:00:00. > :00:19.The US prepares to end its 40-year ban on exporting oil.
:00:20. > :00:27.But the question is, will it find anyone to buy it?
:00:28. > :00:29.Plus: Chennai counts the cost, more than 300 dead,
:00:30. > :00:31.and hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of damage.
:00:32. > :00:34.But could the flood disaster in India's industrial heartland
:00:35. > :00:59.I've got about nine minutes. You give me that and I'll give you a
:01:00. > :01:03.fascinating and exciting snapshot of all that is going on in the world of
:01:04. > :01:06.business and money. We will talk about more measures to boost the
:01:07. > :01:09.Japanese economy, at first let's start with what could be a historic
:01:10. > :01:16.day for America's oil industry. We start with what could be
:01:17. > :01:19.a historic day For 40 years it has been banned from
:01:20. > :01:23.exporting crude oil, to protect But later today the House
:01:24. > :01:27.of Representatives is expected to lift that ban, as part of
:01:28. > :01:29.a massive government spending bill. The ban was imposed in 1975,
:01:30. > :01:34.at the height of the oil crisis. Opec introduced an oil embargo
:01:35. > :01:37.after the US sided with Israel The result, oil shortages,
:01:38. > :01:43.soaring prices, A lot has changed since then,
:01:44. > :01:48.most importantly the US boom in US oil production has
:01:49. > :01:51.soared 80% since 2008. It now produces 9.2 million barrels
:01:52. > :01:54.per day, half of it from fracking. That makes it
:01:55. > :01:56.the world's number three producer, The problem of course is this,
:01:57. > :01:59.timing. There is already a global glut, the
:02:00. > :02:03.world is awash with oil, prices are at seven-year lows, and a flood of
:02:04. > :02:06.US crude will just make it worse. Still, the speaker of the House
:02:07. > :02:09.of Representatives argued this week Ending the 40-year ban
:02:10. > :02:35.on oil exports, do you know what that does for our foreign policy,
:02:36. > :02:38.what that does for job creators, It's permanent policy, that's good
:02:39. > :02:43.for American foreign policy, For temporary measures,
:02:44. > :02:54.I think that's very, very good. He is very pleased indeed. Let's get
:02:55. > :02:55.more. Neil Atkinson is head of analysis
:02:56. > :03:03.at Lloyds List Intelligence. Always a pleasure to see you, thanks
:03:04. > :03:10.for getting up at this time in the morning. Who is going to buy... I
:03:11. > :03:15.know the timing is not great. I was looking at shipping for example.
:03:16. > :03:20.Shipping oil from Saudi to Japan takes 27 days. Shipping oil from
:03:21. > :03:26.Houston to Saudi takes 48 days. More expensive. Who is going to buy at?
:03:27. > :03:28.We shouldn't get too carried away. Although this is a historic step and
:03:29. > :03:32.it is something that should have happened a while back and it is
:03:33. > :03:35.hugely important, it does not mean that there are suddenly going to be
:03:36. > :03:39.a flood of US oil sailing away from the US east coast or the US Gulf
:03:40. > :03:56.Coast looking for customers. Because as you say there is already a glut
:03:57. > :03:59.of oil in world markets. World oil demand growth next year is going to
:04:00. > :04:02.be less than it was in 2015. It is more of a historic step in terms of
:04:03. > :04:05.a free trade issue. Every other oil producer in the world can produce
:04:06. > :04:07.and sell their oil to whoever they wish, with the odd exception. The US
:04:08. > :04:10.already exports, and this seems to be a relatively little at a known
:04:11. > :04:14.fact, an enormous quantity of products. An enormous exports of
:04:15. > :04:20.gasoline and other products. So a ban on exporting the raw stuff, the
:04:21. > :04:25.black stuff, but it exports... It exports gasoline, diesel in enormous
:04:26. > :04:29.quantities. You have taken the wind out of this story altogether! This
:04:30. > :04:33.is the interesting point. There has never been a ban on product exports
:04:34. > :04:36.but for many, many years there was no issue with exporting products
:04:37. > :04:40.because the United States needed all the product it could get and it used
:04:41. > :04:44.to import oil products as well is importing crude oil. But in recent
:04:45. > :04:47.years as domestic production has increased enormously, as you said in
:04:48. > :04:53.your introduction a second ago, that crude oil has been bought by
:04:54. > :04:58.refiners at very low prices, because there is a glut in the United
:04:59. > :05:02.States. Those refiners than take the product they make in the refinery,
:05:03. > :05:07.sell it in international markets at international prices and make a shed
:05:08. > :05:12.load of money. Can we put the picture here, if you add the oil
:05:13. > :05:15.from the US, next year possibly uranium oil is going to come into
:05:16. > :05:23.the market and possibly Libyan, I keep hearing. -- Iranian oil. We
:05:24. > :05:26.definitely have the possibility of being sold somewhere else and not
:05:27. > :05:30.just the United States but we shouldn't be excited about a flood.
:05:31. > :05:34.Number two, we Iranian exports almost certainly entering the market
:05:35. > :05:37.around about the Easter period. There is always the possibility of
:05:38. > :05:42.there being some sort of settlement in Libya between the two rival
:05:43. > :05:45.governments that you have there. Were that to be the case and were
:05:46. > :05:49.they to get their act together in terms of export capabilities there
:05:50. > :05:54.would be potentially a big volume of Libyan oil entering an already
:05:55. > :05:56.glutted market. And that will put the pressure on. We have to wrap it
:05:57. > :06:00.up, unfortunately. Thank you. The state is
:06:01. > :06:03.the nation's industrial heartland, home to its huge and fast-growing
:06:04. > :06:06.auto industry, as well as other In recent weeks,
:06:07. > :06:10.you will remember these images, it has been devastated by floods that
:06:11. > :06:13.have killed more than 300 people. The cost to
:06:14. > :06:15.the economy is expected to run into Sameer Hashmi has been to the state
:06:16. > :06:19.capital Chennai to report on the clean-up operation, and growing
:06:20. > :06:38.questions about whether the city The rain has stopped, and now it's
:06:39. > :06:44.time to try and salvage what they can. At this paper company they are
:06:45. > :06:49.trying to get stock to a dry location, away from the flooded
:06:50. > :06:53.factory. Diaries, calendars and stationery were all made here. But
:06:54. > :07:00.most machinery and even the office furniture is ruined. TRANSLATION: I
:07:01. > :07:05.have incurred a loss of nearly $40,000. We cannot take any orders
:07:06. > :07:10.now. All the customers I hard have left us. Now we need to start from
:07:11. > :07:13.scratch -- I had. After all of us struggle to run this factory,
:07:14. > :07:18.absolutely everything is gone. I have no idea what I'm going to do
:07:19. > :07:23.next. Now, you'll find all sorts of small businesses here from producers
:07:24. > :07:26.of car parts and pharmaceuticals the exporter 's and rubber processing
:07:27. > :07:31.factories. These unprecedented floods
:07:32. > :07:47.me that they have no idea how long it will be until they can
:07:48. > :07:50.country and a major contributor to India's economy. Global car
:07:51. > :07:53.companies like Ford and BMW have factories in the state and so
:07:54. > :07:59.suppliers like this one have base themselves here as well. It a lot
:08:00. > :08:02.also India's second biggest hub for IT firms. Questions are now being
:08:03. > :08:07.asked by how so much damage was caused by just a few days of heavy
:08:08. > :08:11.rain. Some experts say it is because the city, like many others, has been
:08:12. > :08:15.developed without much thought given to the environment. Immediately
:08:16. > :08:20.after every severe weather, there will be a response, but that is not
:08:21. > :08:26.good enough. We need a plan in place and best practice around
:08:27. > :08:31.investment. It is very important, good data. We are very much lacking
:08:32. > :08:34.in that. For Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu, it is going to take
:08:35. > :08:39.months for its people and businesses to pick themselves up and get back
:08:40. > :08:44.to normal. But the bigger question about how to improve infrastructure
:08:45. > :08:45.to make sure natural disasters have less devastating results will take
:08:46. > :08:53.much longer to clear up. Let's head over to the Singapore
:08:54. > :08:58.office, talking about Japan's Central Bank. What have they done
:08:59. > :09:03.this time? They boosting the economy? Well, well, Aaron, a
:09:04. > :09:07.surprising move as you say but not involving interest rates, which
:09:08. > :09:10.continue to remain near zero. They have essentially introduced a new
:09:11. > :09:15.programme supporting companies actively investing in the economy.
:09:16. > :09:20.They have also started to tweak it on the buying programme. Basically
:09:21. > :09:26.this was the last meeting of the policy makers -- tweak its bond
:09:27. > :09:30.buying programme. Firms dedicated to capital investment, as they put it,
:09:31. > :09:34.companies which are proactively investing in physical and human
:09:35. > :09:37.capital. Of course we know that the government and the central bank have
:09:38. > :09:40.been urging companies for months now to invest more but there has been
:09:41. > :09:44.very little signs that these companies have been using their cash
:09:45. > :09:48.reserves which are at record highs. The central bank is mention made
:09:49. > :09:53.some other tweaks including plans to buy slightly longer term the
:09:54. > :09:57.Japanese lines starting next year. They also expanded the type of
:09:58. > :10:01.assets they are buying including purchasing more risky assets. All of
:10:02. > :10:06.this saw the Nikkei rising briefly on that news but it has since fallen
:10:07. > :10:11.back and looks set to end the week flat. Great stuff, we are running
:10:12. > :10:17.out of time. Thank you. We will talk to you very soon.
:10:18. > :10:20.Don't forget, you can get in touch with me