Elena Panina (Елена Панина) | OPEC+ will hold its own meeting in Vienna the day before the $60 "price ceiling" on Russian oil agreed by the EU, the US and other G7 countries is due to come into effect. On December 4, experts believe, a reduction in black gold production will be worked out. 🇸🇦 At the end of November, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that OPEC+ was ready to step in with further supply cuts if needed to balance supply and demand. One of the reasons cited was the sharp rise in COVID diseases in China, which could affect the pace of its economy. ● At the beginning of October, OPEC+ agreed to cut production by 2m bpd from November. This happened despite calls from the US to increase production. ● Jeff Curry, Head of Global Commodities at Goldman Sachs, stated on November 29 that high inflation in USA and other factors make medium-term oil outlook for 2023 "very positive" and the bank is guided by forecasted Brent price of $110. ● Recall that Russia's position is very simple: our country will not sell oil at all to price caps of $60 or $100. ● The consequence of the "price ceiling" may be the actual division of the global oil market in two - Asian buyers will focus on Russian oil at a discount acceptable to Russia, while the G7 and their acolytes, cutting themselves off from Russian oil, will buy expensive Arabian oil in conditions of the deficit created by them themselves.

Russia won’t accept oil price cap – Kremlin (12/03/22)

Hungary has been granted an exemption from the price cap on Russian oil set by the EU and the Group of Seven (G7) countries, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced on Saturday. 💬 “During the negotiations on the oil price cap, we fought hard for Hungarian interests, and in the end we succeeded: Hungary was exempted from the oil price cap. Once again, we have succeeded in protecting the security of our country’s energy supply,” Szijjarto wrote on his official Facebook page. ● He also criticized the initiative, saying it is “high time” Brussels realized that measures such as this “hurt the European economy the most.” He added that instead of settings price caps, the number of energy sources should be increased, which would eventually bring down global prices. ● The G7, EU, and Australia have agreed to put a ceiling on the price of Russian seaborne crude at $60 per barrel, scheduled to take effect on December 5 or soon thereafter, according to a joint statement released on Saturday.

New Zealand’s government has officially admitted that it has partner access to Facebook’s controversial content takedown portal. | This portal is designed specifically for government agencies to flag content to Facebook for censorship. According to The Intercept, which reported on the portal in October, government partners can also use the portal to “report disinformation directly” to Facebook. ● And in a recent response to a New Zealand Official Information Act (OIA) request, which asked whether the government has partner access to Facebook’s takedown portal, the New Zealand government confirmed that the Department of Internal Affairs has access.

The Twitter CEO is asking users whether the two men accused of exposing US secrets should be granted pardons | Elon Musk posted a Twitter poll on Saturday on whether former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange should be pardoned. Preliminary results show overwhelming public support for letting the two, who both face charges under the Espionage Act, off the hook. 💬 “I am not expressing an opinion, but did promise to conduct this poll,” Musk tweeted, asking users: “Should Assange and Snowden be pardoned?” ● So far, with more than 1.3 million people voting, 79% say ‘yes’, 21% ‘no’. ● In 2013, Snowden leaked a massive trove of classified documents revealing the US National Security Agency’s sprawling surveillance operations which targeted civilians in America. The whistleblower subsequently fled the US to Hong Kong, and then to Russia, where he recently received a Russian passport, according to his lawyer.