Bloomberg China’s state-owned oil refining giants are in discussions to form a purchasing group to buy crude together, increasing their bargaining power and avoiding bidding wars. Senior executives from China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, PetroChina Co, Cnooc Ltd and Sinochem Group Co are in advanced talks to iron out details of the plan, said people familiar with the initiative, who …

Bloomberg BP Plc agreed to sell its chemicals business to Ineos Group Holdings SA, taking a big step in its transition away from being a traditional oil company, while also raising vital funds. The announcement comes just months after new Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney set the London-based energy giant on course to eliminate its carbon emissions by 2050, a …

Bloomberg Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) approved a plan to participate in an Indonesian coal power project despite mounting global pressure to move away from the most-polluting fossil fuel. The board of directors on Tuesday cleared the $51 million purchase of a 15% stake in the joint-venture developing the Jawa 9 & 10 project, according to a company spokesman. The …

Bloomberg Sasol Ltd expects binding bids within weeks for its stake in a natural gas pipeline running from Mozambique to South Africa, as the company accelerates asset sales to pay off debt, according to people familiar with the process. The bidding round underway for the Rompco 865-kilometre (537-mile) gas pipeline stake concludes in late July, according to two of the …

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank may buy billions of dollars of sovereign bonds at zero interest, or below its benchmark rate to help the government finance a wider deficit arising out of stimulus measures to counter fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Bank Indonesia may bear the full cost of an expanded health care and social safety net budget of $27.6 billion …

Bloomberg UK households continued to amass savings and pay down debt in May as stores remained closed for a second month in an effort to the stop the spread of coronavirus. The build-up of money in bank accounts reflects both the reduced opportunities to spend and the fact that the wages of millions of furloughed workers are being paid by …

Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) said unemployment and other economic fallout from the pandemic will accelerate already existing declines in South Korea’s potential growth rate. Higher jobless rates, more people dropping out of the workforce, and a delayed recovery in corporate investment will exacerbate a downward trend that started before the coronavirus, the bank said in a report. Slowing …

Bloomberg An incessant steepening in Japan’s yield curve is raising the stakes for the central bank’s monthly bond-buying plan. Faced with mounting losses on their portfolios, investors are looking to the Bank of Japan to boost purchases of super-long debt to ease the pressure. The spread between 10-year and 30-year yields widened for a third month in June in the …

Bloomberg Work from home may remain part of the norm for many in India’s financial industry beyond the end of the world’s biggest lockdown. The reason: elimination of lengthy commutes in the past three months has boosted employee productivity. Take Jefferies’ India team for example. On average, its 60 members have managed to save over an hour every day on …

Bloomberg Zimbabwe has sufficient foreign currency reserves to sustain the reintroduced foreign currency auction system, the state-run Sunday Mail reported, citing central bank Governor John Mangudya. Mangudya said local lenders have almost $1 billion in their foreign currency accounts. “It’s about sufficient resources utilisation of resources,” Mangudya was quoted as saying in the newspaper. The country reintroduced the foreign currency …