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Bloomberg The Gulf Cooperation Council is setting up a company to facilitate direct money transfers among its six members. The Riyadh-based company will allow Gulf states to transfer money “without reliance on international currencies,” Kuwait central bank Governor Mohammed Al-Hashel told reporters following a meeting of regional central bankers in Kuwait City. The chief executive officer has been picked and ...

Bloomberg A full-blown trade war could cost the global economy $470 billion, according to Bloomberg Economics. The US decision to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum may just be the beginning, with President Donald Trump warning of more levies and other economies promising to respond. Cecilia Malmstrom, the European Union’s trade chief, vowed on Monday to “stand up to bullies.” ...

Bloomberg Oil risks sliding back under $60 a barrel as a surge in US shipments to Asia threatens to undermine a deal between OPEC and its allies, according to ING Groep NV. While the producer group complied with a pledge to curb output and ease a glut in 2017, US flows that are gaining a bigger slice of the prized ...

DUBAI / Reuters Egypt plans to award the tender for a high-speed railway between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean in the second half of 2018, transport minister Hisham Arafat said on Monday. The project will connect the eastern resort of Ain al-Sokhna to El Alamein, a town west of Alexandria that was scene of a battle in World War ...

Bloomberg An agency tasked with cleaning up Nigeria’s murky oil industry says even though financial accountability has improved the state oil company still hasn’t explained billions of dollars of missing revenue. While energy producers have cooperated and complied with requirements to publish payments, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has struggled with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., Waziri Adio, ...

BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq’s oil ministry on Monday said the nation would reduce its petroleum products imports by 25 percent as crude oil refiner­ies are being rehabilitated following fighting with IS militants. Iraq is also producing more oil products by processing natural gas liquids, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said in a statement, without indicating a specific timeframe for the import ...

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi’s Water & Electricity Co (WEC) invited proposals to develop Jubail Phase 3, an integrated water desalination and power plant in the country’s Eastern Province, according to a tender posted on its website. The project, which an industry source estimated to be worth about $5bn, is expected to generate 1.17mn cubic metres of water per day and ...

Bloomberg EON SE agreed to acquire Innogy SE from German rival RWE AG, transforming the energy industry as Europe’s largest economy continues its switch to renewable power. In a complicated deal involving shares and asset swaps, EON SE will emerge with the retail and network businesses of both companies, while RWE will end up owning the combined renewable generation businesses ...

Bloomberg Across Britain, energy companies are hoping that Brexit just might just go away. Energy has only been a sideshow in the discussions about the UK leaving the European Union even though it’s a key part of the trade bloc’s single market. Power and natural gas companies say Britain’s existing relationship with the bloc on energy matters should remain in ...

Bloomberg Oil trading giants including Glencore Ltd. and Vitol SA paid millions of dollars to a former PDVSA trader to get the inside track on Venezuelan oil deals, according to a lawsuit filed by a trust for Petróleos de Venezuela SA. The alleged conspiracy, which includes more than two dozen companies and individuals, even has a name worthy of a ...