News

Bloomberg The search for a grand bargain among oil producers shifted to the Iranian capital on Wednesday as Venezuela and Qatar energy ministers initiated talks with Iran and Iraq to try to expand an agreement to freeze crude production to shore up prices. The spotlight that fixed on Tuesday on Doha, Qatar — where Saudi Arabia and Russia tentatively promised ...

Bloomberg A unit of China Petrochemical Corp., the country’s second biggest oil and gas producer known as Sinopec Group, will shut four oil fields in the eastern province of Shandong for the first time in its more than half a century history. Sinopec Shengli Oilfield Co. will shut the Xiaoying, Yihezhuang, Taoerhe and Qiaozhuang fields to save as much as ...

Athens / Bloomberg Greece, struggling with more than €100 billion ($112 billion) of soured loans, wants to cap distressed debt sales, the country’s economy minister said. Resisting calls from creditors to further open the market, George Stathakis, 62, said the government wants to maintain restrictions on the sale of such loans to distressed debt funds. Under the latest accord signed ...

Brussels / Bloomberg Prime Minister David Cameron edged closer to securing an overhaul of the terms of Britain’s membership of the European Union, as fellow leaders signaled they were ready to help him get a deal at this week’s EU summit. With Cameron due in Brussels on Thursday for the second time in 48 hours, he won the backing of ...

DUBLIN / Bloomberg Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael-Labour coalition looks set to lose its majority in the Feb. 26 general election, a poll late Tuesday in Dublin showed. That may push him toward Fianna Fail, which led Ireland into the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression. Bookmaker Paddy Power makes a first-ever grand alliance between the two ...

Paris / Bloomberg Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was charged with illegal campaign financing in relation to his 2012 re-election bid, meaning he is now facing two possible trials in court as he contemplates an attempt to return to office. An investigative judge decided to charge the former French president for exceeding the legal limit for election expenses after questioning ...

London / Bloomberg Britain’s unemployment rate remains at its lowest level in a decade, official data showed on Wednesday. Unemployment stood at 5.1 percent in the three months to December, unchanged from the three months to November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. That was the lowest rate, or proportion of the workforce that are unemployed, since October 2005. ...

LISBON / Bloomberg Portugal just can’t shake off its bears. The nation’s bonds are underperforming their counterparts across the euro area even as a recovery in stocks and oil prices boosted demand for higher-yielding assets. The extra yield, or spread, that investors get for holding Portuguese 10-year bonds instead of the benchmark German bund climbed for the first time in ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to freeze output at near-record levels, the first coordinated move by the world’s two largest oil producers to counter a slump that has pummeled economies, markets and companies. It’s the first significant cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producers in 15 years and Saudi Arabia said it’s open to further action. Oil pared gains after ...

Tehran / AFP Iran intends to maintain its oil market share but said on Tuesday “there is room for discussion” on output, announcing talks with Iraq and Venezuela within 24 hours in Tehran. Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh’s comments avoided a specific reaction to reports that Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to freeze production—on condition that other major oil states ...