Energy

Bloomberg Santos Ltd. agreed to buy ConocoPhillips’ northern Australia business for $1.4 billion in a deal that will boost the Adelaide-based oil and gas producer’s position in the growing Asian liquefied natural gas market. The transaction may allow Santos to become the country’s largest independent energy producer and capitalise on a push by Asian consumers, including China, to switch to ...

Bloomberg China’s biggest refiner plans to reduce operations from next month after a surge in the cost of shipping crude eroded margins. Freight rates have skyrocketed since the US announced sanctions on Chinese shipowners in late-September, triggering a flight from vessels owned by affected companies and a bidding war for alternative tankers. That’s driven up the cost of importing crude ...

Bloomberg French energy giant Total SA is spending $600 million to expand its presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing natural gas markets. Total agreed to purchase a 37.4% stake in India’s Adani Gas Ltd., a distributor of the fuel that’s developing import terminals and a national chain of vehicle-filling outlets. The deal gives the French company a footprint in ...

Bloomberg The cost of chartering a liquefied natural gas vessel on the short-term market has jumped the most since at least 2013. The day rate for a standard tanker East of the Suez Canal jumped 57% in the week to October 9, as issues related to US sanctions on units of China’s Cosco Shipping Corp. start to hit just as ...

Bloomberg More than a month since oil started washing up on some of Brazil’s most touristic beaches, dotting sand with black patches, killing sea turtles and scaring off fishermen, the origin of the crude is still a mystery. “We don’t know the oil’s origin, where it came from or how it got here,” Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque said at an ...

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. is considering a sale of its oil-producing offshore assets in Malaysia as part of the US energy giant’s global divestiture program. The company is working with an adviser on the potential sale, which could raise about $2 billion to $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The focus is on selling upstream assets operated ...

Bloomberg Oil fell again, erasing earlier gains, as economic tensions between the US and China flared ahead of talks aimed at resolving their long-running trade feud. Futures in New York slipped as much as 1.7% following news that the White House is considering plans to potentially limit capital flows into China, while Beijing signaled it would retaliate after the Trump ...

Bloomberg Bankrupt utility owner PG&E Corp. issued an unprecedented warning that it may cut power in almost 30 California counties to avoid wildfires as hot, arid winds leave region dry as a tinderbox. The move may affect more than 600,000 customers across Northern and Central California, including Santa Clara, San Mateo, Napa and Alameda counties, according to a statement on ...

Bloomberg China’s top six listed coal-power generators are failing to respond to climate change, lagging international peers and leaving them misaligned with Beijing’s broader environmental policies, according to a sustainability and governance risk consultant. That’s keeping shareholders without adequate information on how the firms are addressing climate change or adjusting their businesses to adapt, Singapore-based Asia Research & Engagement said ...

Bloomberg South Africa wants coal producers to help debt-stricken state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. tackle its skyrocketing costs of the fuel — a problem that’s largely of its own making. Eskom traditionally signed so-called “cost-plus” contracts for coal with mining companies that managed and operated shafts the utility helped finance. In 2015 then-Chief Executive Officer Brian Molefe criticized ...