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Bloomberg While TransCanada Corp. continues to weigh whether to build its long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, the company announced another major expansion of its natural gas system in Alberta. TransCanada will spend C$2.4 billion ($1.9 billion) to expand its NGTL System, adding 1 billion cubic feet of daily shipping capacity, according to a statement. The company struck binding agreements with …

Bloomberg SunPower Corp. is willing to sell about $1.4 billion in long-term solar leases to raise $200 million now. The 45,000 contracts stretch out for as long as two decades, generating monthly payments from customers that altogether installed 400 megawatts of rooftop panels. SunPower took a non-cash charge of $474 million in the fourth quarter as a result, the San …

Bloomberg Oil posted its first weekly increase since last month as rebounding equity markets eased concern about economic growth and a weakening dollar boosted the allure of commodities priced in the US currency. Futures in New York rose 0.6 percent and gained 4.2 percent this week. The greenback touched a three-year low earlier in the day before edging higher, though …

KUWAIT / WAM Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, announced the UAE’s offer to provide deve- lopment aid worth $500 million, to assist international efforts to reconstruct Iraq. During his speech as head of the UAE delegation at the ‘Kuwait International Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq,’ he explained that the support includes $250 million …

RIYADH / Reuters Russia is seeking to finalise multi-million-dollar investment deals with Saudi Arabia in the next three months including partnerships with state oil giant Aramco, Russia’s top state investment officer said on Wednesday. Russian banks and a Russian-Chinese investment fund are also keen to take part in Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO), the head of the Russian Direct Investment …

LONDON / Reuters As OPEC watches a near 15 percent drop in the oil price in three weeks, important indicators in the physical crude market are flashing signals that the decline might be far from over. The warnings come not from the heavily traded futures market, but from less transparent trading activity in crude oil and products markets, where key …

ZURICH / Reuters Clariant Chief Executive Hariolf Kottmann told investors he would update them on the Swiss speciality chemicals maker’s tie-up with new shareholder Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) by July as he seeks a recovery from a turbulent 2017. Full-year net profit in 2017 rose 9.5 percent, short of analyst estimates, as the group was hit by one-time costs …

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia will restrain its oil exports in March despite lower domestic need for crude as OPEC’s leader is pushing to eliminate fully the global oil glut and combat worries about a new cycle of oil price weakness. The kingdom will keep its crude exports below 7 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, despite a maintenance …

LONDON / Reuters The rise in global oil production, led by the United States, is likely to outpace growth in demand this year, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. The Paris-based IEA raised its forecast for oil demand growth in 2018 to 1.4 million barrels per day, from a previous projection of 1.3 million bpd, after the International Monetary …

Bloomberg Oil demand in India rose 10.3 percent in the first month of 2018, the fourth straight monthly gain. Total oil consumption expanded at the fastest pace in 14 months to 16.9 million tons from 15.3 million a year ago, according to the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. Improvement in road freight transport following the stabilization of the …