ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Opec output hits six-month low on Libya Business | 17 Wednesday 31 December 2014 • 9 Rabial I 1436 • Volume 19 Number 6296 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Stop closure of Deputy Emir awards camel race winners OPINION Gulf and the petrol stations, oil crisis s it the Ibegin- ning of says civic body the end or end of the begin- ning? Ten facilities already shut down Whatever inter- DOHA: The Central Municipal offered various services in just a preta- Council (CMC) yesterday raised small place — services like car- tions and Dr Khalid Al Jaber the issue of shortage of petrol wash and tyre change. analyses stations and urged the civic Then, there were people who experts might offer on the ministry to stop shutting down come to the petrol station to buy steep decline in oil prices, these stations, especially in refreshments and transparent there is no doubt that the densely populated areas. cooking gas cylinders. current crisis is causing The CMC said there was a need Al Hajri suggested that the alarm about the future of to conduct studies to assess the government come out with some this most important stra- requirement of petrol stations in solutions like moving the above tegic commodity and its different localities and take meas- services. “A petrol station should impact on the Gulf States in ures to increase their number. be reserved only for refuelling The Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani awarding the winner of the Founder Sheikh particular. Elected representatives, at vehicles and that can solve the Jassim Bin Mohammed Bin Thani Al Thani Race held at Al Shahanya Camel Race Track yesterday. The American bank their routine weekly session yes- problem of crowding,” he added. More photographs on page 2 Morgan Stanley has set terday, said that while the coun- The chairman of the CMC, three scenarios. First, they try’s population and the number Saud Abdullah Al Hanzab, inter- see a bear market where of vehicles on the roads were vened and said one of the main oil prices will continue to multiplying, petrol stations were reasons for over-crowding at pet- decline due to the inabil- disappearing. rol stations was that currently ity of the market to regain The result is immense crowd- some 10 stations were shut down AirAsia crash bodies spotted balance. Oil production ing at the existing petrol stations for different reasons. may remain high or even most of the day, and sometimes He said if people coming to PANGKALAN BUN, blue suitcase and bodies retrieved found. Navy spokesman Manahan increase while demand there are congestions even at petrol stations for other needs INDONESIA: The hunt for a from the area. Simorangkir told AFP earlier that remains subdued. night, said some members. such as servicing of cars or buy- missing AirAsia passenger plane An air force plane saw a according to naval radio a warship The second is a base case CMC member, Saeed bin ing refreshments or gas cylinders appeared at an end yesterday as “shadow” on the seabed believed had recovered more than 40 bod- scenario, where oil prices will Mubarak Al Rashid, particularly contributed to crowding, then wreckage and bodies were spot- to be that of the missing Flight ies from the sea. But he later said be stable. The third scenario talked of petrol stations in Al the stations can be asked to have ted at sea off Indonesia, prompt- QZ8501, National Search and that report was a miscommunica- is a bull market where prices Gharafa and Al Shahaniya and separate entrances and exits for ing raw scenes of emotion from Rescue Agency chief Bambang tion by his staff. are expected to increase, but said they were crowded 24 hours. such motorists. When a member, sobbing relatives of the 162 peo- Soelistyo told a news conference The search was called off for the possibility for this seems “Heavy vehicles such as trucks raising the issue of safety at petrol ple aboard. in Jakarta. Relatives of the miss- the night due to rough weather. remote. and trailers entering these petrol stations, said motorists keep the The Airbus A320-200 disap- ing hugged each other and burst Initial news of the debris Saudi oil minister has stations for a refill were worsen- ignition of their cars on and keep peared en route from Indonesia’s into tears in Surabaya as they dimmed the faint hopes of said that OPEC will not cut ing the situation. They were caus- talking on their mobile phones second largest city Surabaya to watched footage of one body float- relatives. production even if prices ing traffic snarls.” while in, Al Hanzab said the CMC Singapore during a storm early ing in the sea on a television feed “If that news is true, what can fall to $20 per barrel. Does Joining the issue, another could write to the Ministry of Sunday. of Soelistyo’s press conference. I do? I cannot bring him back to this mean that there is a Council member, Mohamed Interior requesting it to enforce All indications now are that it Later yesterday the search life,” said Dwijanto, 60, whose son Gulf-American conspiracy Dhafir Al Hajri, said that a rea- a law banning such practices. crashed in the Java Sea south- chief said just three bodies had was on the plane along with five to damage the economies of son for crowding at the petrol sta- THE PENINSULA west of the island of Borneo, with been recovered so far, after colleagues. AFP Russia and Iran? tion in Al Shahaniya was that it Continued on page 6 debris including an exit door, a another official said 40 had been See also page 12 Continued on page 5 Oil blaze in Libya UN to vote Bank holiday tomorrow DOHA: Banks will remain closed on January 1 but Exchange on Palestine houses will function as usual. Their remittance services will remain open tomorrow, according to industry sources. “All our branches will remain open on the first day of the New statehood Year,” said a senior official of a leading exchange house. According to Qatar Central Bank (QCB) circular, all commercial UNITED NATIONS: The UN banks will remain closed on January 1, but all electronic operations Security Council was to vote such as bank-to-bank money transfer services and branches of some yesterday on a draft resolution banks at various commercial centres and hypermarkets will remain on Palestinian statehood that open tomorrow, according to a senior official of a private bank. is almost certain to be defeated “Our bank will remain closed for year-end activities as per the in the face of strong opposition QCB circular,” an official of Doha Bank said yesterday, adding, from the United States. “however, our City Centre Branch will remain open tomorrow to Security Council member facilitate customer convenience.” Jordan requested the vote on THE PENINSULA the draft resolution that sets a 12-month deadline to reach a final peace deal with Israel and paves Shooting near Qatar mission the way to a Palestinian state. “We have decided that we are DOHA: A security guard of the Qatari embassy in Turkey’s going to pass to a vote at the capital city of Ankara suffered minor injuries late on Monday Security Council on the resolu- following a shooting incident targeting a car parked near the tion,” Jordanian Ambassador Dina mission premises. Kawar told reporters following a The embassy said in a statement yesterday that a car parked near meeting of Arab ambassadors. its premises was fired upon by a hunting gun in which a security The 15-member council was to guard suffered minor injuries. The embassy statement said it was convene at 2200 GMT. an isolated incident of shooting and the embassy was not targeted, The vote caps a three-month Firefighters trying to put out a blaze at an oil storage tank at the port of Es Sider in Ras Lanuf. Oil tanks at Es Al Sharq reported. THE PENINSULA campaign by the Palestinians at Sider have been on fire for days after a rocket hit one of them, destroying more than two days of Libyan produc- Continued on page 6 the United Nations to win sup- tion, officials said. Libya has appealed to Italy, Germany and the United States for help. port for a resolution that sets a time frame for ending the Israeli occupation. The resolution calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Boy drives off with car, gets 6-month suspended jail term Palestinian territories to be com- pleted no later than the end of 2017. On Monday, the Palestinians DOHA: A youngster has been youngster. The court said this was He opened the car using the that his brother had lost the the sentence be kept in abeyance presented changes to the text, sentenced by a lower court to the first crime committed by the keys and drove to his school. On car keys. and suspension for three years. toughening up language on East six months in jail for stealing convict and that his intention was the way, the driver of the victim’s “I was informed by my driver According to Qatari law, a Jerusalem as the capital of a a vehicle and driving it to his not to steal but show off the car brother saw the car. that he saw my brother’s car court sentence kept in suspen- Palestinian state and demand- school to show off his “new car” to friends at school.