Saudi Coffee Co. inks agreement with Arabian Coffee Institute to develop sector 

RIYADH: Oil prices rose in light trade on Tuesday on concerns that winter storms across the US are affecting logistics and production of petroleum products and shale oil. 

Brent crude was up 50 cents, or 0.60 percent, at $84.42 a barrel by 07.50 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $80.03 a barrel, up 47 cents, or 0.59 percent. The two benchmarks touched their highest since Dec. 5 earlier in the session. 

On Friday, Brent rose 3.6 percent, while WTI gained 2.7 percent. Both benchmarks recorded their biggest weekly gains since October. British and US markets were closed on Monday for the Christmas holiday. 

Russia’s Sberbank urges Glencore to resolve dispute over oil bill 

Russia’s Sberbank on Monday accused Glencore of choosing not to foot a bill for oil supplied via the Russian lender, saying the global commodities trader could have found a way to pay up without violating Western sanctions. 

Sberbank has taken legal action to recover debt and penalties from Glencore Energy UK Ltd. over the two consignments, supplied by a subsidiary of Russia’s largest bank in March. They were worth roughly 58 million euros ($62 million) each, according to Moscow court filings. 

“Glencore is refusing to pay, citing sanctions,” Sberbank First Deputy Chairman Alexander Vedyakhin told reporters. 

“There are different ways of working without violating sanctions… This issue could have been resolved, but unfortunately, Glencore is refusing any communications with us.” 

In March, as Western sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine started coming into force, Glencore said it would not enter into new trading business in respect of Russian-origin commodities unless directed by the relevant government authorities. 

It also said it would honor its legal obligations under pre-existing contracts, subject to complying with all applicable sanctions. 

Turkiye’s natural gas find in Black Sea now comes to 710 bcm: Erdogan 

The total volume of natural gas Turkiye has discovered in the Black Sea now amounts to 710 billion cubic meters after a new field was located and a previous find was revised higher, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. 

Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said Turkiye had discovered a new reserve of 58 bcm in the Caycuma-1 field, in addition to revising up an estimated volume in the Sakarya field to 652 bcm from the previous 540 bcm. 

“As a result of the analysis of the data, we have revised the previously declared 540 billion cubic-meter reserve to 652 billion cubic meters,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkiye had drilled 13 wells in the Sakarya field. 

“With our new discovery at Caycuma-1, our gas reserve in the Black Sea has risen by 170 billion cubic meters to 710 billion cubic meters,” he said. 

Erdogan said last month that Turkiye is on track for the Sakarya gas field to go online in 2023. He said on Monday that the newly discovered Caycuma-1 field would be connected to the Sakarya field and from there to the national grid. 

(With input from Reuters)