Bloomberg Two of the world’s biggest energy producers have abandoned the sale of some of Australia’s oldest oil fields after running a 20-month sales process. Exxon Mobil Corp. and BHP Billiton Ltd. will retain ownership and operation of fields, licenses and associated infrastructure held in the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture after concluding a sale process, Exxon’s Esso Australia unit said …

Bloomberg The rollercoaster that drags liquefied natural gas prices higher as demand jumps in the northern hemisphere winter is going into overdrive. After a winter in which an unexpected boost in demand from China pushed prices to three-year highs, spot LNG in northeast Asia has plummeted about 30 percent from its mid-January peak. Summer plunges and winter spikes are the …

Bloomberg Fossil-fuel subsidies may actually rise in Europe because of the switch to green energy. European Union governments will have to pay out increased compensation for closing coal-fired plants, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Several countries are also rolling out programs that pay power plants to guarantee electricity supplies, mechanisms that often favor fossil-fuel generation. Renewables …

Bloomberg Centrica Plc stepped up its cost cutting drive and planned the sale of nuclear assets as its profit dropped. The UK’s biggest energy supplier increased its cost savings target by about 66 percent to 1.25 billion pounds ($1.73 billion) a year by 2020, Centrica said in its full-year earnings statement. It intends to sells its 20 percent stake in …

Reuters Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Saturday it had declared force majeure on the 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) El Feel oilfield after a protest by guards closed the field. El Feel was shut after guards withdrew from the field to push demands over pay and other benefits earlier this week. The NOC said force majeure was declared …

Bloomberg European authorities moved to liquidate Latvia’s ABLV Bank AS after clients pulled assets from the lender following US accusations that it laundered money. The European Central Bank, which had already placed a freeze on payments by the lender, said that ABLV was failing or likely to fail, handing it over to Europe’s Single Resolution Board. That authority said a …

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc., one of the world’s largest credit-card issuers, said it will refund $335 million to US customers whose annual percentage rate should have been lower. The lender determined that a method it was using to calculate APRs didn’t properly reflect the full benefit customers should have received for good behaviour, such as paying on time, the New York-based …

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. said that its female employees earn 99 percent of what male employees make globally, making it the fifth large US bank to disclose an adjusted gender pay gap of around one percent. People of color employed by the bank earned more than 99 percent of what white workers made, according to an internal note sent …

Bloomberg Royal Bank of Canada, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, isn’t hurting from a slowing housing market — yet. The Toronto-based bank reported 6.4 percent growth in Canadian residential mortgages in the fiscal first quarter, with average balances climbing to C$238.5 billion ($187.6 billion). That’s down from the 6.6 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter, though it’s still the …

Bloomberg Four traders charged in the UK for rigging interest-rate benchmarks at Deutsche Bank AG will escape prosecution after German officials refused requests to send them to London to face trial. Frankfurt prosecutors decided not to turn the men over almost two years after the UK’s Serious Fraud Office first sought extradition. The final decision on the former traders was …