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Bloomberg Saudi Aramco will increase dividend payments and pay less tax as the government tries to secure the $2 trillion valuation targeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the state oil company’s initial public offering (IPO). The state-run company, which produces about 10% of the world’s oil, plans to announce its intention to float later this month with the …

Bloomberg When aluminum demand last contracted during financial crisis and unwanted metal started flooding into warehouses, it took more than a decade to work through the glut. Now, the market is bracing for another sharp rise in inventories as demand growth grinds to a halt. Aluminum has tumbled to a two-and-a-half-year low as slowing global growth and the US-China trade …

Bloomberg Mozambique expects to get $880 million in capital gains tax from Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s deal to sell its Africa assets to Total SA, the presidency said in a statement. The nation, already cashing in on a liquefied natural gas boom even before it starts exporting the fuel in 2023, is home to a $23 billion project that Anadarko Petroleum …

Bloomberg China said it would continue to open up its financial markets and encourage foreign investment amid reports the Trump administration is considering restrictions on fund flows to China. “We will take further steps to promote high quality two-way financial opening, encourage foreign financial institutions and funds to invest in domestic financial market, to boost competitiveness and dynamism of the …

MUKALLA / WAM The UAE, through its humanitarian arm, the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), provided 80 tonnes of food and relief assistance to needy Yemeni families in eastern Mukalla, Hadramaut Governorate, as part of the UAE’s efforts to ease their suffering and improve their living conditions. ERC teams distributed 1,000 food baskets that benefitted 5,000 members of local families. The beneficiaries …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is considering selling a dollar-denominated Islamic bond as early as next month as the kingdom seeks to take advantage of lower borrowing costs, according to reports. The government is close to hiring banks for the possible sukuk sale. A sale would come just weeks after attacks on the kingdom’s oil facilities slashed Saudi Aramco’s crude output by …

Bloomberg Oil investors piled into short positions as oil markets shook off the disruption from attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. Bets that West Texas Intermediate crude prices would decline surged 33%, just before prices briefly dipped below pre-attack levels. Money managers are still net long, according to data released September 27 by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but …

Bloomberg The company behind a major tourism destination on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast that will include an archipelago of more than 90 islands as well as desert and mountain scenery hopes to award up to $2.7 billion in construction contracts by the end of 2020. “Between now and the end of the year, we hope to award another two …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is recovering faster than expected from the biggest attacks ever on its oil industry, beating its own target for restoring capacity by about a week. State oil producer Saudi Aramco has boosted total production capacity to more than 11 million barrels a day, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The news helped to push crude …

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) is weighing an aggressive new approach to its trade dispute with the US, signaling a willingness to engage in the combative tactics embraced by President Donald Trump and risking a further deterioration in transatlantic relations. The EU is considering imposing tariffs on more than $4 billion of US exports, citing as justification a 22-year-old World …