News

  Reuters Iraqi state oil firm SOMO has blacklisted three tankers involved in shipping crude from Kurdistan, stepping up pressure on the semi-autonomous region amid tense talks on sharing oil revenue. Kurdistan has been exporting crude independently via Turkey since mid-2015 after saying Baghdad had failed to respect an oil revenue-sharing deal and transfer enough money to Erbil. Baghdad, which ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s National Industrialization Co., known as Tasnee, agreed terms with lenders to refinance around 6 billion riyals ($1.6 billion) of debt at its titanium unit after a slump in commodity prices, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new debt will have a duration of three years — with the option to extend to five ...

  Bloomberg Dealmaking in Australia’s office market has plunged by the most since the global financial crisis as owners hang on to assets that are among the highest-yielding in the region. Commercial property transactions in Australia fell 57 percent to $7.5 billion in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier, according to Real Capital Analytics, Inc. That’s ...

  Bloomberg China’s soybean imports are likely to rebound in the fourth quarter as seasonal demand rises and processors in the world’s biggest buyer look to replenish supplies after lower-than-expected sales from state stockpiles, according to industry analysts. Sales from state reserves have totaled just 1.1 million metric tons, compared with expectations for 3 million to 4 million tons, said ...

  Bloomberg India is urging its power producers to look overseas for new markets as fewer new plants are needed at home amid surplus generation capacity. The Indian government is encouraging state-run power producers to build plants overseas, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in an interview Saturday. The country is projected to report surplus power supply for the ...

  Bloomberg India’s fastest-growing fuel seller will spend $8 billion over the next five years to help its 60-year-old refineries earn profit margins closer to modern processors such as billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. “You can definitely expect $2 to $3 addition to the refining margin,” Mukesh Kumar Surana, chairman and managing director at Hindustan Petroleum Corp., said in ...

  Bloomberg Cracks are starting to show in China’s labour market as struggling industrial firms leave millions of workers in flux. While official jobless numbers haven’t budged, the underemployment rate has jumped to more than 5 percent from near zero in 2010, according to Bai Peiwei, an economics professor at Xiamen University. Bai estimates the rate may be 10 percent ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM Tadweer, the Centre of Waste Management, Abu Dhabi, signed new contracts worth over AED1.2 billion with the Sharjah Environment Company (Bee’ah), Averda Waste Management, Lavajet Abu Dhabi and Nael and Bin Harmal Hydro-export Establishment joint venture, to provide waste collection and transportation, street sweeping and cleaning services. Agreements were also signed with Eagle Environment Services ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM Inspectors from the General Administration of Customs – Abu Dhabi recorded 7,224 customs seizures in the first half of 2016, compared to 6,435 in the first half of 2015, representing a 12.3% increase. Inspectors foiled attempts to smuggle 7,434 illegal substances into the UAE through various customs ports in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi during the ...

  DUBAI/ WAM Preparations are afoot to hold the third Middle East Franchise Expo & Forum from October 25-26 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai, Omar Al Hazza, Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa Franchise Association, said on Sunday. “The forum will showcase a wide range of 90 brands in the two-day event. We want to send ...