Energy

  Bloomberg Oil halted its advance below $46 a barrel after the biggest three-day gain since April as Nigeria’s oil minister signaled the prospect of production cuts from OPEC was unlikely. Futures slid as much as 0.8 percent in New York after rising 9.7 percent the previous three sessions. Optimism by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Emmanuel Kachikwu that ...

  Bloomberg The market for liquefied natural gas is about to attract more players and more trading as new supply from the U.S. and Australia strengthens buyers’ bargaining power. Historically, LNG has been sold on long-term contracts that guaranteed buyers supply and helped producers finance liquefaction plants at a time when less of the product was shipped. Now, a gas ...

  Reuters Iran, holder of the world’s biggest natural gas reserves, says it will start exports to Iraq in the next month, more than a year later than it originally planned. Shipments will start at 7 million cubic meters a day to supply a power plant in Baghdad, Hamid Reza Araghi, director of the National Iranian Gas Co., said in ...

  Bloomberg All it took was a few words from OPEC to encourage oil bulls. Money managers increased wagers on rising crude prices by the most since January as futures rebounded from a three-month low. Prices jumped after OPEC’s president said August 8 the group will hold informal talks in Algiers next month. “The statement certainly achieved its purpose,” said ...

  SOROTI / AP In this electricity-starved rural part of Uganda, men ride bicycles several kilometers (miles) to the nearest market town simply to charge their phones. That should change with the construction nearby of one of the largest solar plants in sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of the population is without electricity and countries increasingly explore alternative sources of power. ...

  Bloomberg The Latin American refinery bust has proved to be a boon for US fuel makers. From Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA to Mexico’s Petroleos Mexicanos, state oil companies have failed to complete nine projects worth at least $36.4 billion that would have supplied 1.2 million barrels of gasoline and diesel daily. U.S. refiners have stepped up to help fill ...

  Bloomberg The US oil producers added rigs for the seventh week in a row, the longest period of expansion since the final days of the drilling boom in early 2014. Rigs targeting crude in the US rose by 15 to 396, after seven were added last week, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. Explorers have now added ...

  Bloomberg First, Brazil cancelled plans for one of its two planned energy auctions this year because the weak economy is dragging down demand for power. Now that event is back on the schedule and the government may organize a third, because the same economic factors are delaying power projects already under development. The size of the auctions hasn’t been ...

  Bloomberg The top two US solar manufacturers are shifting away from the biggest domestic market because utilities aren’t signing as many deals to buy electricity from their giant power plants. SunPower Corp. the No. 2 US panelmaker, said it’s turning its attention to rooftop power, while First Solar Inc., the biggest producer, now expects more of its growth to ...

  Bloomberg Oil held declines below $43 a barrel as weekly US industry data showed crude stockpiles expanded, keeping supplies at the highest seasonal level in at least two decades. Futures were little changed in New York after losing 0.6 percent on Tuesday. Inventories rose by 2.09 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. Government ...