Shell’s 6.5% Dividend Is Monetised by The European Central Bank.

Oil companies and their beneficiaries that suffer from low oil prices are being rescued by the current ECB monetary policies. Negative interest rates and the ECB cooperate bond purchase program is turning corporate finances upside down and makes dividend payments rational even if revenue does not justify it. While the oil price is still low, there is no reason to believe that oil prices will stay at this level. There is a lack of investment in new production and world demand is increasing. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects demand to outpace supply in 2017. The exact moment of a sharp price increase is hard to predict, but it will be somewhere between now and 2020. Oil companies and oil-producing countries have to weather the storm to survive. Continue reading →

EU forces, NATO and Bosnian Army conduct exercise in Bosnia

The European Union Force deployed in Bosnia, NATO troops from neighboring Kosovo and soldiers of the Bosnian Army have concluded their days-long exercise designed to show how effectively they can act if needed. Source Fox News

Poland: the US already in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Robert Grey, born in USA, who sit in the Senate of Massachusetts, associated with Bumar and the Institute of Eastern Affairs – will be responsible for economic diplomatic relations between the Polish and US. Polish media, even those with right-wing pronunciation, are surprised by the appointment in the Ministry. Source: Sputnik

Future war with Russia or China would be ‘extremely lethal and fast’, US generals warn

Any future war with Russia or China would be “extremely lethal and fast” and produce violence on the scale not seen for 60 years, according to US generals. “A conventional conflict in the near future will be extremely lethal and fast,” he told a future-of-the-Army panel on Tuesday, Defense One reports. “And we will not own the stopwatch.” Source Independent

Nigeria doesn’t know exactly how much oil it produces, but is pretty sure $17 billion is missing

Lawmaker in the House of Representatives Johnson Agbonayinma alleged last month that $17 billion in oil and liquefied natural gas was exported from Nigeria without being properly declared between 2011 and 2014. The government believes international oil companies are at least partially responsible for the missing money. Source: Quartz

Oil fuels a New Deal for Norway

Norway’s Finance Minister Siv Jensen unveiled what she called a “responsible” state budget for 2017 on Thursday. It calls for pulling more money than ever before out of the country’s huge Oil Fund, to pump up spending on measures aimed mostly at preserving and creating new jobs. Source: NewsInEnglish.no

Chinese company to spend US$20 billion on Egypt’s new capital east of Cairo

China Fortune Land Development has signed a deal to develop and manage 14,000 acres (5,700 hectares) of Egypt’s new administrative capital at a cost of $20 billion. The new capital, planned to be the size of Singapore, is due to have an airport larger than London’s Heathrow. Source: Reuters