Crude Oil Futures

  The crude oil price rally continues with occasional fluctuations which are completely understandable. The market concerns remain, though: the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel enter the fifth day with the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip taking a heavy hit from the aerial bombardments; the loss of civilian lives on the rise; on the Coronavirus front, even the countries that we though beat the disease such as Singapore and Taiwan, are reporting new surges. As for the former, the peace moves are already underway despite the rising rhetoric from both sides; in a few days, a ceasefire will be announced with the mediation of Egypt and perhaps, Qatar, as the stakes are high for both sides. As far as the Coronavirus is concerned, it looks like we have to live with it for the foreseeable future: the vaccine rollout will certainly bring the death rate down, but not necessarily the rate of infections due to frequent mutations of the virus to stay a step ahead. Even in the UK

While Israel is under serious threat by the rockets fired from Gaza strip by Hamas, Saudi Arabia was not spared by the Houthi rebels even on the most important day in the Islamic calendar, the Eid. Saudi security forces said on Thursday that they intercepted eight explosive-laden drones and three ballistic missiles at night on Wednesday. The arsenal is clearly aimed at Saudi infrastructure in general and oil installations in particular. Although the US Patriotic Missile Defence System intercepts – and destroy – most of them, according to the law of probability, a few of them slipping through the ‘net’   is inevitable; what Houthis appear to be doing is increasing the probability of success by increasing the number of projectiles fired from their territory. This is exactly what Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza Strip, has been doing in the past few days that put the nation of Israel in an unprecedented war-footing. Although the Iron-Dome, Israel’s own missile defence

  The conflict in the Middle East involving the Palestinians and the IDF, the Israeli Defence Forces, is depressing to watch as innocent lives are lost on both sides with substantial damage to infrastructure. It’s unfortunate that the fighting broke out in the run up to Eid, the most important festival for the Muslim across the world. Judging by the way the previous intense flare-ups ended, the latest conflict will also be brought to a halt by the peace-makers in the region, especially Egypt and Qatar; both countries are pretty active in order to bring the fighting to an end. As this is the most feasible outcome in the coming days, the crude oil markets have not been affected by the ongoing conflict; markets are hopeful that it will not drag on for weeks, something that both sides involved cannot afford let happen. As far as crude oil markets are concerned, however, there is plenty of good news on the horizon: the protracted talks between Iran and the signatories to the JCPOA,

  With the impending relaxation of travel restrictions, the airlines are optimistic that the days before getting air travel to pre-pandemic level is not just a pigment of imagination of the industry any more. The mood has never been positive this much during the last 18 months since the world went into the global lockdown of the century. There are plenty of planes flying over the skies above and near Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in the world; the image, capture on Tuesday afternoon show the changing picture;it was the polar opposite of what we witnessed in February this year with two or three planes in the skies over the same region at any time of the day. Heathrow, the main airport in the United Kingdom suffered immensely due to the pandemic: it provides hundreds of thousands of locals with employment with an equal number dependent on indirect employment opportunities. In response to the encouraging relaxation of travel restrictions, the airlines lost no time in coming

  Crude oil price that has been rising for the past three weeks at a slower, but steady rate, appears to be facing a formidable ceiling to slip through - for months. Although the analysts from certain investment banks have been predicting a price, ranging from $80 to $100 a barrel this year, in reality, it has been just floating below $70 with irregular peaks and troughs, caught up in gentle draughts of mere speculations. The major oil producers, meanwhile, are pleased with the current crude oil price; they no longer make huge losses, something they experienced about 4 or 5 years ago; they can balance their books and get their economies back on track; they can make plans for the future on solid, realistic grounds rather than spongy carpets of imagination. On domestic front, especially in the Middle East, companies can revive their operations and create jobs for the local workforce, something that had been on decline even before the pandemic struck the world. In addition, these