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(Repeats Thursday’s column with no changes to the text. John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - Global refineries will increase crude processing sharply over the next six months to stabilise stocks of fuels such as gasoline and diesel – even if substantial coronavirus controls remain on travel and service sector businesses.
The prospective rise in processing and consequent draw down in crude inventories in the second and especially third quarters is what has been boosting futures prices and causing calendar spreads to tighten.
The oil market’s rapid evolution from a massive production surplus last year to deficit has been most evident in the United States, where reliable data on stocks is published weekly by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Brent crude prices eased on Friday but hovered near $70 a barrel as production cuts by major oil producers constrained supply, with optimism about a recovery in demand for the resource in the second half of the year also lending support.
Daniel Adeyemi
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At the heart of Africa’s tech industry is Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous state but the smallest by landmass. Lagos shares its borders with only one other Nigerian state – Ogun, a state with five times fewer people than Lagos but five times more landmass.
While Lagos enjoys a buzzing tech scene, Ogun experiences far less in comparison. In 2019, the state government launched the Ogun tech hub with a plan to remodel colleges in 20 local government into tech hubs.
The initiative runs with the mission to drive digitisation in the state, but with only one tech hub created so far there’s more that needs to be done to boost the tech scene in Ogun.
Asian shares rose on Friday after U.S. President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill into law, and after a dovish European Central Bank meeting prompted a retreat in bond yields and eased global concerns about rising inflation.