Energy

  Bloomberg Natural gas in balmy Texas is feeling the chill of California’s snowy peaks 1,200 miles away. West Coast power producers are ditching gas in favor of cheap, plentiful hydroelectric power, which is surging after the wettest year ever across the Northern Sierra Nevada range. Much of that moisture fell as snow which is now melting, soaking fields, filling …

  Bloomberg Oil resumed its decline as US production increased for an 11th week in the longest run of gains since 2012. Futures lost as much as 1.1 percent in New York after climbing 0.3 percent. Crude output rose to 9.29 million barrels a day, the highest level since August 2015, according to the Energy Information Administration. US inventories fell …

  Dubai / Reuters Iraqi fuel oil exports have soared since January despite a reduction in the country’s crude production in line with OPEC supply cuts, industry sources said, in what could be a way to boost output of refined products and maintain oil revenues. Iraq on average exported between 80,000 and 160,000 tonnes of fuel oil per month in …

  MOSCOW / Reuters Russia’s oil production on May 1 was 300,790 barrels per day (bpd) below the level in October, meaning it has cut output by more than was demanded under a pact between OPEC and other producers, Russia’s Energy Ministry said on Wednesday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with Russia and other non-OPEC producers, pledged …

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Nawah Energy Company, the newly-formed nuclear operating joint venture company, between the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) held its first Board of Directors meeting. The board was chaired by Saeed Fadhel Al Mazrooei, joined by David Scott as Vice Chairman along with board members Mohamed Al Hammadi, Ahmed …

  Bloomberg Oil rose from its lowest close in a month amid estimates that while the US crude inventory glut is continuing to shrink, although refined products are growing more plentiful. Futures gained as much as 0.6 percent in New York after dropping 1 percent. US crude stockpiles are forecast to have decreased for a fourth week from a record …

  Bloomberg The relentless drilling ramp-up in America’s top shale plays is making investors more skeptical that an oil price rebound is on the horizon. After increasing their bets on rising West Texas Intermediate crude for three straight weeks, money managers slashed the wagers by 21 percent, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Producers in Texas are leading …

  Bloomberg US natural gas producers are running hard to stand still. The number of rigs drilling for gas has almost doubled since August, but output continues to fall. Even accounting for a lag between the start of drilling and first production, the drop in output is striking — a well in the Marcellus Shale, America’s most prolific reservoir of …

  Bloomberg Blackstone Group LP’s quest to be the first company to build back-up power plants in southern Germany faltered after the European Commission queried whether the nation needs the facilities at all. The world’s biggest private equity firm’s PQ Energy unit says an EU antitrust probe could delay a bid to build new reserve power plants in Germany’s industrial …

  Bloomberg Wind may have just gotten a boost in the biggest US electricity market. New rules requiring power producers to ensure supplies are available all year round are giving some an incentive to use more wind. The first test will come at next month’s auction by PJM Interconnection LLC — the grid operator covering the region from Chicago to …