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☆ Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, eBay, Zoom, JetBlue, BJ's & more
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

"We are initiating coverage of Samsara (IOT) with a Buy rating and $42 price target." Deutsche Bank adds a catalyst call buy on Estee Lauder Deutsche added a short-term buy rating on shares of the beauty giant. Bernstein reiterates Apple as market perform Bernstein said it's getting more "constructive" on Apple shares but is sticking with its market perform rating for now. "We are initiating coverage of AES with a Buy rating and $21PT. "We are initiating coverage on shares of Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN), a leading roofing products distributor in the United States, with a Buy rating and $135 PT."

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Oppenheimer, JPMorgan, Lauder Deutsche, Mizuho, TD Cowen, Cowen, it's, Bernstein, Jefferies, Kite, Kite Realty Jefferies, GE Vernova, Tesla, Needham, Andy, BTIG, Davidson, Barnes, Morgan Stanley downgrades, Morgan Stanley, Etsy, Rosenblatt, Swift, Janney Organizations: Bank of America, Cisco Systems, Goldman Sachs, P, JPMorgan, JetBlue, Bancorp, SPT, Oracle, Deutsche Bank, Linde, Mizuho, LIN, Nvidia, Apple, Kite Realty, GE, Metro NY, SSS, Deutsche, Infrastructure, FTAI Infrastructure, BMO, New, AMC, Barnes Group, AES Corporation, AES, eBay, EBAY, UW, ZS, Comcast, CNBC, Benchmark, Beacon Locations: New York City, OW, United States

☆ Iraq expects deal to resume Kurdistan oil output within three days
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Ahmed Rasheed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Iraq's oil minister, Hayan Abdel-Ghani, speaks during a press conference at Iraq's Majnoon oil field near Basra, Iraq, May 12, 2023. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSummaryCompanies Iraq reached understanding with Turkey on oil exportsBaghdad seeks deal to adjust KRG oil contractsBAGHDAD, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani expects to reach an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and foreign oil companies to resume oil production from the Kurdish region’s oilfields within three days, he said on Sunday. Abdel-Ghani and top federal oil officials on Sunday started meetings with the KRG's ministry of natural resources and senior Kurdish energy officials to discuss the matter. "The purpose of this meeting is to resolve all issues to facilitate resumption of oil production and exports," Abdel-Ghani told reporters in Erbil. APIKUR's members include international oil and gas companies that have a direct or indirect interest in upstream oil or gas contracts in Iraq's Kurdistan region, many of which have had to stop output because of the pipeline closure.

Persons: Hayan Abdel, Ghani, Essam, Abdel, Ahmed Rasheed, William Maclean, David Goodman Organizations: REUTERS, Kurdistan Regional Government, of Commerce, ICC, Association of, Petroleum Industry, Thomson Locations: Basra, Iraq, Turkey, Baghdad, BAGHDAD, Kurdish, Erbil, Iraq's, Kurdistan, Ankara, Iraq's Kurdistan

☆ As Turkey intensifies war on Kurdish militants, Iraqi civilians suffer
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Lena Masri | Amina Ismail | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +23 min

Seventeen-year-old Samir Saado was finishing his cleaning shift at the village medical centre when an airstrike hit the building. Four members of the PKK-allied Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), who were guards at the clinic, were killed, local officials said. All five said the medical centre was hit by at least three strikes about three minutes apart. Reuters showed Zwijnenburg the footage of the red crescent symbol on the wall of the medical centre. Across northern Iraq, local people say they are powerless to prevent armed groups setting up in their villages and districts.

Persons: Samir Saado, ” “, “, ACLED, Tayyip Erdogan, Iraq’s, Mustafa al, ”, Tatyana Eatwell, Jonathan Lord, ” Lord, Saeed Hasan, Isa Khoudeda, Turkey’s, wailed, Wim Zwijnenburg, Zwijnenburg, Saado, Yazidis, Saado’s, ” Saado, Schlier Namiq, Tuta Qal, Aram Kakakhan, Kakakhan, Ismail Ibrahim, Namiq, Saddam Hussein, Namiq’s, Ryam Ziad, Ziad Khedr, Hassan Kashmoula, Ryam, Mustafa Anwar, Khedr’s, ‘ neutralised, Nidal Mahmoud, Khedr's, ” Mahmoud Organizations: Turkish, Turkish Defence Ministry, Kurdistan Workers ' Party, European Union, Syrian Democratic Forces, Islamic, Turkey’s Defence Ministry, Reuters, Anadolu, Human Rights, Defence Ministry, Unit, Justice, United Nations Human, NATO, Pentagon, ISIS, ., Coalition, United Nations, Mission, Middle East Security, Center, New, New American Security, Military, Islamic State, Tuta, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, SDF, ” Reuters, International Crisis Group, Crisis, “ Locations: Iraq’s, Sinjar, Turkish, Saado, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Ankara, Northern Iraq, United States, PKK, U.S, Islamic State, Skeiniya, Germany, Turkish Government, Washington, New American, ”, Iran, Istanbul, Gaziantep province, Sabah, Europe, Greece, Iraq’s Sulaimaniya, Kurdish, Tuta, Ibrahim, Chamchamal, Chicago, Mosul, Iranian, Khedr

CNN —Turkish airstrikes killed at least 11 people in multiple Kurdish-controlled locations in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish Internal Security Force said Thursday, the latest response from Ankara’s forces following a bomb attack in Turkey’s capital claimed by Kurdish militants. “Eleven people were martyred, including five civilians and six members of the Internal Security Forces,” Asayish said. Eight civilians and two members of the Kurdish security forces were wounded, it added. Later Sunday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said its warplanes had destroyed 20 PKK targets in northern Iraq in response to the attack. According to Ankara, the PKK trains separatist fighters and launches attacks against Turkey from its bases in northern Iraq and Syria, where a PKK-affiliated Kurdish group controls large swaths of territory.

Persons: ” Asayish, Hakan Fidan, Fidan, ” Fidan Organizations: CNN, Turkish, Kurdish Internal Security Force, Kurdish, Internal Security Forces, Turkey’s Defense Ministry, Kurdistan Workers ’ Party, United Nations Charter, European Union, Ministry, Turkish Defense Ministry, Turkish Armed Forces, Group, Kurdistan Regional Government Locations: Syria, Kurdish, Turkey, Kurdistan, Ankara, United States, Turkey’s, Iraq, “, Turkish, Iran, Kordestan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Istanbul

Istanbul CNN —Turkey’s military carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on Sunday, just hours after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing in the capital in the latest attack of its nearly four-decade long insurgency. The ministry said in a statement that two attackers murdered a civilian and stole his vehicle ahead of the opening of parliament in Ankara. According to Ankara, the PKK trains separatist fighters and launches attacks against Turkey from its bases in northern Iraq and Syria, where a PKK-affiliated Kurdish group controls large swaths of territory. And in November last year, Ankara blamed the PKK for a bomb attack on a central pedestrian boulevard in Istanbul that killed six and injured dozens. In recent years, Turkey has carried out a steady stream of operations against the PKK domestically as well as cross-border operations into Syria.

Persons: Istanbul CNN —, ”, Ali Unal, Recep Tayyip Erdogan Organizations: Istanbul CNN, Kurdistan Workers ’ Party, Turkish Defense Ministry, United Nations Charter, European Union, Turkey’s, Ministry, Firat News Agency, Sunday, Group, Kurdistan Regional Government Locations: Istanbul, Iraq, Kurdistan, Metina, Gara, “, Turkey, United States, Ankara, Turkish, Iran, Kordestan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Syria, Kurdish

☆ Turkey's runoff election is paralyzing key oil exports from northern Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Oil typically flows through Turkey from both the Iraqi state and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). More specifically, this Kirkuk crude flows down the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline linking the north of the Gulf country with Turkey's Ceyhan port in the Mediterranean. But the flows have been paralyzed since March 25 by a legal dispute involving federal Iraq, the KRG and Turkey. This decision led to U.S. companies deciding to exit contracts in Kurdistan and deterred some KRG oil buyers from further purchases. "The ruling party in Turkey [Erdogan's AKP] wants to settle the elections and then deal with KRG's oil with Baghdad."

Persons: KRG, Hayan Abdul, Ghani, —, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Lawk Ghafuri, Yerevan Saeed, Saeed, Bilal Wahab, Wagner Organizations: CNBC, Kurdistan Regional Government, Turkey Pipeline, International, Commerce's, Reuters, ICC, Baghdad, BTC, Kurdistan, Gulf Institute, Sinjar, Washington Institute for Near East Locations: Turkey, Ankara, Baghdad, Iraqi, Kurdistan, Kirkuk, Iraq, Basra, Paris, U.S, Ceyhan, Baku, Syria, Erbil, Yerevan, Washington

April 24 (Reuters) - Iraq's northern oil exports showed few concrete signs of an imminent restart after a month of standstill, as aspects of an agreement between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have yet to be resolved, according to four sources. Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, signed a temporary agreement on April 4 to restart northern oil exports. The KRG and Iraq's oil ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Iraq's lack of willingness to discuss these issues has frustrated Turkey, according to one source. Fields which are still running include Khurmala, which has reduced output from around 135,000 bpd to 100,000 bpd, according to a source familiar with field operations.

☆ Oil prices settle higher on optimism about fuel demand in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said finger-pointing and misrepresenting the actions of OPEC and OPEC+ was "counterproductive." Oil prices settled higher on Monday, reversing losses as investors grew optimistic that holiday travel in China would boost fuel demand in the world's largest oil importer. China's bumpy economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic has clouded the oil demand outlook, though Chinese customs data on Friday showed record volumes of imports in March. "There's a lot of optimism around Chinese holidays as it relates to jet fuel demand, the first genuine numbers on Chinese demand construction," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. "Planned output cuts by the OPEC+ alliance and a strong demand outlook from China could provide a fillip to prices in the coming days", said independent oil analyst Sugandha Sachdeva.

☆ Oil slips on economy worries, despite upbeat China data
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Alex Lawler | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Crude was also pressured by the Iraq federal government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) taking a step towards a resumption in northern oil exports from the Turkish port of Ceyhan after they were halted last month. Brent crude fell by 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $84.58 a barrel by 1336 GMT, giving up early gains. "As things stand, it's all systems go in China, much to the relief of those betting on higher oil prices," said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM. But the prospect of another increase to U.S. interest rates, which has been supporting the U.S. dollar, remained a drag on sentiment. Analysts expect U.S. crude inventories to fall by about 2.5 million barrels and also forecast declines in gasoline and distillates.

☆ Oil prices steady as strong China data offsets US rate worries
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

2 oil consumer China offset concerns that possible increases in U.S. interest rates could dampen growth in the top consuming country. China's economy grew by a faster-than-expected 4.5% in the first quarter while oil refinery throughput rose to record levels in March, data showed. The dollar eased on Tuesday after the upbeat China data. Most traders, however, believe that the recent crude price rally is in need of a correction, said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial. Crude prices posted gains for the last four weeks, a streak not seen since June 2022.

[1/2] The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies U.S. dollar, interest rate concerns pressure oilG7 coalition to keep Russian oil price cap at $60/bbl -sourceBaghdad, KRG take step toward resuming Iraq oil exportsChina's Q1 GDP data expected to support oil pricesSINGAPORE, April 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices turned lower on Monday as the U.S. dollar strengthened and as investors mulled over a possible May interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which could dampen economic recovery hopes. The U.S. dollar has been strengthening alongside interest rate hikes, making dollar-denominated oil more expensive for holders of other currencies. "The dollar is a little bit stronger, and that seems to be putting a little bit of pressure on oil here," Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn said. In Saudi Arabia, crude oil exports in February fell to 7.455 million bpd from 7.658 million bpd in January, official data showed on Monday.

☆ Iraq calls on Turkey to apologize for attack on Sulaymaniyah airport
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Erbil, April 8 (Reuters) - Iraq called on Turkey on Saturday to apologize for what it said was an attack on Sulaymaniyah airport in Iraq's north, saying the Turkish government must cease hostilities on Iraqi soil. A Turkish defence ministry official told Reuters that no Turkish Armed Forces operation took place in that region on Friday. Turkey has conducted several large-scale military operations including air strikes over the decades in northern Iraq and northern Syria against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Islamic State and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Claims of an attack came days after Turkey closed its airspace to aircraft travelling to and from Sulaymaniyah due to what it said was intensified activity there by PKK militants. The outlawed PKK, which has led an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Iraq, OPEC's second largest oil producer, exports the bulk of its oil through its southern Gulf port of Basra. An Iraqi oil ministry official with knowledge of the meeting said the aim was to reassure the companies that their deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) were secure. Baghdad and the KRG signed a temporary agreement on Tuesday to restart northern oil exports as part of efforts to end decades of political and economic disputes. Petraco confirmed its presence at talks in Baghdad and said it was currently awaiting further developments. Further complicating the picture, Kurdistan has borrowed billions of dollars from trading houses and oil producers, including to build a new pipeline to Turkey, pledging to repay debts from future oil exports.

☆ Iraq to ask Turkey to restart northern oil exports after initial KRG deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Rowena Edwards | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - Iraq's federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have reached an initial agreement to restart northern oil exports this week, a KRG spokesman said on Sunday, and Baghdad will write to Turkey to request a resumption in pipeline flows. Baghdad had argued that Turkey had violated a joint agreement by allowing the KRG to export oil to Ceyhan without its consent. The resumption of pipeline flows from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region will still need approval from Turkey. "A letter of request to resume oil flows will be sent by Baghdad to Ankara," a KRG official told Reuters on Sunday. Sources last week told Reuters that Turkey wants an unfinished court case settled with Iraq before the pipeline reopens.

Baghdad had argued that Turkey had violated a joint agreement by allowing the KRG to export oil to Ceyhan without its consent. Iraq's oil ministry in Baghdad said on Sunday it hopes to reach a final agreement soon with the KRG on resuming northern oil exports. Iraq's oil ministry said that details on the new export agreement would be announced "in due course". The resumption of pipeline flows from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region will still need approval from Turkey. "A letter of request to resume oil flows will be sent by Baghdad to Ankara," a KRG official told Reuters on Sunday.

LONDON/BAGHDAD, April 1 (Reuters) - Iraq's federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are close to striking a deal aimed at resuming northern oil exports, four sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Saturday. Revenues will be deposited in an account managed by the MNR and supervised by Baghdad, the KRG official said. Iraq's oil ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached outside regular business hours. Baghdad and the KRG have agreed to continue meetings following the resumption of oil exports to find solutions to other lingering problems. "[These include] the contracts of the foreign companies operating in Kurdistan and the Kurdish debts," the senior Iraqi oil official said.

REUTERS/Umit BektasMarch 31 (Reuters) - An international arbitration ruling on March 23 prompted the shutdown of Iraq's northern crude oil exports through Turkey and sent oil prices back towards $80 a barrel. Iraq's federal government says its state-owned marketed SOMO is the only party authorised to manage crude exports through Ceyhan. Turkey was also asked to pay 50% of the discount at which KRG oil was sold, three sources said. According to a Turkish source, Iraq's initial demand was for about $33 billion. This comprised 370,000 bpd of KRG crude and 75,000 bpd of federal crude, a source familiar with pipeline operations said.

ANKARA, March 28 (Reuters) - Turkey's Energy Ministry said on Tuesday that Iraq had been ordered by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to pay compensation to Ankara in a longstanding arbitration case related to oil exports from northern Iraq via Turkey. The Turkish energy ministry statement was released after Iraq's oil ministry said on Saturday the ICC had ruled in its favour in the case. The Turkish statement said the ICC had recognised a majority of Turkey's demands, without saying how much compensation Iraq had been ordered to pay. "(The ICC) ordered Iraq to pay a compensation to Turkey," the ministry said, without revealing the amount of compensation. "This case is in fact a reflection of disagreement between Iraq's central government and Iraq's Kurdish Regional Administration," the Turkish ministry said.

☆ Iraqi Kurdistan region's oil output at risk after Turkey halts pipeline exports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Rowena Edwards | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The Iraqi- Turkish pipeline is seen in Zakho district of the Dohuk Governorate of the Iraqi Kurdistan province, Iraq, August 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ari JalalMarch 27 (Reuters) - Oil production in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region (KRI) is at risk after a halt in northern exports has forced firms operating there to divert crude to storage, where capacity is limited. Oil firms operating in the region have been left in limbo as they await the outcome of ongoing discussions between Ankara, Baghdad and the KRG to find a way to resume exports. The two firms hold stakes in the Tawke and Peshkabir fields, which produced 107,000 bpd of oil last year. Production at the Khurmala oil field run by Kurdish group Kar is currently unaffected at around 135,000 bpd and heading into tank, a source familiar with the field operations told Reuters.

March 25 (Reuters) - Iraq halted crude exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and northern Kirkuk fields on Saturday, an oil official told Reuters, after the country won a longstanding arbitration case against Turkey. Turkey informed Iraq that it will respect the arbitration ruling, a source said. Turkey subsequently halted the pumping of Iraqi crude from the pipeline that leads to Ceyhan, a separate document seen by Reuters showed. "A delegation from the oil ministry will travel to Turkey soon to meet energy officials to agree on new mechanism to export Iraq's northern crude oil in line with the arbitration ruling," a second oil ministry official said. Turkey would need to source more crude from Iran and Russia to make up for the loss of northern Iraqi oil, the letter said.

Before Sudani formed his government he struck a deal with the KDP, which dominates the administration in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. Under the Iraqi constitution, the Kurdish region is entitled to a portion of the national budget. A spokesman for the KRG, Jotiar Adil, said the "politically motivated" court was trying to spoil the deal between Erbil and Baghdad. A source with knowledge of the meetings said Erbil and Baghdad remained far apart on the hydrocarbon law. Additional reporting by Ali sultan in Sulaimaniya; Editing by Michael Georgy and Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Turkey’s Ceyhan oil port disrupted by weather as earthquake damage assessed
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Operations were interrupted at the Ceyhan oil port — a critical hub for the discharge of crude oil and oil products, along with the loading of Azeri crude and a stream of Iraqi crude oil — on Monday, following two earthquakes that devastated Turkey and Syria, leaving over 5,000 dead. It also exports volumes of two crude oil streams — the Azeri crude oil delivered through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) consortium's pipeline, and the Iraqi Kirkuk blend crude oil transferred through the separate Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. Loadings of the two crude oil terminals are undertaken from two different points within Ceyhan port, with BTC crude oil leaving the BTC terminal, while the Kirkuk blend sails from the Botas terminal. An oil trade source familiar with KRG operations told CNBC that the pipeline could likely begin flows later Tuesday. An oil tanker ship is awaiting to berth to load Kirkuk blend crude.

☆ Turkey's push into Iraq risks deeper conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Amina Ismail | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

REUTERS/Amina IsmailSARARO, Iraq, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Looming over the deserted village of Sararo in northern Iraq, three Turkish military outposts break the skyline, part of an incursion that forced the residents to flee last year after days of shelling. Turkey's advances across the increasingly depopulated border of Iraqi Kurdistan attract little global attention compared to its incursions into Syria or the battle against Islamic State, but the escalation risks further destabilising a region where foreign powers have intervened with impunity, analysts say. EMPTY VILLAGESA Kurdish official, who declined to be named, also said Turkey now had about 80 outposts in Iraq. NEW TARGETSBeyond the humanitarian impact, Turkey's incursion risks widening the conflict by giving carte blanche to regional rival Iran to step up intelligence operations inside Iraq and take its own military action, Kurdish officials say. According to a Washington Institute report, attacks on Turkish military facilities in Iraq increased from an average of 1.5 strikes per month at the start of 2022 to seven in April.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A long-running dispute on oil revenue-sharing between Iraq's national government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region may be resolved within months with agreement on a hydrocarbons law, Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Tuesday. Agreement on regular budget payments from Baghdad would help authorities in the Kurdish Regional Government resolve payment delays to international oil companies in the region, as well as easing a backlog in salary payments for KRG employees. Asked about the timing for agreement on the hydrocarbon law, Barzani said it should be within months. Under the Iraqi constitution, the KRG is entitled to a portion of the national budget. The standoff has affected the KRG's ability to pay international oil companies (IOCs) operating on its territory and to pay thousands of local employees.

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