Saudi oil chief tells players ‘watch out’
Saudi Arabia’s top energy official issued another warning to oil short-sellers, just over a week before the OPEC+ alliance is due to meet.
“I keep advising them that they will be ouching — they did ouch in April,” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha yesterday. “I don’t have to show them my cards and I’m not a poker player. But I’d tell them: ‘Watch out.’”
The prince — famous for telling short-sellers they would be left “ouching like hell” — returned to the theme at a panel discussion at the forum alongside Qatar’s energy minister Saad AlKaabi and his Iraqi counterpart Hayyan Abdul Ghani to discuss what’s next for global energy supplies and demand.
The first day of the third annual event kicked off with comments from the energy-rich nation’s prime minister. Speakers were to include the chief executive officer of Qatar’s $450 billion wealth fund, one of the biggest investors in Credit Suisse Group AG that saw the value of its holding crash. They were also to hear from the heads of Qatar Airways and Boeing Co, against the backdrop of a sustained rebound in travel.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew was also to appear on a panel yesterday in Doha. The popular video-sharing app is faced with legislation that could see it banned in the US.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV at the forum, Rwanda President Paul Kagame said his country will need external financing for new infrastructure projects and will raise loans as required.
“We are busy building a country. We will need resources. Whenever there is a need, we will always go back” to the international debt markets, he said.
Rwanda sees “huge opportunity” for building ties with the Gulf region and Asian nations, including Qatar, and is focusing on linking up with market leaders in various sectors, Kagame said.
Ursula Burns, chairwoman of global consulting firm Teneo and founding partner at Integrum Holdings, said the “unbelievable gift” of artificial intelligence should be directed towards good use for all and making people’s lives better, though the technology should be regulated. “Regulation should not be about control or making it fool-proof,” Burns told Bloomberg TV.
For businesses, Burns said that tools such as predictive AI can help to quantify, and therefore outrun or mitigate, risks significantly. That would help create more opportunities to invest, she said.
However, the lack of direction and regulation makes investing for the upside a “very big difficulty for us,” Burns said.
AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes reckons that ticket prices have peaked, at least where his airline operates. All 210 of AirAsia’s aircraft are due to be back in operation in about two months and its fleet should expand to 300 planes in the next four to five years. By then, the group’s annual passenger traffic will rise to 150 million from 80 million, he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
“This is quite something from two years ago when we were struggling to survive,” Fernandes said.
AirAsia is also looking at starting airlines in two more countries in Asean, in addition to plans to launch in Cambodia, he said, pointing to “phenomenal growth” in the region.