1 Opec mulls oil cut extension (Khaleej Times) Opec
oil producers increasingly favour extending beyond June a pact on reducing
crude supply to balance the market, sources within the group said, although
Russia and other non-members need to remain part of the initiative.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries is curbing its output by about 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from
January 1 for six months, the first reduction in eight years. Russia and other
non-Opec producers agreed to cut half as much.
The deal has lifted oil prices, but inventories in
industrial nations are rising and higher returns have encouraged US companies
to pump more. A growing number of Opec officials believe it may take longer
than six months to reduce stocks.
The group wants stocks in the industrialised world
to fall to the average of the past five years. According to the most recent
data, for January, inventories of crude and refined products stood 278 million
barrels above this level.
Five other Opec sources said it was increasingly
clear that the market needed more than six months to stabilise but added that
all producers - in Opec plus non-members - had to agree. Opec next meets to
decide output policy on May 25 in Vienna. There will also be a gathering in May
of Opec and non-Opec producers.
Russia, the largest of the 11 outside producers
working with Opec, has not publicly said whether it supports extending the
supply cut, but is wary about the revival of US shale output due to higher oil
prices. The revival of shale oil production - whose growth added to the
oversupply that battered oil prices in mid-2014 - has restrained the rally this
year and may worry Opec leaders.
2 Older working women number doubles (Simon Gompertz
on BBC) The proportion of women working into their 70s in the UK has doubled in
the last four years and is starting to catch up with men. Analysis of official
data reveals that 5.6% of women only stopped working after the age of 70 in
2012. This had risen to 11.3% in 2016.
Worries over pension income and a motivation to stay
active have pushed up working ages. An estimated 15.5% of men stopped work in
their 70s in 2016. Changing laws and workplace regulations, such as the end to
age discrimination and the right to request flexible hours, have also helped
people to work for longer as longevity increases.
An estimated 150,000 women in the UK are working
into their early 70s. Women tend to have much smaller sums invested in private
pensions, so have less to supplement their income in later life.
3 World’s youngest new billionaires (David Curran in
San Francisco Chronicle) There are 195 new names on Forbes' 2017 list of the
world's billionaires, and the youngest newcomers are two brothers working in
San Francisco. Ireland natives John and Patrick Collison, aged 26 and 28
respectively, are the co-founders of online payments firm Stripe.
With his $1.1 billion net worth, John Collison
actually becomes Forbes' youngest self-made billionaire. He dethrones
Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, who's also 26 but is a couple of months older than
Collison. Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy joins the Collison brothers and
Spiegel as the only self-made billionaires under 30 on the Forbes list.
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