Coronavirus: OPEC Joint Technical Committee meet, deliberate production adjustment

OPEC Secretary General H.E Mohammad Barkindo

The Joi nt Te ch nical Committee, which consists of technical experts from some OPEC Member Countries and non-OPEC partners participating in Declaration of Cooperation, is currently meeting in Vienna, Austria at the time of filing this report. Their role is to review current market conditions and submit report(s) to the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which will consider whether further voluntary adjustments in production are necessary.

In this case, the meeting has entered the third day as intense deliberation continues over the impact of coronavirus on the global oil market. The outcome of the discussions may determine whether the group convenes an emergency meeting to consider new production adjustments. The death toll in China from the novel coronavirus outbreak has climbed to 491, while 24,324 confirmed cases have been reported so far and 65 people have died in the last 24 hours, according to the country’s National Health Commission (NHC). As Chinese cities are quarantined and factories are halted, refineries are curbing operations and shutting plants, while the nation’s top processor is seeking to re-sell millions of barrels of West African crude it no longer needs because of the squeeze to consumption.

China is the world’s biggest importer of crude oil but it is not yet clear what size of its demand has been affected but oil prices have hit their lowest level in 13 months due to weak global demand. Commending the Chinese resilience, the OPEC Secretary General H.E Mohammad

Barkindo said in a tweet “The proactive public health measures you [China] have undertaken; and the steady flow of data provided to the world at large is impressive and commendable.” In order to trim the over-supply in the market, OPEC and its non OPEC allies had earlier agreed in December to a production adjustment by an additional 500,000 barrels per day, starting January 2020. This decision which was reached before the outbreak of the dreaded virus would increase the present production adjustment to a total of 1.7million bpd, following the existing curb of 1.2 million bpd that had been decided in December 2018.

Mr. Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and prominent philanthropist

Bill Gates tells FT divestment from fossil fuels is not the answer

In an interview published in the Financial Times late 2019, Microsoft co-founder and prominent philanthropist Bill Gates says divestment from fossil fuels is not the solution to combatting climate change. Instead, he points to what he calls disruptive technologies and cutting-edge private sector energy companies as the most effective methods for reducing carbon emissions. “Divestment, to date, probably has reduced about zero tonnes of emissions. It’s not like you’ve capital-starved [the] people making steel and gasoline,” he said. “I don’t know the mechanism of action where divestment [keeps] emissions [from] going up every year. I’m just too

damn numeric.”

Instead, Gates urges investors to explore innovative, high-tech businesses and the latest energy technology to achieve better results. “When I’m taking billions of dollars and creating breakthrough energy ventures and funding only companies who, if they’re successful, reduce greenhouse gases by 0.5 per cent, then I actually do see a cause and effect type thing,” he said.

The FT article also made reference to the 17 September release of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual “Goalkeepers” report, which

tracks global progress towards reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Next week, the UN General Assembly is scheduled to convene in New York with world leaders reaffirming their support for achieving these ambitious goals, but Gates says there is still much work to be done. “We’re nowhere near improving fast enough to reach those goals,” he said. “It is a terrible injustice that the people who suffer the most are the poorest farmers in the world. They didn’t do anything to cause climate change, but because they rely on rain for their livelihoods, they are at the front lines of coping with it.”