Page 7 - DMEA Week 09 2020

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA
and the United Arab Emirates. Many of these cases have been linked specifically to visits to Qom.
Iraq takes Steps
Meanwhile, Iraq has suspended issuing visas to Iranians and has taken steps to close its border with Iran. Iraq banned Iranian nationals from entering the country and its own nationals from travelling to Iran on Thursday following an out- break of the coronavirus in the Islamic Republic. Returning Iraqis will be examined and, if neces- sary, placed “in quarantine for 14 days,” the Iraqi Health Ministry said.
Iraq has cultural and religious ties with Iran and annually receives millions of Iranian pil- grims but
local Iraqi media reported that the Health Ministry had decided to prevent Iranian citi- zens from entering the country until further notice. It has also banned public gatherings and barred entry to travellers from Kuwait and Bah- rain because of the spread of the new coronavi- rus, prohibiting travel to or from a total of nine countries.
On Saturday, Qatar became the latest Mid- dle Eastern country to report its first case of coronavirus. The patient, a 36-year-old man, had returned from Iran, The news came amid growing concerns in the Gulf, with Saudi Arabia having recently halted travel to holy sites such as Mecca and Medina. Visas for the pilgrimage have been suspended by Saudi’s Foreign Minis- try, which also announced that travellers from countries affected by the virus would be denied entry, without naming them specifically.
And OPEC
Iran is set to send a delegation to a critical March 5 meeting of OPEC ministers as the cartel looks
for ways to respond to the potential slump in oil demand triggered by the coronavirus outbreak. Saudi Arabia has pushed for a further cut in pro- duction quotas.
The coronavirus outbreak has been putting pressure on oil prices for weeks as Saudi Ara- bia-led OPEC and other oil producers try to gauge how the widening outbreak could affect global energy demand.
Fears surrounding the outbreak have sent prices downwards and the head of the Inter- national Energy Agency (IEA) said its oil demand growth outlook - already at its lowest level in a decade - might have to be trimmed again.
So far OPEC, which is dominated by Saudi Arabia, has failed to persuade its allies to take action to offset the effect of coronavirus, but the Saudis are pushing to make a substantial cut in oil production when OPEC and its allies meet next week. The kingdom is asking producers including Russia to sign up to a collective pro- duction cut of an additional 1mn barrels per day (bpd), a significantly higher amount than discussed before. The plan is designed to show oil producers are able to respond to the sharp reduction in demand created by a virus that has paralysed global supply chains and stifled inter- national travel. Under the proposal, Saudi Arabia would account for the bulk of the new 1mn bpd cut, while Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Russia would split the rest. The deal has not yet been agreed, however, with Moscow still hesi- tant to participate in a substantial cut when the full extent of the coronavirus impact is not yet known.
However, after frequent false starts at finding agreement for a production cut, the stars may be pointing to OPEC and friends crossing the fin- ishing line at last. ™
Week 09 05•March•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7