Seismic Network (KNSN) said golden-embroidered black cloth towards yesterday. Dr Abdullah Al-Enezi, an official at MAKKAH: Hajj pilgrims streamed which Muslims around the world pray. KNSN, said the quake happened at 5:34 pm out of the holy city of Makkah and After that, they have been making their local time in Kuwait at a depth of 10 kilometers. into the Mina valley yesterday, way to Mina, where they will spend the The quake’s epicenter was 310 kilometers away launching the rituals of the great pil- night. Mina sits in a narrow valley sur- from Kuwait City, he added. KNSN is an entity grimage which Saudi Arabia is holding rounded by rocky mountains, some five affiliated with the Kuwait Institute for Scientific in a scaled-down form for a second kilometers from the Grand Mosque, and Research (KISR). — KUNA year. Only 60,000 fully vaccinated is transformed each year into a vast citizens and residents of the kingdom encampment for pilgrims. MINA: Pilgrims rest at their camp in Mina near the holy city of Makkah are allowed to take part, far from the Continued on Page 2 yesterday. — AFP Egyptian activist freed CAIRO: Egyptian activist and journalist Esraa sexual assault, and their courts have imposed stiff sentence against Moroccan journalist Soulaimane Abdel-Fattah, one of the symbols of the 2011 Algeria, Morocco sentences. These measures have sparked interna- Raissouni for indecent assault. revolution, has been freed after nearly 22 months tional condemnation while critics at home say the In Algeria, which has been rocked by intermittent in pre-trial detention, lawyer Khaled Ali said intensify crackdown trials are politically motivated. Authorities, however, pro-democracy protests since 2019, press freedoms yesterday. Abdel-Fattah, 43, was arrested in Oct insist the judiciary is independent. are also being flouted, rights groups say. Prominent 2019 on charges of “spreading false news” and Today, a Moroccan court is due to deliver a ver- Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni was sentenced to “collaborating with a terrorist group”. Her on journalists dict in the trial of rights activist Omar Radi who has two years in jail in September for “inciting an detention sparked international condemnation, been in detention for almost a year on charges of unarmed gathering” and “endangering national uni- TUNIS: Authorities in both Morocco and Algeria with the US calling it “scandalous”. — AFP espionage and rape, which he denies. The case, in a ty”. “In the Algeria of 2021, a word can land you in have detained and put on trial several journalists on closed-doors trial criticized by human rights watch- prison, you have to be careful with anything you say charges ranging from harming national interests to dogs, comes on the heels of a July 10 five-year jail Continued on Page 2 Sudan inflation soars above 400% KHARTOUM: Inflation in Sudan has jumped to a tweet said it was “concerned over more than 400 percent, state media reported Tensions over ongoing tensions” and urged that there yesterday amid popular discontent over rising be no “acts of incitement”. It also prices after a series of IMF-backed economic Aqsa incursions called for respect for the site’s status reforms. “The annual inflation reached 412.75 quo and urged Zionist, religious and percent in June, compared with 378.79 percent community leaders to urgently “calm in May,” the official news agency SUNA report- by Zionists down this explosive situation”. ed, quoting a government statement. — AFP The incident took place on the JERUSALEM: Zionist police clashed Jewish festival of Tisha B’av, marking with Muslim protestors yesterday at a the day of the year thousands of years Afghanistan recalls Pak envoy flashpoint Jerusalem Old City shrine as ago when, according to tradition, both Jews were headed there to mark a reli- Jewish temples located on the Temple KABUL: Afghanistan yesterday said it was recall- gious holiday, police said. The tensions Mount were destroyed. The holy site ing its ambassador to Islamabad and other senior and the Jewish pilgrimage to the highly lies in east Jerusalem, which the Zionist diplomats over “security threats” after the top sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound entity occupied and annexed in 1967, envoy’s daughter was briefly kidnapped in the were condemned by the Palestinians. but is administered by the Muslim Pakistani capital. While few details have been The Zionist entity’s rightwing Waqf organization. released about the incident, Afghanistan’s Ministry nationalist Prime Minister Naftali The Waqf condemned the “viola- of Foreign Affairs has said Silsila Alikhil was abduct- Bennett stood by the state’s decision to tions and attacks” carried out by ed for several hours on Friday by unknown individu- JERUSALEM: Members of the Zionist security forces stand guard as a group allow Jews to visit the site.