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Bloomberg Saudi Aramco’s chief executive officer said he has bigger ambitions in petrochemicals beyond the planned $70 billion acquisition of a strategic stake in local company Sabic, touting plastics as a key hedge against an electric-car driven slowdown in global oil demand growth. “We still have to do more,” Amin Nasser, chief executive officer of state-owned Aramco, said in an …

Bloomberg Linde AG and Praxair Inc. won approval from the US antitrust enforcers for their $46 billion merger, paving the way for the companies’ two-year bid to create the world’s largest supplier of industrial gases. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it approved the deal on the condition that Linde and Praxair sell assets to resolve concerns that the combination …

Bloomberg Move over Google. There’s a new urban oasis coming to the shores of Lake Ontario. A former 177-acre (72-hectare) coal power plant site will be transformed into a mixed-use community in Mississauga, a city west of Toronto that could be worth as much as C$6 billion ($4.6 billion) once complete, according to Fabio Mazzocco, president of Lakeview Community Partners …

Bloomberg Venezuela’s state-run oil company is preparing to make a $949 million bond payment that’s due October 29, according to reports. Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s (PDVSA) plan to make the coupon and partial principal repayment on the 2020 notes would mark a rare exception for Nicolas Maduro’s government, which has racked up nearly $7 billion in defaulted debt to investors. …

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. resumed talks with Ghana Oil Co. as the oil supermajor nears a deadline to find a local partner for the exploration of crude at an offshore field, according to people familiar with the matter. Talks between Exxon and the Accra-based gas station operator, known as Goil, for a 5 percent stake in the Deepwater Cape Three …

Bloomberg Southeast Asia is seeing a boom in foreign direct investment as the intensifying trade war between the US and China prompts companies to shift production to the region. Vietnam saw manufacturing inflows jump 18 percent in the first nine months of 2018, driven by investme- nts including a $1.2 billion polypropylene production project by South Korea’s Hyosung Corp, according …

Bloomberg US refiners are getting stung by President Donald Trump’s efforts to keep consumer prices from rising in the run up to the 2020 election. The Trump administration is seeking to slow the implementation in 2020 of tighter fuel restrictions on the global shipping industry. The rules, which would slash by more than 80 percent the sulfur allowed in fuel …

Bloomberg Oil traded below $70 a barrel as supply concerns eased after American drilling rose to the highest since 2015, and on growing investor optimism crude output in Libya may climb from early next year. Futures in New York were little changed, following a 3.1 percent decline last week. Working US oil rigs increased by four to 873 last week, …

Bloomberg Rwanda is considering partnering with oil and gas companies for the next stage of exploring Lake Kivu for more hydrocarbons, a government official said. The East African nation has conducted the first round of shallow drilling for geochemistry tests in the methane-gas-producing lake in the west of the country, according to Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board Chief Executive Officer …

Bloomberg BP Plc and Eni SpA could re-start work on a project in Libya in the first quarter, setting the stage for the OPEC member to boost production by “hundreds of thousands of barrels” a day, the head of the country’s state oil company said. Crude production in the North African nation is averaging “well above 1 million barrels a …