Samson: Oil drops with rising inflation and the effects of recession
1st August, 2022
Oil prices fell on Monday, as rising global inflation and the effects of recession in America and Europe eroded demand for fuel, while investors prepare for this week’s meeting of officials from OPEC and other major producers on supply adjustments.
Brent crude futures were down $1.07, or 1.03 percent, at $102.90 a barrel at 04:40 GMT, and US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $97.32 a barrel, down $1.30, or 1.32%.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate in July ended their second straight monthly loss for the first time since 2020, as rising inflation and higher interest rates raised fears of a recession that could erode fuel demand.
ANZ analysts said fuel sales to UK drivers are declining, while demand for gasoline has remained below the five-year average for this time of year.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, in a group known as OPEC+, meet on Wednesday to decide on September production.
Two OPEC+ sources said a modest increase for September would be discussed at the August 3 meeting, while others said output was likely to remain flat. LINK
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Samson: France freezes Russian assets worth more than one billion euros
1st August, 2022
Guillaume Vallet Valla, head of the intelligence department and the response to secret financial operations of the French Ministry of Finance (Tracfin), said that his country has frozen Russian assets worth 1.2 billion euros.
He pointed out that this does not include the assets of the Russian Central Bank, which were frozen before that.
“The value of the frozen Russian assets (in France) is 1.2 billion euros, not counting the assets of the Russian Central Bank,” the official added in a press interview.
Guillaume Vallet Valla pointed out that this freeze included financial and non-financial assets (for example, real estate).
At the end of March, France froze the assets of the Russian Central Bank in the amount of 22 billion euros.
Earlier, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said 13.8 billion euros of Russian assets in the European Union had been frozen, including 12.6 billion in six EU countries.
According to him, not all EU countries are making sufficient efforts to freeze assets that have been subject to sanctions. LINK
