SOUTH AFRICA SPRINGBOKS

South Africa laid the groundwork with traditional Springbok rugby and finished an out-gunned England side off with two late tries to win the World Cup for the third time courtesy of a 32-12 victory on Saturday.

The Springboks became the first team to lose a pool match at a World Cup and go on to win it, having gone down to the All Blacks in their tournament opener at the same Yokohama International Stadium.

They join the New Zealanders with three World Cup triumphs and England remain the only team from the northern hemisphere to have won the title. 

CONGRATULATIONS, WELL DONE,

WorldWatch Portugal

WorldWatch Portugal office has informed than the cartel in the petrol price fixing practiced in one of Europe’s oldest economies continues!!!

Prices for the motorist have increased for the last ten weeks on a regular basis.

To fil an average car petrol tank with 50 liters  the price has increased by 7 euros since the beginning of the year.

BP and Galp have the most expensive petrol consumer price in Portugal and one of the most expensive in the World, BP regular 95 Octane is fixed at 1,641 € per litre.
One of the most expensive in the world.
At the market price, consumers should be paying for regular 95 Octane 1,359 € per liter, this will place  Portugal in serious difficulties as this self-elected government  is now on an election driven campaign distribution tax payers money left and right.
WorldWatch foresees a decline in consumption of 23% with the biggest drop being the demand for petrol. The cartel in the petrol price fixing has the approval of the Government as each litre of petrol sold to the consumer is heavily taxed. With the economical measures taken by the Government and the attitude of energy companies there will be no room for economic growth in Portugal....

As WorldWatch indicated the growth and consumption in the second quarter will drop 23%.

In fairness to all readers the social and economic welfare of the Portuguese has been on the decline for the last 30 months ,

Strikes are abundant every day, in particular the public servants, this affects mainly Schools, hospitals in general all state controlled institutions.

In order for the government to continue with its election driven campaign distribution tax payers money left and right, the energy hike will continue, next week a 2 cents per liter petrol increase has already been announced.

This will no doubt create social unrest only equal to the French ”green jackets”, by then it will be too late for the self-elected government  to take action, the only option will be to resign.

PORTAXLAND

Please note these details may be subject to change

THE NEWEST NATION IN EUROPE… PORTAXLAND

This European Nation has so many taxes that the name should be PORTAXLAND!!

In PORTAXLAND the tax payer pays tax on tax!!

Everting is taxed except for now the air we breathe!!

I will mention some of the Taxes that the populations are subject to, there is a huge amount of other Taxes that for now I will not mention, like the ones forced on consumers by the Banks.

The average citizen that is fortunate to have a job has to work an average of 8 months just to pay all the imposed Taxes!!

1-     Three different VAT rates apply; there is a general rate of 23%, followed by a reduced rate of 13% for ordinary wine, spring, mineral, medicinal and carbonated water, and tickets for cultural events. This is followed by a further reduced rate of 6% on cereals, meat, shellfish, fruit, vegetables, and other essential foods, books, newspapers, medicines, passenger transport and hotel accommodation.

2-      All employment income is subject to social security contributions. The employee's contribution is 11% of the salary, while the employer's contribution is 23.75% of the salary.

Portuguese income taxes apply to the following categories:

• revenue from employment
• business and professional income
• investment income (including interest)
• rental income
• capital gains
• pension income

3-     Taxes in PORTAXLAND are levied by both the federal and regional governments. The most important revenue sources include the income tax, Social security contributions, corporate tax and the value added tax, which are all applied on the federal level.

4-     IMI (Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis – Municipal Property Tax) is a tax on the taxable value of immovable property in PORTAXLAND. This tax came into force in 2003, replacing the Council Tax, and reverts to the respective municipalities.

5-     PORTAXLAND tax for married couples

         Total taxable income is taxed at progressive rates varying from 14.5 percent on income

        under EUR 7,000 to 48 percent for income over EUR 80,000

6-     PORTAXLAND tax on investment income, Investment income (such as capital gains, interest and dividends etc.) is currently taxed at a rate of 28 percent. Likewise, rental income is also currently taxed at 28 percent

7-     PORTAXLAND tax on self-employment income 

8-     PORTAXLAND tax rate for ‘simplified regimes’, whereby 20 percent of income from sales of products or 80 percent of income arising from other business.

9-     Below are PORTAXLAND tax rates in 2017.

Income	PORTAXLAND tax rate	Deductible amount
Up to 7,035	14.5 percent	0
EUR 7,035–20,100	28.5 percent	EUR 984.90
EUR 20,100–40,200	37.0 percent	EUR 2,693.40
EUR 40,200–80,000	45.0 percent	EUR 5,909.40
EUR 80,000+	48 percent	EUR 8,309.4

10- Wealth tax in PORTAXLAND

It is an annual tax of 0.3 percent for Portuguese properties worth more than EUR 600,000; married/civil partners are granted a combined threshold of EUR 1.2mn.

11- If you have a car then you have double Taxation when purchasing the car, this is prohibited by the European Parliament but they too are useless.

12- Since 1988 there is in Portugal a tax called "Imposto Automóvel" (IA - Automobile Tax) that you indirectly have to pay when you buy a new car. The importer pays it to the government and includes it in the final price.

13- When you buy a new car you pay: car's base price + IA + 21% IVA/VAT.

14- In addition to various expenses associated with the detention of a vehicle, car owners must also pay the Circulation Single Tax (IUC)

15- Besides these Taxes there is also the Tax on Electricity, heating fuel, gasoline products (taxed 3 times).

16- ISP Tax – the levy on oil derivative products – of €0.06 per liter of both unleaded regular and diesel.

17- Gasoline prices are one of the most expensive in the world, the taxation is a massive 70% of the cost per liter.

18- The PORTAXLAND government will impose a new tax on some foods with a high salt content, such as potato chips and cookies, according to the draft Budgets State of 2018.

The measure will apply to cookies, pasta, chips and cereals containing at least 1 gram of salt per 100 grams of product and will mean an increase in the price of 0.8 cents per kilo.

19- The PORTAXLAND government has already introduced a sugar-sweetened tax in early 2017, which varies between 8 and 16 cents per liter, depending on the sugar level of the product, and the juice was exempt.

20- The draft Budget for 2018 also includes a new price increase for sugary drinks of up to 1,5%, depending on their sugar level.

21- Taxes on alcoholic beverages will also increase by 1.5% in the case of beer and 1.4% for spirits, liqueurs and sparkling wines.

22- Another example of the abuse is the amount of Taxes the consumer pays with the electricity bill…for every 100Kwh the consumer pays in Taxes 22.90 Euros!!

a)      Imposto Especial de Consumo de Eletricidade (IEC) Special consumer Tax of Electricity

b)      b)Taxa de Exploração Direção-Geral de Energia e Geologia (DGEG) Exploration Tax rate  of energy and geology.

c)    Contribuição para o Audiovisual (CAV) Contribution to the Audiovisual sector 2,85 € + VAT (6%)

d)    Taxa Municipal do Direito de Passagem (TMDP) Municipal Tax (right of passage)

 

PORTAXLAND has one of the most expensive electricity rates in the world!!!

This will be the third budget of the PORTAXLAND Socialist Government, which has a minority in Parliament and needs the support of the Marxist Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party for any approval

I have not mentioned all Taxes that are now being imposed on the citizens; I have allowed you the reader to visit the site and see one of the oldest NATIONS IN EUROPE… PORTUGAL

Oil shale crude

Oil shale crude

In the middle of all this market crises..some "Did you know"..

Oil shale crude is actually composed of kerogen. It is a waxy organic substance that was formed from algae, plants, vegetation, and all forms of animal life. Through millions of years, covered in layers of sediment, and subjected to very high pressures a transformation occurred resulting into a form of non-conventional crude oil embedded in layers of sediment. When subjected to very high temperatures it converts into various liquid and gas hydrocarbons. Kerogen can be refined like regular high quality light crude oil.

OPEC

As oil prices continue falling despite OPEC’s renewed efforts to shore up world crude markets, Wall Street banks have more bad news for the producer group: the outlook for next year isn’t great either.
Oil futures have lost 8 percent since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed on May 25 to keep output constrained through the first quarter of 2018 in a bid to clear a global glut. While Goldman Sachs Group Inc. expects their strategy to ultimately succeed, they warn the surplus may re-appear once the curbs end. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. say the group will have little choice but to drop the reduced production.

Resurgent supplies from U.S. shale drillers and fading growth in fuel demand mean that world oil markets will face another overhang next year, the banks predict. That means Saudi Arabia and Russia, the two biggest producers in the 24-nation coalition, will have to control crude prices around $42 a barrel.With U.S. production growing strongly, there doesn’t seem to be much room for OPEC to cut production in 2018.

The surplus will continue as U.S. shale drillers boost production with surprising speed. American oil explorers, having learned to operate more efficiently during a two-year market slump, have restored almost all the output lost during the downturn. As a result, the market may be unable to absorb the return of production halted by OPEC and its partners when their pact ends in April.Still, even if a surplus re-emerges in 2018, OPEC’s current efforts to deplete stockpiles will make their task of managing it easier, according to Citigroup Inc.

Those increases in inventories may nonetheless prove substantial enough to prevent prices gaining, said David Martin, an analyst at JPMorgan, who slashed his 2018 forecast for Brent crude by $10 a barrel to $42 on May 25. Brent traded near $49 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London on Friday.

OPEC is shackled to its deal for a long time.

The crude scheme

Crude producers agreed they’re cutting oil production!!!

This is speculation, most crude producers cannot afford to reduce production, we have the example of Venezuela!!

This measure is a way to inflate crude prices, however the cause/effect will be seen in the next months as other alternative means of energy are now in an advanced stage of development, let’s not forget that US elect President Trump stated that one of the Nations priorities is energy that includes shale oil.
 

Futures rose as much as 2.8 percent after adding 45 percent last year, the biggest annual gain since 2009. Officials from Oman and Kuwait told local media they’re cutting oil production in January, fulfilling pledges that they and 22 other producers made on Dec. 10.

Oil climbed for the first time in three years in 2016 as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and 11 other nations agreed to cut output starting Jan. 1 in an effort to reduce bloated global inventories. Prices, which eased in late December, are surpassing the peaks reached just after the deal was finalized, as Kuwait and Oman give the first signs the curbs are being implemented.

OPEC member Kuwait has reduced output by 130,000 barrels a day to about 2.75 million a day, Al-Anba newspaper reported, citing Kuwait Oil Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamal Jaafer. Oman is cutting 45,000 barrels a day from 1.01 million, the Oil Ministry’s Director of Marketing Ali Al-Riyami said on Oman TV.

OPEC nations and non-members including Russia and Mexico have agreed to trim output by about 1.8 million barrels a day. Iraq will start implementing cuts by reducing heavy and medium grades, the nation’s Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi told Kuwaiti daily al-Jarida.

A big factor to watch over the coming months will be the response of shale oil to the supply cuts. That policy crushed crude prices and resulted in the shakeout of high-cost producers. For one, the U.S. shale industry sees a strong come back, now analysts expect after Trump takes office the US will continue with more shale production, the U.S. is producing about 700,000 barrels a day less than it was a year ago.

Drillers in the U.S. increased the rig count by two to 525 last week, the highest level since last January, according to data from WorldWatch.

Saudi Arabia has lost market control to Iran, if this strategy continues other Opec and non.Opec members will lose economic independence and face serious economic times.

OPEC´S BIGGEST CATASTROPHE

The catastrophe looming for OPEC is the deal to cut production..

 

OPEC and Russia will meet in Doha on Thursday for another round of talks without ministers from Iran and Iraq, the two countries that pose the biggest obstacle to a deal to cut production.

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries want to reach an agreement by the group’s Nov. 30 meeting in Vienna, Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo said in an interview in Marrakech, Morocco on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran remain at odds over how to share output cuts, said an OPEC delegate, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
 

According to World Watch managing director if the agreement goes ahead then Saudi Arabia will lose market share to Iran and possibly also to Iraq, there will be a shift in regional influence in favor of Iran…

The latest round of diplomacy reflects OPEC’s struggle to finalize the deal reached in Algiers on Sept. 28, which would end a two-year policy of pumping without limits. More than 18 hours of talks last month in Vienna failed to overcome internal disagreements, which in turn prevented a wider pact with non-OPEC producers. Without an accord, the International Energy Agency predicted a fourth consecutive year of oversupply in 2017.

Russia will hold informal consultations with representatives of some OPEC countries at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Doha on Nov. 17-18, the Energy Ministry in Moscow said in a statement Tuesday. Khalid Al-Falih, the minister of energy and industry for Saudi Arabia, which is not a member of the gas group, will join the talks, said an OPEC delegate who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

 Neither Iran nor Iraq will send oil ministers to Doha. Hamed Al-Zobaie, Iraq’s deputy minister for natural gas affairs, will represent the country, Oil Ministry Spokesman Asim Jihad said by phone. Iran’s OPEC Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili and National Representative Behrooz Baikalizadeh will attend the meeting, said an Oil Ministry official.

Iraq has sought an exemption from joining any production cuts, arguing that its fight against Islamic State justifies special treatment. Iran has insisted it won’t accept any limits on its production until it has returned to the pre-sanctions level of about 4 million barrels a day.

 The talks in the Qatari capital run alongside behind-the-scenes diplomacy, including an unannounced meeting in recent days in London between Barkindo and Al-Falih. After traveling to Venezuela to meet with President Nicolas Maduro, OPEC’s top official will also visit Ecuador and Iran, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Saudi Requirements

OPEC pledged in Algiers to bring its production down to a range of 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day, which compares with the group’s own output estimate of 33.6 million last month. The group is also seeking cooperation from Russia and other producers outside the group, although so far none have committed to curbing output.

Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s de-facto leader, is ready to cut production, but only if the effort is built around four pillars, said one delegate. All members must agree to collective action, pledge to share the burden of cuts equitably, and do so in a way that is transparent and has credibility with the market. The latter can be achieved by using OPEC estimates of how much each member pumps, rather than relying on the countries’ own figures, the delegate said.

In practice, that means Saudi Arabia still thinks Iraq needs to cut output and Iran has to freeze production around current levels, Neither country has so far agreed to do that. For both countries this will imply a revenue loss that will cause a severe blow to both economies.

Three countries -- Libya, Nigeria and Iran -- have been granted “special considerations” to implement the Algiers accord,. Iraq is not among these members, he said.

In Libya and Nigeria, production is still recovering after a spate of violence and militant attacks targeted oil infrastructure. Iran has insisted it won’t accept any limits on its production until it has returned to the pre-sanctions level of about 4 million barrels a day.

Iran should not accept present cuts as the sanctions might return, the reason…Trump is the elected US President and has stated that the agreements with Iran will be Re-viewed as soon as he takes office.

Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran are the largest producers within OPEC, accounting for about 55 percent of the group’s output, according to data compiled by WorldWatch.