Oil

March 10, 2017

Can the North Sea’s good times roll again?

Oil operators seeking significant tax breaks to boost activity were disappointed this week when the chancellor instead bought time by setting up a committee, Murray Richie reports. Just as the UK’s offshore…

US Senate passes foreign aid bill
The US Senate voted overwhelmingly last night to approve a long-stalled $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending it to President Biden for his signature and ending months of uncertainty about whether the US would continue to back Kyiv against Russian aggression. The legislation had nearly been derailed because of right-wing opposition. The vast majority of senators in both parties supported the package, and Senate leaders regarded its passage as a triumph, particularly given the opposition to aid for Ukraine that had built up in the House. Ukraine is running short of the munitions it needs to fight and had grown desperate for the aid to pass. New York Times, April 24

Bodies in Gaza mass graves had hands tied, say UN officials
Mass graves containing hundreds of bodies, some naked and with their hands tied, have been found at two of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip, according to UN officials. Palestinian civil defence teams began uncovering a mass grave outside the Nasser hospital complex in Khan Yunis this week, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area. Bodies were also found at the al-Shifa hospital, formerly the territory’s largest, following the latest Israeli raid there last month. At least 283 bodies were recovered at the hospital in Khan Yunis, where Israel conducted a large military operation in February, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Times, April 23

EU conducts ‘dawn raid’ on Chinese security equipment supplier
Brussels has raided a Chinese security equipment supplier, deploying new anti-foreign subsidy powers in a move that will further inflame tensions between the trading superpowers ahead of a planned visit by President Xi Jinping to Europe. The raid by the European Commission and local law enforcement on the offices of an unnamed company in Poland and the Netherlands came as the EU opened a separate investigation into China’s medical device market, as Brussels flexes its muscles against what it sees as Beijing’s unfair trading practices. The China Chamber of Commerce to the EU decried what it called a “dawn raid” on the security equipment company on Tuesday morning and accused Brussels of “weaponising” its regulatory powers unfairly against Chinese entities. The move is the first time Brussels has used its new anti-foreign subsidy rules to justify a raid on a company. In February, it used the power to open an investigation into a Chinese train manufacturer. “The sudden unannounced inspection on April 23 undermines the business environment for foreign companies within the EU in the disguise of foreign subsidies,” said the Chinese chamber of commerce. Financial Times, April 24

EU opens probe into China’s medical device market
The European Union has launched an investigation into Chinese public procurement of medical devices, the EU’s official journal said on Wednesday, in a move that risks raising further tensions with Beijing. Brussels fears China is favouring local suppliers and, in the journal, the EU provided the different ways this could be happening including the “Buy China” policy. The EU also has concerns that China may have restrictions on imports as well as imposing conditions “leading to abnormally low bids that cannot be sustained by profit-oriented companies”, the notice said. “The … restrictive measures and practices put at a significant and systemic disadvantage [European] Union economic operators, goods and services as they systematically favour the procurement of domestic products to the detriment of imported ones,” it added. It is the first probe under the EU’s International Procurement Instrument which seeks to promote reciprocity in access to international public procurement markets. If the investigation finds that there is unfair behaviour, the EU can limit Chinese companies’ access to the public procurement market in the 27-country bloc. France 24, April 24

Trump trial: publisher says he suppressed negative news
The underbelly of New York City’s tabloid media industry was laid bare in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday. A famous publisher outlined a secret plan he had with Donald Trump and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, calling it an “agreement among friends”. Prosecutors questioned former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker for nearly three hours. He testified that the three worked to suppress negative stories about the candidate during his 2016 campaign. “’This could be a very big story, so I believe that it should be removed from the market’,” Mr Pecker said he would advise the former president about killing certain articles. Mr Pecker’s testimony could prove critical for prosecutors as they seek to prove that Mr Trump tried to influence the election by quelling a story of an alleged affair. Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege he tried to cover up a $130,000 (£104,500) payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before he won the race for the White House back in 2016. BBC news, April 23

UK government dementia adviser resigns over prosecutions of carers
One of Rishi Sunak’s dementia advisers has resigned over the government’s approach towards unpaid carers, describing the prosecutions of vulnerable people as “beyond the pale”. Johnny Timpson, who advised No 10 on its dementia strategy, said he wanted to “take a stand” after the Guardian revealed that tens of thousands of unpaid carers were being fined huge sums and in some cases prosecuted for minor infringements of earnings rules. The former Cabinet Office adviser said he had been “quite disenchanted” with the Conservative government’s approach towards people with disabilities for some time but this had now come to a head. “The fact that we have made absolutely no progress at all on social care [and] we really did not support carers adequately during the pandemic,” he said. “But this latest thing - the approach the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] are taking to reclaim benefits from carers and people with disabilities, particularly with neurological disabilities - is beyond the pale for me really.” The Guardian, April 24

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Can the North Sea’s good times roll again?