Lower-for-longer oil prices will weaken the fiscal and external positions of all rated oil exporters, “exacerbating” sovereign credit pressures as lower oil demand persists for several years ...

While geopolitical conflicts and financial market dislocations threaten the global growth outlook, BMI continues to see a broadening global economic expansion overall this year.

"When testing for the asymmetry relating to the magnitude of oil price changes, we find that stock return sensitivities are significantly higher for large oil variations in Oman and Qatar," the IMF working paper said.

Key crude oil prices rose by 1 percent to their highest levels since late-2014 on Monday, pushed up by a deepening economic crisis in Venezuela and a looming decision on whether the United States will re-impose sanctions against Iran.

Oil fell more than 1 percent on Monday as markets opened following western air strikes in Syria over the weekend, while a rise in US drilling for new production also dragged on prices.

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani on Thursday visited the under-construction Umm Al Houl Power Plant of the Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC).

Opec and its allies should maintain oil supply curbs to guarantee healthy price levels which will allow increased investment in the industry and help avoid a supply and price shock in the long run, Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry HE Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada said.

Kuwait on Monday announced a state budget for the year ending on March 31, 2019, that projects spending at 20bn dinars ($66.7bn) and revenues at 15bn dinars.

Oil prices eased from three-year highs on Friday but were still on track to end the week higher for a fourth week in a row.

Oil fell on Thursday, giving up earlier gains after Opec members agreed to extend curbs on output to the end of next year at a meeting in Vienna, though a final deal hinges on the decision of non-Opec producers, expected towards the end of the day.

Crude oil rose for a sixth straight session on Thursday to its highest since June 19 on a decline in US output, but ongoing worries about global oversupply continued to drag.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid Al-Falih said on Monday that oil markets were rebalancing after years of oversupply, but that he still expected an Opec-led deal to cut output during the first half of the year to be extended to all of 2017.