OUR FRIEND THE BIOPHAGE 

Phage capsid against influenza: 

Perfectly fitting inhibitor prevents viral infection

by Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

Phage shell docks on and inhibits the influenza virus. Credit: Barth van Rossum / FMP

A new approach brings the hope of new therapeutic options for suppressing seasonal influenza and avian flu. On the basis of an empty and therefore non-infectious shell of a phage virus, researchers from Berlin have developed a chemically modified phage capsid that stifles influenza viruses.

Perfectly fitting binding sites cause influenza viruses to be enveloped by the phage capsids in such a way that it is practically impossible for them to infect lung cells. This phenomenon has been proven in preclinical trials using human lung tissue. Researchers from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP), Freie Universität Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin (TU), Humboldt-Universität (HU), the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin report that the results are also being used for the immediate investigation of the coronavirus. The findings have now been published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Influenza viruses are still highly dangerous. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that flu is responsible for up to 650,000 deaths per year worldwide. Current antiviral drugs are only partially effective because they attack the influenza virus after lung cells have been infected. It would be desirable—and much more effective—to prevent infection in the first place.

This is exactly what the new approach from Berlin promises. The phage capsid, developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers, envelops flu viruses so perfectly that they can no longer infect cells. "Pre-clinical trials show that we are able to render harmless both seasonal influenza viruses and avian flu viruses with our chemically modified phage shell," explained Professor Dr. Christian Hackenberger, Head of the Department Chemical Biology at the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) and Leibniz Humboldt Professor for Chemical Biology at HU Berlin. "It is a major success that offers entirely new perspectives for the development of innovative antiviral drugs."

Multiple bonds fit like Velcro

The new inhibitor makes use of trivalent receptors on the surface of the influenza virus, referred to as hemagglutinin protein, that attach to sugar molecules (sialic acids) on the cell surfaces of lung tissue. In the case of infection, viruses hook into their victim—in this case, lung cells—like a hook-and-loop fastener. The core principle is that these interactions occur due to multiple bonds, rather than single bonds.

It was the surface structure of flu viruses that inspired the researchers to ask the following initial question more than six years ago: Would it not be possible to develop an inhibitor that binds to trivalent receptors with a perfect fit, simulating the surface of lung tissue cells?

They found that this is indeed possible with the help of a harmless intestinal inhabitant: The Q-beta phage has the ideal surface properties and is excellently suited to equip it with ligands—in this case, sugar molecules—as "bait." An empty phage shell does the job perfectly. "Our multivalent scaffold molecule is not infectious, and comprises 180 identical proteins that are spaced out exactly as the trivalent receptors of the hemagglutinin on the surface of the virus," explained Dr. Daniel Lauster, a former Ph.D. student in the Group of Molecular Biophysics (HU) and now a postdoc at Freie Universität Berlin. "It therefore has the ideal starting conditions to deceive the influenza virus—or, to be more precise, to attach to it with a perfect spatial fit. In other words, we use a phage virus to disable the influenza virus!"

To enable the Q-beta scaffold to fulfill the desired function, it must first be chemically modified. Produced from E. coli bacteria at TU Berlin, Professor Hackenberger's research group at FMP and HU Berlin use synthetic chemistry to attach sugar molecules to the defined positions of the virus shell.

Virus is deceived and enveloped

Several studies using animal models and cell cultures have proven that the suitably modified spherical structure possesses considerable bond strength and inhibiting potential. The study also enabled the Robert Koch Institute to examine the antiviral potential of phage capsids against many current influenza virus strains, and even against avian flu viruses. Its therapeutic potential has even been proven on human lung tissue, as fellow researchers from the Medical Department, Division of Infectiology and Pneumology, of Charité were able to show: When tissue infected with flu viruses was treated with the phage capsid, the influenza viruses were practically no longer able to reproduce.

The results are supported by structural proof by FU scientists from the Research Center of Electron Microscopy (FZEM): High-resolution cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy show directly and spatially that the inhibitor completely encapsulates the virus. In addition, mathematical-physical models were used to simulate the interaction between influenza viruses and the phage capsid on the computer. "Our computer-assisted calculations show that the rationally designed inhibitor does indeed attach to the hemagglutinin, and completely envelops the influenza virus," confirmed Dr. Susanne Liese from the AG Netz of Freie Universität Berlin. "It was therefore also possible to describe and explain the high bond strength mathematically."

Therapeutic potential requires further research

These findings must now be followed up by more preclinical studies. It is not yet known, for example, whether the phage capsid provokes an immune response in mammals. Ideally, this response could even enhance the effect of the inhibitor. However, it could also be the case that an immune response reduces the efficacy of phage capsids in the case of repeated-dose exposure, or that flu viruses develop resistances. And, of course, it has yet to be proven that the inhibitor is also effective in humans.

Nonetheless, the alliance of Berlin researchers is certain that the approach has great potential. "Our rationally developed, three-dimensional, multivalent inhibitor points to a new direction in the development of structurally adaptable influenza virus binders. This is the first achievement of its kind in multivalency research," emphasized Professor Hackenberger. The chemist believes that this approach, which is biodegradable, non-toxic and non-immunogenic in cell culture studies, can in principle also be applied to other viruses, and possibly also to bacteria. It is evident that the authors regard the application of their approach to the current coronavirus as one of their new challenges. The idea is to develop a drug that prevents coronaviruses from binding to host cells located in the throat and subsequent airways, thus preventing infection.

Vaccine effectiveness 45 percent for flu virus linked to ARI

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More information: Daniel Lauster et al, Phage capsid nanoparticles with defined ligand arrangement block influenza virus entry, Nature Nanotechnology (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-020-0660-2

Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology

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What actually are 'essential services' and who decides?

by Gary Mortimer,, The Conversation


The Morrison government (Australia) keeps using the word "essential" to describe employees, public gatherings, services and businesses that are still allowed and not restricted as it tries to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

But what is essential, and who gets to decide?

By its very definition, essential means "something necessary, indispensable, or unavoidable".

When it comes to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no recent precedents for governments. There is no pre-determined list in place on what is an essential service. Instead, "essential" appears a moving beast that is constantly evolving and that can be confusing.

Confused messages

On March 22 the Victorian premier Daniel Andrews called for "a shutdown of all non-essential activity" within 48 hours. Supermarkets, banks and pharmacies were some of the things he said were essential but he did not provide an exhaustive list of what was considered an essential service.

Naturally confusion reigned. For example, in the rural Victorian town of Ballan, some stores closed while others remained open.

We've now seen a number of retailers decide to voluntarily shutter stores for the safety of their workers and the public, considering their businesses "non-essential".

On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a meeting of the national cabinet had agreed to a raft of new restrictions, such as limiting "shopping for what you need, food and other essential supplies".

But he also described his wife's recent purchase of a number of jigsaw puzzles for the family as "absolutely essential". While toy and hobby retailers may find comfort in this statement, in reality such businesses may not be considered "essential".

Guns and pastries, essential?

There are differences too overseas in what people consider essential as part of any COVID-19 restrictions.


Is the United States, it's recommended employees of gun stores and gun manufacturers should be seen as "essential" workers, according to a memo from the Department of Homeland Security.

While in Europe, "necessities" are said to include Belgian Fries, French Baguettes and Dutch Cannabis. In France, it's also shops specialising in pastries, wine and cheese reportedly declared essential businesses.

In Ireland, reports say the government there has issued a detailed list of what it considers "essential workers". As for essential retailers, they include pharmacies, fuel stations and pet stores, but not opticians, motor repair and bicycle repair outlets.

The essential essentials

Here in Australia there is broad agreement supermarkets, service stations, allied health (pharmacy, chiropractic, physiotherapy, psychology, dental) and banks are essential business and services.

Similarly freight, logistics and home delivery are also considered essential. Australia Post says posties and delivery drivers continue but some posts offices are temporarily closed.

Some bottle shops can stay open but many are now imposing restrictions on how much people can buy.

The government has moved to progressively add more business, services and activities to its "non-essential services" list.

This includes cafés, food courts, pubs, licensed clubs (sports clubs), bars, beauty and personal care services, entertainment venues, leisure and recreation (gyms, theme parks), galleries, museums and libraries.

Some of these entities do have exceptions. A café can remain open for take-away only. A hairdresser or barber can trade if they comply with the one person per four square-metre rule.

Others remain convoluted, such as outdoor and indoor markets (farmers markets), which are a decision for each state and territory.

In and out of work

In reality, no worker should ever be considered, or consider themselves, as "non-essential".

But due to how the restrictions have been broadly applied, some workers in one industry may now find themselves out of a job, while others in that same industry remain fully employed.

Take for example chefs. Due to bans on restaurants and licensed clubs, chefs there are being stood down, but chefs inside hotels can continue to cook and provide room service meals.

A barista in a café can still be gainfully employed, as long as they only make take-away coffee, but a barista inside a licensed sports club, is unfortunately stood down.

Further restrictions and essentials

While we have seen many businesses reduce their operations and several retailers voluntarily close their doors, many are standing by waiting for further announcements to potentially close all "non-essential" services.

What should the government consider before deciding what is and isn't regarded as essential?

Some decisions are easy: we need health workers, police, fire fighters and other emergency services workers, and we need those who maintain services to the public such as food supply, clean water, sewerage and so on.

But we also need those services required to keep these people functioning. The military describe this as tooth to tail ratio: the number of people required to keep any soldier on the battlefield (estimated up to three for every soldier).

In the civilian context this includes those responsible for the supply of consumables, personal protection equipment, transport, power, fuel, computer systems, and someone to look after their families while they do the heavy lifting.
Luxembourg imposes more virus restrictions
Provided by The Conversation

'Tequila' powered biofuels more efficient than corn or sugar

 University of Sydney

Blue agave (Agave tequilana) Credit: University of Sydney

The agave plant used to make tequila could be established in semi-arid Australia as an environmentally friendly solution to Australia's transport fuel shortage, a team of researchers at the University of Sydney, University of Exeter and University of Adelaide has found.

The efficient, low-water process could also help produce ethanol for hand sanitiser, which is in high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an article published this week in the Journal of Cleaner Production, University of Sydney agronomist Associate Professor Daniel Tan with international and Australian colleagues have analysed the potential to produce bioethanol (biofuel) from the agave plant, a high-sugar succulent widely grown in Mexico to make the alcoholic drink tequila.

The agave plant is now being grown as a biofuel source on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland by MSF Sugar, and it promises some significant advantages over existing sources of bioethanol such as sugarcane and corn, Associate Professor Tan said.

"Agave is an environmentally friendly crop that we can grow to produce ethanol-based fuels and healthcare products," said Associate Professor Tan from the Sydney Institute of Agriculture.

"It can grow in semi-arid areas without irrigation; and it does not compete with food crops or put demands on limited water and fertiliser supplies. Agave is heat and drought tolerant and can survive Australia's hot summers."

Associate Professor Tan assembled the research team and led its economic analysis.

Lead author Dr. Xiaoyu Yan from the University of Exeter, who led the lifecycle assessment, said: "Our analysis highlights the possibilities for bioethanol production from agave grown in semi-arid Australia, causing minimum pressure on food production and water resources.

Associate Professor Daniel Tan is an agronomist at the Sydney Institute of Agriculture and the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney. Photographed here in front of blue agave in north Queensland. Credit: University of Sydney

"The results suggest that bioethanol derived from agave is superior to that from corn and sugarcane in terms of water consumption and quality, greenhouse gas emissions, as well as ethanol output."

This study used chemical analyses of agave from a pilot agave farm in Kalamia Estate, Queensland (near Ayr) undertaken by Dr. Kendall Corbin for her University of Adelaide Ph.D., supervised by Professor Rachel Burton.

"It is fabulous that the results of my chemical analysis can be used in both an economic and environmental footprint study and have real-world applications", Dr. Corbin said.


"The economic analysis suggests that a first generation of bioethanol production from agave is currently not commercially viable without government support, given the recent collapse in the world oil price," Associate Professor Tan said. "However, this may change with the emerging demand for new ethanol-based healthcare products, such as hand sanitisers."

"This is the first comprehensive lifecycle assessment and economic analysis of bioethanol produced from a five-year agave field experiment in north Queensland. Our analysis shows a bioethanol yield of 7414 litres a hectare each year is achievable with five-year-old agave plants."

The study found that sugarcane yields 9900 litres a hectare each year. However, agave outperforms sugarcane on a range of measures, including freshwater eutrophication, marine ecotoxicity and—crucially—water consumption.

Agave uses 69 percent less water than sugarcane and 46 percent less water than corn for the same yield. For US corn ethanol, the yield was lower than agave, at 3800 litres a hectare a year.

"This shows agave is an economic and environmental winner for biofuel production in the years to come," Associate Professor Tan said.


Explore further Tequila plant shows promise for biofuel

More information: Xiaoyu Yan et al, Agave: A promising feedstock for biofuels in the water-energy-food-environment (WEFE) nexus, Journal of Cleaner Production (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121283

'Pandemic drones': Useful for enforcing social distancing, or for creating a police state?

by Michael Richardson, The Conversation

MARCH 31, 2020

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used drones to capture 

scenes from the 2017 Black Lives Matter protests in Baltimore. Credit: FBI / ACLU

People in Western Australia may soon see more than birds in the sky, as the state's police force has announced plans to deploy drones to enforce social distancing. The drones will visit parks, beaches and cafe strips, ensuring people comply with the most recent round of gathering rules.


As COVID-19 restrictions tighten around the world, governments are harnessing the potential of drones. From delivering medical supplies, to helping keep people indoors—drones can do a lot in a pandemic.

Since the outbreak began, China has used drones to deliver medical supplies and food, disinfect villages, and even provide lighting to build a hospital in Wuhan in nine days. Drone medical deliveries have cut transit times, reduced the strain on health personnel and enabled contactless handovers, reducing the risk of infection.

It's clear drones are helping combat COVID-19, as governments use them to control and monitor.

But these measures may be difficult to rollback once the pandemic passes. And safeguards will be needed to prevent unwanted surveillance in the future.

Drone use: clever, quirky and sometimes concerning

With cities on lockdown, drones have shown uncanny images of emptied urban landscapes from Wuhan and metros across the globe.

Social distancing has inspired some quirky uses by individuals, including walking the dog and asking for a date.

But the main game has been about control. China is using drones to enforce quarantine rules and deter gatherings that violate social distancing rules.


One viral video showed a drone scolding an elderly woman for not wearing a mask. In some cases, traffic police and municipal officials used drones fitted with speakers to order people home and break up mahjong games.

Flying at high altitudes, drones can help police and other officials monitor large areas to identify those violating restrictions. Similar tactics are being used in Madrid and Nice, with talk of deployment in many other places.

A defense for the 'good drone'?

There are huge advantages in sending drones into disaster zones such as bushfires, or remote landscapes for search and rescue. Pilots can safely stream crucial vision from a drone's optical and thermal cameras.

But while "good drones" can be valuable in disaster, they have been criticised for giving drone warfare an ethical veneer by association with humanitarian work. Some have even argued that using drones at all risks tainting relief work, because militaries have played a major role in developing drone technologies that are also responsible for humanitarian tragedies.

Like all technologies, the question with drones should be about how they are used. For instance, inspecting the breached nuclear reactor at Fukushima with drones is sensible. But embedding systems of control that can be turned against civilians is its own disaster in the making.

Normalising surveillance

With high definition and infrared images streamed to command stations, China's drones may be able to use facial recognition to identify specific individuals using its Social Credit System, and fine them for indiscretions.

This level of social control may be appealing in a pandemic that could cost millions of lives. But it could also have chilling effects on social and political life.

Surveillance tools typically work best for social control when people know they are being watched. Even in liberal societies, people might think twice about joining climate or racial justice protests if they know they'll be recorded by a drone overhead.

Feeling like you're constantly being watched can can create a kind of atmospheric anxiety, particularly for marginalized groups that are already closely monitored because of their religion or welfare status.

Putting more drones in the sky raises concerns about trust, privacy, data protection and ownership. In a crisis, those questions are often ignored. This was clear after 9/11, when the world learned the lessons of surveillance systems and draconian national security laws.

The impact would hit home

Police in the west are already deploying drones for various purposes, including at sporting events in Australia. Our defense force is buying Reaper MQ-9B drones because they are cleared for use in civilian airspace.

We might be fine with delivery drones in Canberra, or disaster drones ferrying urgent medical supplies, but how would we feel if they were indistinguishable from drones piloted by police, the military or private security companies?

A team at the University of South Australia is currently designing a "pandemic" drone to detect virus symptoms such as fever and coughing from a distance. Valuable as that is now, this tool could easily be used to intrusively manage the public's health after the crisis is over.

It can be difficult to see the long term impacts of choices made in an emergency. But now is the best time for policymakers to set limits on how drones an be used in public space.

They need to write sunset clauses into new laws so that surveillance and control systems are rolled back once the pandemic eases, and create accountability mechanisms to ensure oversight.

New research improves drone detection for increased public safety

Provided by The Conversation

Researchers take another step closer to mind-reading computer

by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress
The decoding pipeline. Credit: Nature Neuroscience (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-0608-8

A team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, has taken another step toward the development of a computer able to decipher speech in the human mind. In their paper published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the group describes their approach to using AI systems to read and translate human thoughts. Gregory Cogan with Duke University has published a News & Views piece outlining the work by the team in California in the same journal issue.


Over the past century, people have wondered if it might be possible to create a machine that could read the human mind. Such ideas have most often been expressed in movies where scientists try to read the mind of a spy or terrorist. Recently, such systems have come to be seen as a possible way for people with speech disability to communicate. The advent of artificial intelligence, and more specifically neural networks, has brought the possibility ever closer, with machines able to read brain waves and translate some of them into words. In this new effort, the research team has taken the idea a step forward by developing a system able to decipher whole sentences.

The work by the team involved developing a more advanced AI system and recruiting the assistance of four women with epilepsy—each of whom had been fitted with brain-implanted electrodes to monitor their condition. The researchers used readings from the electrodes to capture brain signals in different parts of their brain as the women read sentences out loud. The data from the electrodes was sent to a neural network that processed the information linked certain brain signals to words as they were being processed and spoken by the volunteer. Each of the sentences was spoken twice by each of the volunteers, but only the first was used for training the neural network—the second was used for testing purposes. After processing the brain signal data, the first neural network sent the results to a second neural network that tried to form sentences from them.

The researchers found that their system had a best-case scenario error rate of just 3%. But they note that it was also working with a very limited vocabulary of just 250 words—far fewer than the hundreds of thousands that most humans are able to recognize. But they suggest it might be enough for someone who cannot speak any words at all.


Explore furtherAnother step toward creating brain-reading technology

More information: Joseph G. Makin et al. Machine translation of cortical activity to text with an encoder–decoder framework, Nature Neuroscience (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-0608-8

Jason Kenney Claims Many Albertans at Risk of Eviction Are Involved in Vandalism or Growing Marijuana

Recently laid off workers are struggling to make rent after losing jobs thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and crashing oil prices

March 24, 2020 

Facing a deadly pandemic and crashing oil prices, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney appeared to downplay the possibility that many newly unemployed workers will have trouble making ends meet.

At a COVID-19 press conference Monday afternoon, Kenney was asked what he plans to do about about potentially tens of thousands of newly laid off workers who may not have enough money to pay rent on April 1.

“Mr. Premier, you’ve talked about the government looking into what it can do to protect people from evictions,” one reporter asked. “We’re now eight days away from April 1, is there any movement on that? Will the government ban evictions?”

Kenney’s response?

“Well, first of all, there is a significant backlog on evictions and we are considering a potential short-term stay on enforcement of evictions, but please note that most of the eviction orders that would currently be in the system predate the COVID crisis.

Many of them would be renters who have not paid their rent for several months or who have been engaged in criminal activity or vandalism or operating grow-ops. Landlords need to be able to continue to protect the value of their property from bad tenants …”

Contrary to Kenney’s claims, PressProgress has spoken to a number of newly unemployed workers in Alberta who say their landlords are refusing to show any flexibility on rent deadlines.

Karen, a Calgary renter who recently lost her job due to the coronavirus pandemic, said her landlord is refusing to grant an extension on rent: “I’ve been in this house 10 years and paid rent early every month for 10 years. I want to pay rent in full, I just need an extension.”

Karen said she is currently “trying to eat only one meal a day to save money.”

Another renter in Edmonton named Megan told PressProgress that both she and her roommate “got laid off from both our jobs due to the COVID-19 problems.”

Megan said she asked her landlord about “delaying rent until at least June or July as we will both be out of work for at least three months,” but her landlord said “no and rent is still to proceed as normal.”

According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, nearly half of all renters in Canada have less than a months worth of savings on hand.

To date, only the provincial governments of Ontario and Quebec have issued evictions bans, while the BC government has banned evictions in subsidized housing units.

Hand sanitizer has an expiration date. Does it matter amid coronavirus outbreak?

by Mark Price

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The Food and Drug Administration just pointed out something about bottles of hand sanitizer people are hoarding during the coronavirus pandemic: They have an expiration date.

It's likely few notice the fine print while grabbing handfuls off shelves in recent weeks. It's hard enough just to find a bottle lately.

Should we worry, given 86,000 Americans have been infected with COVID-19?

The FDA has good and bad news.

Good news: Adding some kind of expiration date is a standard on all over-the-counter drug products "unless they have data showing they are stable for more than three years," the agency said Thursday.

Bad news: "FDA does not have information on the stability or effectiveness of drug products past their expiration date."

So, if the expiration date on your hand sanitizer is pre-2017, you're gambling on effectiveness.

The chief concern, according to Healthline.com, is that alcohol is a key ingredient of hand sanitizer and it evaporates when exposed to air. If the bottle is not airtight, the percentage of alcohol diminishes.

"The manufacturer estimates how long it will take for the percentage of the active ingredient to drop below 90% of the percentage stated on the label," Healthline.com says. "That time estimate becomes the expiration date."

The FDA is not offering advice on what to do with expired sanitizer, but emergency measures implemented to speed up production suggest the agency is willing to ignore expiration dates for the time being.

"Hand sanitizer produced under the temporary policies for hand sanitizer production and compounding may not have an expiration date listed because they are expected to be used during this public health emergency," the agency says.

Washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is one way to stop the spread of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"If soap and water are not available, CDC recommends consumers use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol," the agency reports.

Meanwhile, "FDA recommends that consumers do not make their own hand sanitizer. If made incorrectly, hand sanitizer can be ineffective, and there have been reports of skin burns from homemade hand sanitizer."

Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

©2020 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Saudi to raise oil exports to record levels as price war rages

Anuj Chopra with Omar Hasan in Dubai AFP March 30, 2020

Aramco said it would boost its output after oil producers failed to reach a deal on production cuts (AFP Photo/Fayez Nureldine)

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will raise its oil exports to a record 10.6 million barrels per day starting from May despite a global supply glut, escalating a price war with Russia.

Oil prices are languishing at 17-year lows as the coronavirus pandemic threatens a painful global recession that could further sap demand.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter which already announced a sharp production increase for April, said it would add additional supplies to the global market, deepening a glut.

"The kingdom plans to raise its petroleum exports by 600,000 bpd from May, so total exports will increase to 10.6 million bpd," said an official at the energy ministry, cited by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The announcement came as US President Donald Trump, a close ally of the Saudi crown prince, spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday about plunging oil prices and the impact on US producers.

The two leaders agreed to hold US-Russia "consultations" about prices through their energy ministers, the Kremlin said.

Saudi Arabia had been exporting around 7.0 million barrels per day under an output reduction agreement among a 24-member producers' alliance known as OPEC+ which included Russia.

Its Gulf neighbour the United Arab Emirates has also pledged to pump at least one million bpd more from next month.

Riyadh said earlier this month it was raising exports after a production cut agreement among top producers flopped in early March.

OPEC+ failed to reach an agreement on further production cuts to shore up sagging prices as the coronavirus hit the global economy hard.

In an effort to grab market share, Saudi Arabia immediately announced a substantial increase in its production to 12.3 million bpd and exports to 10 million bpd at the beginning of April.

The energy ministry said it would secure the increase from two sources, by using natural gas in the domestic market to free up oil for export and also as domestic consumption drops because of the coronavirus.

Despite the oil crash piling pressure on the Saudi economy, analysts say its latest moves are part of a deliberate long-term strategy to capture greater market share by pressuring its high-cost rivals including US shale producers.

"The kingdom could theoretically be the last man standing, given (its) financial reserves and the ability to borrow money if necessary," said research group JBC Energy.

"For pretty much everybody else in the industry, including US shale and Canadian oil sand companies, it is set to be a much more existential threat, with months of lower production at prices close to zero."

- 'Harder for renewables' -

Saudi Arabia has shrugged off criticism that its aggressive strategy could bankrupt its oil-producing rivals, indicating it was no longer willing to play the role of "swing producer" that bears the burden of stabilising the markets.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "has embarked on a policy of capturing market share rather than trying to set the price," said Bernard Haykel, a Saudi expert at Princeton University.

"By keeping prices depressed, Saudi policy will not just drive more expensive forms of oil production out of the market; it will also make it harder for renewable energy to compete with fossil fuels -- at least in the near term."

The price of oil struck its lowest levels in more than 17 years on Monday, with Brent North Sea crude tumbling to $22.58 per barrel at one point.

There are warnings that oil could sink even further as storage tanks around the world fill to capacity.

In a letter last week to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a group of US senators accused Saudi Arabia and Russia of waging "economic warfare against the United States".

"During this time of pandemic and global economic crisis, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has chosen to settle scores in the oil market," the senators wrote in the letter.

"Riyadh's motivation may be multi-faceted -- to punish the Russians, to capture near-term market share, to destabilise long-term investment in American energy."

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The Most Expensive Oil And Gasoline In The World

Josh Owens
Oilprice.com March 30, 2020

Whether or not you follow oil markets, you will likely have seen articles in the media lately claiming that the price of oil has fallen to $20, or that it could possibly fall to $10. The truth about the oil market, however, is far more complex than that. The number quoted in media headlines usually refers to one of two types of crude oil. Often it is the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also known as Texas light sweet, a benchmark for light oil that is generally produced in the Permian Basin in Texas. It can also refer to Brent Crude, a benchmark for sweet light oil extracted from the North Sea which prices two-thirds of the world’s internationally traded crude supplies. But to say ‘oil prices’ have just hit $20 is entirely inaccurate when referring to different international blends.

The price of much of the oil in Canada is far lower than either Brent or WTI at the moment, with Western Canadian Select currently priced at just over $6. Meanwhile, oil blends from Indonesia, Russia, and Iraq are all trading at above $30. But the most expensive crude in the world is likely selling for far more than that. Earlier this year, Australian company Santos sold a 550,000-barrel cargo of the Pyrenees crude grade for loading in March, at a premium of over US$30 over the price of Dated Brent. At the time, that would have been a cost of around $100 per barrel for the prized Pyrenees oil. In today’s environment, that same premium would mean Pyrenees oil bring sold at upwards of $56. Unfortunately, due to a lack of transparency in markets, there currently is no public information on those oil sales. As for the cheapest oil on the market at the moment, Wyoming General Sour would certainly be one of them, selling at $2.75 on Friday.

Just like crude oil, the price of gasoline can fluctuate wildly depending on where you are fuelling up and the different tax policy of the country or state you are in. The current price of NYMEX traded gasoline futures is $0.61 per gallon, which is probably a lot less than how much you paid when you last filled up your gasoline tank. In fact, if you were to try and fill up a tank in Hawaii today you would find yourself paying $3.306 per gallon. If you were in Hong Kong, however, you could spend upwards of $8.48 per gallon at a gas station. And even those numbers don’t tell the full story, because the true price of gasoline anywhere in the world is relative to your spending power. The most expensive gasoline in the world when taking that into account is India, where an average citizen could spend more than 80 percent of their daily wage on one gallon of gas. In Venezuela, by comparison, a gallon of gasoline has been recorded to cost 0.95 percent of the average daily wage – although with the country currently suffering through an intense economic crisis at the moment that figure should be taken with a grain of salt. The U.S. is two places below Venezuela on that list, with a gallon costing 1.64 percent of the average daily wage.

So next time you see prices quoted for either gasoline or crude oil, remember that the only thing it really represents is the general trend in the global cost of those products. The real price at any given location or time could vary significantly.

By Josh Owens for Oilprice.com

U.S. pension funds may pour $400 billion into stocks, lifting virus-hit markets: JP Morgan

WHY WE RETIREE'S (THE WORKERS OURSELVES 'EMPLOYEES') NEED TO CONTROL OUR PENSION FUNDS NOT INVESTMENT MANAGERS

By Lewis Krauskopf Reuters March 31, 2020

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. pension funds that delayed rebalancing their portfolios are likely to pump about $400 billion into stocks over the next two quarters, analysts at JP Morgan said, providing a potential boost to equity markets battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Weeks of asset price volatility may have pushed some fund managers to postpone rebalancing portfolios where equity allocations have been knocked out of whack by a sharp decline in stocks, the bank said in a note to investors. The S&P 500 fell 20% since the start of the year, marking its worst quarter since 2008.

"We still expect that US pension funds will eventually rebalance within 1-2 quarters," wrote strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.

The bank said its estimate of $400 billion in equity buying by the funds over the next two quarters could prove conservative. U.S. pension funds bought $200 billion in stocks by the first quarter of 2009, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis -- equivalent to $600 billion today, the bank said.

Wild market swings have presented a challenge to asset managers looking to square their portfolios against a benchmark or return to their long-maintained allocation of stocks versus bonds. While the S&P is down about 24% from its February highs, unprecedented support from the Federal Reserve and a $2.2 trillion relief package from U.S. lawmakers helped stocks rally 15.5% since March 23.

At least one fund -- the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System, which oversees some $15 billion -- is allowing its rebalancing to be deferred, according to a report in Pensions & Investments. The fund did not immediately respond turn a request for comment.

Brian Reynolds, chief market strategist with Reynolds Strategy, said in a note this week a rebalancing that leads pensions to sell bonds and buy stocks "makes no sense for pensions given the capital calls they are facing from credit and related products."

Some index providers, such as S&P Dow Jones Indices, have delayed their quarterly rebalancing due to the market volatility, potentially complicating the picture for funds that look to track index performance.

Last week's rally in stocks may have helped boost some funds' equity allocations, making the need to increase exposure less acute, said Mike Schumacher, head of macro strategy at Wells Fargo Securities.

The bank last week had estimated that U.S. corporate pensions will need to shift about $40 billion from fixed income into equities to maintain allocation targets. Its estimate now stands at $20 billion following last week's rally, Schumacher said.

At the same time, mutual funds, pensions and other asset managers rebalancing their portfolio may have stoked some of last week's gains.

Steven DeSanctis, an equity strategist at Jefferies, said moves from fixed income into equities "most likely" happened last week, adding that "the rebalancings don’t have to take place on the 31st."

Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, said some of the market's recent gains have come from quarter-end and month-end rebalancing.

"Once we get through the next couple of days, it's going to be a little bit more interesting because the question then becomes, 'Do we return really back to fundamentals and technicals?'."




(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; additional reporting by Sinéad Carew and Medha Singh; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Tom Brown)