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Saudi Arabia, Russia and six other key members of the OPEC+ alliance will discuss crude oil production on Saturday, with analysts expecting the latest in a series of output hikes for August.

The wider OPEC+ group – comprising the 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies – began output cuts in 2022 in a bid to prop up prices.

But in a policy shift, eight alliance members spearheaded by Saudi Arabia surprised markets by announcing they would significantly raise production from May, sending oil prices plummeting.

Oil prices have been hovering around a low $65-$70 per barrel.

Representatives of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman will take part in Saturday’s meeting, expected to be held by video.

Analysts expect the so-called “Voluntary Eight” (V8) nations to decide on another output increase of 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) — the same target approved for May, June and July.

The group has placed an “increased focus on regaining market shares over price stability,” said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.

Enforcing quotas

The group will likely justify its decision by officially referring to “low inventories and solid demand as reasons for the faster unwind of the production cuts”, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo told AFP.

But the failure of some OPEC member countries, such as Kazakhstan and Iraq, to stick to their output quotas, is “a factor supporting the decision”, he added.

By approving another output hike, heavyweight Saudi Arabia might seek to up pressure on members for not keeping to agreed quotas via slashing expected oil profits due to lower prices.

According to Jorge Leon, an analyst at Rystad Energy, an output hike of 411,000 bpd will translate into “around 250,000 or 300,000” actual barrels.

An estimate by Bloomberg showed that the alliance’s production increased by only 200,000 bpd in May, despite doubling the quotas.

No effect from Israel-Iran war

Analysts expect no major effect on current oil prices, as another output hike is widely anticipated.

The meeting comes after a 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, which briefly sent prices above $80 a barrel amid concerns over a possible closing of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

As fears of a wider Middle East conflict have eased, and given there “were no supply disruptions so far”, the war is “unlikely to impact the decision” of the alliance, Staunovo added.

The Israel-Iran conflict “if anything supports a continued rapid production increase in the unlikely event Iran’s ability to produce and export get disrupted,” Hansen told AFP.

Microsoft is reportedly exiting Pakistan. The software giant is quitting Pakistan after 25 years. Microsoft is said to have been reducing its headcount and operations in the country over the last few years, and has now fully pulled out of Pakistan. Microsoft started its operations in Pakistan in June 2000. The news of Microsoft exiting Pakistan was revealed in a LinkedIn post by Jawwad Rehman, the founding head of Microsoft Pakistan. There has reportedly been no formal public announcement from the company itself. However, according to a report by Tech Radar, the move was all but confirmed already, with full operations shut down in Pakistan and only a liaison office with around five employees remaining.

‘End of an Era… Microsoft Pakistan’

In the post titled ‘End of an Era… Microsoft Pakistan’, Rehman wrote: “Today, I learned that Microsoft is officially closing its operations in Pakistan. The last few remaining employees were formally informed and just like that, an era ends… Exactly 25 years ago, in June 2000, I had the honor of launching and leading Microsoft Pakistan.”He added that Microsoft’s decision to quit Pakistan calls for reflection, “Today’s news forces reflection. This is more than a corporate exit. It’s a sobering signal of the environment our country has created.. one where even global giants like Microsoft find it unsustainable to stay. It also reflects on what was done (or not done) with the strong foundation we left behind by the subsequent team and regional management of Microsoft.” He further said that it is time to ask what has changed about Pakistan that has made global corporations leave the country. “We must ask: What changed? What was lost? What happened to the values, leadership, and vision that once made it all possible?” he wrote. Reflection further, he said, “Allah grants honor and opportunity to whom He wills.. and takes it away from those who lose sight of it. But if your work leaves behind impact, integrity & inspiration.. then know that Allah’s favor was with you.” In another post, Rehman asked the Honourable Minister of IT and the Government of Pakistan to “actively engage Microsoft’s regional and global leadership” so that the company can maintain a presence within Pakistan.

PARIS:

Global food commodity prices edged higher in June, supported by higher meat, vegetable oil and dairy prices, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in a basket of internationally traded food commodities, averaged 128.0 points in June, up 0.5% from May. The index stood 5.8% higher than a year ago, but remained 20.1% below its record high in March 2022.

The cereal price index fell 1.5% to 107.4 points, now 6.8% below a year ago, as global maize prices dropped sharply for a second month.

Larger harvests and more export competition from Argentina and Brazil weighed on maize, while barley and sorghum also declined.

Wheat prices, however, rose due to weather concerns in Russia, the European Union, and the United States.

The vegetable oil price index rose 2.3% from May to 155.7 points, now 18.2% above its June 2024 level, led by higher palm, rapeseed, and soy oil prices. Palm oil climbed nearly 5% from May on strong import demand, while soy oil was supported by expectations of higher demand from the biofuel sector following announcements of supportive policy measures in Brazil and the United States.

Sugar prices dropped 5.2% from May to 103.7 points, the lowest since April 2021, reflecting improved supply prospects in Brazil, India, and Thailand. Meat prices rose to a record 126.0 points, now 6.7% above June 2024, with all categories rising except poultry.

Bovine meat set a new peak, reflecting tighter supplies from Brazil and strong demand from the United States.

Common bacteria can turn plastic waste into the over-the-counter painkiller acetaminophen, researchers have discovered.

Acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol and also known as paracetamol in some countries, is usually made from fossil fuels.

The new method, developed with support from AstraZeneca, transforms a molecule from a widely used plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into Tylenol’s active ingredient, leaving virtually no carbon emissions, according to a report in Nature Chemistry.

The plastic is converted to the drug at room temperature in less than 24 hours, using a fermentation process similar to what is used in brewing beer, the researchers said.

PET, a strong, lightweight plastic used for water bottles and food packaging, accounts for more than 350 million tons of waste annually.

“This work demonstrates that PET plastic isn’t just waste or a material destined to become more plastic. It can be transformed by microorganisms into valuable new products, including those with potential for treating disease,” study leader Stephen Wallace of the University of Edinburgh said in a statement.

More work is needed before PET can be used to produce acetaminophen at commercial levels, the researchers said.

Microplastics found in human reproductive fluids

The majority of men and women have microplastics in their reproductive fluids, according to the results of a small study reported at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology meeting in Paris.

The presence of the microplastics raises important questions about their potential risks to fertility and reproductive health, researchers said.

The tiny contaminants – plastic particles under 5 millimetres in size – were present in the follicular fluid that encases developing eggs in the ovaries in 20 of 29 women, or 69%. Microplastics were found in seminal fluid in 12 of 22 men, or 55%.

Both types of fluid play critical roles in natural conception and assisted reproduction, the researchers said.

In both groups, the microplastic polymers included polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon), polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, polypropylene and polyurethane.

In animals, microplastics can induce inflammation, damage to tissues and to DNA, and hormonal disruptions, study leader Emilio Gomez-Sanchez of Next Fertility Murcia in Spain said in a statement.

In a separate presentation at the meeting, Manel Boussabeh of Fattouma Bourguiba Hospital in Monastir, Tunisia, and colleagues reported that sperm exposed to microplastics in test tubes had impaired motility and damage to DNA.

Other researchers have previously found significant amounts of microplastics in the testicles of dogs and humans, and the canine data suggested the particles may contribute to impaired fertility.

Restoring a protein can turn off chronic inflammation

Researchers can turn off chronic inflammation while leaving intact the ability of cells to respond to short-term injuries and illnesses by targeting a newly identified protein, according to a report in Nature.

Chronic inflammation occurs when the immune system is stuck in overdrive, as with persistent conditions such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease or obesity. Acute inflammation – with pain, fever, swelling, and redness, for example – resolves relatively quickly.

Researchers found that a protein responsible for controlling inflammatory genes becomes degraded and is lost from cells during chronic inflammation.

In test tube experiments, restoring the protein called WSTF blocked chronic inflammation in human cells without interfering with acute inflammation, allowing appropriate immune responses to short-term threats.

The researchers then designed a medicine that protects WSTF from degradation and suppresses chronic inflammation by blocking the WSTF interaction with another protein in the cell nucleus.

The researchers have successfully tested the drug to treat mice with fatty liver disease or arthritis and to reduce inflammation in chronically inflamed knee cells obtained from patients undergoing joint replacement surgery.

Studying human tissue samples, the researchers found that WSTF is lost in the livers of patients with fatty liver disease but not in the livers of healthy people.

“Chronic inflammatory diseases cause a great deal of suffering and death, but we still have much to learn about what drives chronic inflammation and how to treat it,” study leader Zhixun Dou of Massachusetts General Hospital said in a statement.

“Our findings help us separate chronic and acute inflammation, as well as identify a new target for stopping chronic inflammation that results from ageing and disease.”