Energy

  Reuters As the cost of light crude drops, some refiners in Asia are snap-ping up cargoes of the oil that is easier and cheaper to process than their usual diet of heavy crude, chasing profits from making diesel and gasoline. As a result of the OPEC production cuts, the world’s oil supply has become more light and those oil …

  Bloomberg Venezuela, Iraq and Oman added their support for a possible extension of global oil-production cuts beyond June as mom entum builds among OPEC members and other crude producers to prolong the strategy to re-balance the market and prop up prices. Oil minsters for the three countries commented on Sunday, a day after Algeria’s Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa called …

  Bloomberg Libya’s biggest oil terminal is loading its first tanker since fighting between armed groups earlier this month halted shipments from two ports in the country with Africa’s largest crude reserves. The Suezmax vessel Demetrios, which can carry as much as one million barrels, is loading at the port of Es Sider for export to China, according to a …

  Bloomberg Algeria’s energy minister supports extending global oil production cuts to the end of the year as the strategy is succeeding in reducing global inventories. Russia is moving ahead with its own reductions to curb a global glut. “We are making progress in balancing the market,” Algeria’s Noureddine Boutarfa told reporters Saturday as ministers are meeting in Kuwait City …

Bloomberg Crude oil had its third weekly loss in a month as OPEC and its allies prepared to meet for a review of their production cuts, while swelling US stockpiles indicated the measures aren’t working yet. Futures slipped 1.7 percent this week in New York. US crude output continued to expand along with inventories last week, data from the government …

  Bloomberg A final icy blast of winter was welcome news for US natural gas bulls. Money managers raised their net-long position in the fuel by 7.8 percent in the seven days ended March 21 to the highest level since June 2014, just as a late-season freeze sent heating demand soaring. Bears cut short bets to a six-week low, US …

  Dubai / Reuters OPEC members have argued for decades over whether they should monitor output or exports to gauge compliance with oil-output cuts. This month, Saudi Arabia has thrown a third metric – supply – into the debate. The move saw oil prices declining, with confused traders fearing Riyadh would pump more crude, thus complicating OPEC’s efforts to reduce …

  Bloomberg As China’s biggest oil and gas producer prepares to report what may be its worst-ever earnings, investors are focused on billions of dollars that could be unlocked by a spinoff of its massive pipeline network. PetroChina Co.’s natural gas and crude oil transportation system, stretching from the country’s remote borders with Central Asia to major coastal cities, could …

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia maintained its spot as China’s top oil supplier in February, two months into the first OPEC output cuts in almost a decade, with shipments up 5 percent on a daily basis from January, data showed on Thursday. China imported in February 4.77 million tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, about 1.24 million barrels per day …

  BEIJING / AP Led by cutbacks in China and India, construction of new coal-fired power plants is falling worldwide, improving chances climate goals can be met despite earlier pessimism, three environmental groups said on Wednesday. A joint report by the groups CoalSwarm, the Sierra Club and Greenpeace follows a warning this week by two international agencies that the world …