Nigeria’s candidate is front runner for Opec position

NIGERIA’S candidate to become the next secretary-general of Opec emerged as the front runner after Iran, Angola and Kuwait pledged their support.

Mohammed Barkindo, who was acting head of Opec in 2006 and previously ran Nigerian National Petroleum, met ministers from multiple countries this week in Vienna to garner support, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Vienna observing the meeting.

Although Opec regularly ignores its own output targets and there was no suggestion anyone would cut production, even token gestures could show

Barkindo was a “good” candidate, said Kuwait’s Acting Oil Minister Anas Al-Saleh. Angola also backed Barkindo, said Petroleum Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, while Iran’s Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said “first we will support Nigeria” for the candidacy.

Barkindo is vying with Indonesia’s Mahendra Siregar, a former deputy finance minister, and Venezuela’s Ali Rodriguez.

a renewed unity and lift prices.

Options under discussion included a new ceiling of 32.4 million barrels a day, according to Iraq’s deputy oil minister. That is the same as

There were now effectively only two candidates for the position: the Nigerian and Indonesian nominees, Zanganeh said. “First we will support Nigeria, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t accept the Indonesian candidate.”

United Arab Emirates Oil Minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei also said the field had narrowed to two “credible” candidates. – Bloomberg

the group estimated produced in April.

Oil was little changed at $49.78 (R779.56) a barrel as of 11.26am in London yesterday. – Bloomberg it Aside from a small increase to this year’s outlook, the inflation forecasts were unchanged from March, including a 1.6 percent prediction for 2018 – short of its goal of just below 2 percent.

While this was the first time in a year that the ECB had not cut its projections, the failure to lift them significantly was worrisome, as the previous forecasts did not incorporate the effect of an enlarged stimulus programme.

Officials revised up growth forecasts for this year to 1.6 percent from 1.4 percent. The estimate for next year was left unchanged at 1.7 percent, and 2018 was cut to 1.7 percent from 1.8 percent.

The euro initially fell as Draghi spoke, then rebounded after he said “the balance of risks has improved on the back of the monetary policy measures taken and the stimulus still in the pipeline”.

The euro was stronger at R17.3967 yesterday.

Draghi’s comments on the need for government action echoed a rising chorus of officials and global economic policy advisers warning that central “As emphasised repeatedly by the Governing Council… in order to reap the full benefits from our monetary policy measures, other policy areas must contribute much more decisively, both at the national and at the European levels.”

The governing council earlier maintained its main refinancing rate at zero and the deposit rate at minus 0.4 percent. A corporate bond purchase programme, part of quantitative easing and a sign that the central bank was being forced to reach into ever more assets as it tried to hit its mandate, would start next Wednesday.

Draghi confirmed that the ECB would keep buying €80 billion (R1.4 trillion) a month of assets under quantitative easing until at least March next year. Most economists surveyed by Bloomberg said it would probably extend the programme past that date.

A new programme of fouryear loans to banks would begin on June 22.

Ultimately, he reiterated that the ECB would take whatever action was needed to revive the euro-area economy. The governing council “if warranted, will act by using all instruments available within our mandate.” – Bloomberg