Oil drops as Saudi output nears record, China demand worries drag

Oil prices dropped on Tuesday after activity in China's factory sector fell to an 11-month low and as Saudi Arabia said its production was close to an all-time high.

The flash HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dipped to 49.2 in March, below the 50-point level that separates growth in activity from a contraction on a monthly basis, stoking worries over the strength of the world's No.2 economy. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 50.6.

"Considering that the preliminary PMI figures for major crude importers turned out much lower than estimates ... we expect both WTI and Brent to end-off today lower," Singapore-based Phillip Futures said on Tuesday.

The PMI drop in China followed an overnight report that Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest producer, was now pumping around 10 million barrels of crude oil per day, a near all-time high and some 350,000 bpd above the figure Saudi Arabia gave to OPEC for its February output.

"The market was under pressure early in the trading day after comments from Saudi Arabia that it was producing almost 10 million barrels per day," ANZ bank said on Tuesday.

Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading down 42 cents at $55.50 a barrel at 1.25am ET. US WTI crude CLc1 dropped 57 cents to $46.88 a barrel.

Worries over slowing growth in China's economy as well as high production have contributed to a global surplus in oil supplies.

"We expect crude prices to be pressured once again by the weight of some 2 million barrels per day of oversupply in Q2 2015," energy consultancy FGE said in a note on Tuesday.

The refinery sector has benefited from cheap oil, which has improved margins for oil products such as diesel or jet fuel.

"A sharp decline in crude prices over late 2014 and into January 2015, followed by an extraordinarily cold February (in the United States and parts of Europe), has meant good times for refiners," FGE said, but it added that high refinery margins were unlikely to last.

"In H2 2015, we see an oversupplied products market even as crude prices begin to recover. Refinery margins will adjust downwards."

Defence ministry sounds fresh red alert on web spying

India's defence establishment has sounded a fresh red
alert over the need to ensure physical as well as cyber security of
classified information in light of ever-increasing espionage attempts by
foreign intelligence
agencies, especially from China and Pakistan.
Citing "inputs" from the home ministry and elsewhere, the defence
ministry has directed the armed forces and other organizations working
under it to strictly implement the fresh security measures to prevent
any classified matter from being leaked.
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"Defence personnel, especially those serving in lower formations, privy
to sensitive information relating to organization/matters pertaining to
the armed forces continue to be targets of foreign intelligence
espionage efforts/agents," said the MoD directive, issued on March 12.
Some of the security instructions deal with monitoring of photocopying
machines, police verification of all staff employed on "an outsourced
basis", restricted access to divisions dealing with confidential matters,
close watch on suspicious conduct, caller ID spoofing and the like.

But the bulk of them are connected to cyber-security and computer-
usage norms. They range from strict access control and proper
firewalls to "air gap" between secure and insecure networks and curbs
on use of digital storage devices.
"There have been cases of data being leaked through the use of pen-
drives, removable hard disks and CDs. Moreover, Chinese hackers
have also broken into military networks through worm-infected USB
devices to exfiltrate information," said an official.
Interestingly, in its publication 'The Science of Military Strategy' this
month, China for the first time has admitted its People's Liberation
Army has specialized cyber warfare units. While both China and
Pakistan have been bolstering their capability to wage war in the
virtual arena, the former has made it a top military priority. "China
regularly hacks into sensitive computer networks of countries like
India, US, the UK and Germany," said a senior officer.
"China has at least a couple of hacker brigades, apart from over
30,000 computer professionals in its militia. It also has civilian teams
empowered to undertake similar intelligence and computer network
attacks," he added.

Targeted cyber attacks can hobble, and even destroy, strategic
networks and energy grids, financial and communication info-
structures of an adversary. Iran, for instance, learnt this the hard way
when the Stuxnet software "worm" crippled its nuclear programme five
years ago.
But even as countries sharpen their cyber-weapons, India continues to
drag its feet in setting up a tri-Service Cyber Command, which was
proposed along with an Aerospace and Special Operations Commands
by the chiefs of the staff committee a couple of years ago.

160 Bhagat Singh files lie in oblivion in Lahore

CHANDIGARH: Even more than eight decades after Bhagat Singh and
his comrades' martyrdom, an important bunch of files related to their
trial in the Lahore Conspiracy Case are lying in oblivion in Lahore
.
More than 160 files titled 'Crown vs Sukh Dev, Lahore Conspiracy Case
1929-1931' are lying behind closed lockers in the Punjab Archives in
Lahore, Pakistan. According to sources, no international scholar on
Bhagat Singh so far has been allowed to access them.

Amarjit Chandan, London-based poet and independent researcher on
Bhagat Singh, who has tried to access those files numerous times in
the past said that these files are of immense historical importance as
they are from a special tribunal, which was formed for Bhagat Singh
and his comrades' trial. "I myself went to the Lahore Archives and
there are many academics who have tried to access the files. I was
shown just one file and my request was turned down to take a copy of
the catalogue of the collection," he said.
"Nobody had any knowledge of the papers until I went there and found
out in December 2010 about these files. A high official there showed
me one or two files, including the catalogue after much persuasion, but
did not allow me to take copy or photograph the catalogue at least,"
said Chandan.
Chandan also approached Tahir Kamran, Allama Iqbal Visiting
Professor, Centre of South Asian Studies Cambridge University. "He
promised to get a copy of the catalogue, but the officials are now
being difficult with him too," he said. Following that Chanadan also
approached a few politicians and a senior civil servant in Lahore but of
no avail.
Many years ago, Prof Harish Puri, a political scientist who has written
several books on India's freedom struggle, also sought permission to
see them. "They denied me permission to even go through the index,"
he says. Even as he did not want to speculate about the content, he
said that it could have documents related to evidence in the case as
that was not transferred here.

Chandan said it was very important that the government of India
intervened in this matter. "The task of getting copies from the Lahore
Archives will have to be taken up by the government of India at the
highest level," he said.
"A comprehensive inventory of Bhagat Singh's records at Archives
would be a benefit not just to academics but also to enthusiasts and
local historians in Lahore, where there is a growing interest in the city's
historic relationship with revolutionary politics," says Christopher
Moffat, who has just done a PhD on the revolutionary at Cambridge
University.
Bhagat Singh's nephew, Prof Jagmohan too feels that while Pakistani
authorities has been denying the files calling them 'sensitive', the
documents must be brought into public domain.