Regional News

RIYADH / Reuters The $23 billion Riyadh Metro launched an auction on Sunday for private companies to name and advertise in select metro stops when the system opens in 2019, an initiative that could generate millions of dollars to help cover operational costs. Construction on the 176-kilometre (110 miles) metro began in 2014 after contracts were awarded to consortiums headed ...

BEIJING / Reuters China has bought a rare cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Norway, Reuters shipping data shows, the latest sign that the world’s second-largest economy has rushed to increase spot purchases to ensure fuel supplies ahead of the coming winter. Trade flow data on Thomson Reuters Eikon shows LNG tanker Grace Cosmos, with a cargo of 143,625 ...

BEIRUTH / Reuters The only bidder in Lebanon’s first tender for five offshore energy blocks was a consortium made up of France’s Total, Italy’s ENI and Russia’s Novatek, Minister of Energy and Water Cesar Abi Khalil said. The consortium submitted two bids for block 4 and block 9, Abi Khalil said in a statement on Facebook. Lebanon sits on the ...

LONDON / Reuters Global supply and demand for crude oil will be largely balanced next year, as growth in consumption helps erode a three-year-old overhang of unused fuel and should mostly offset a steep rise in output, the International Energy Agency said. In its monthly oil market report, the Paris-based IEA said it continues to see global demand for crude ...

Bloomberg Oil climbed to the highest level in two weeks as dwindling US crude stockpiles and near-record Chinese imports signaled the worldwide glut is eroding. Futures advanced 1.7 percent in New York, posting the biggest weekly gain in a month. In China, the world’s second-biggest oil market, crude imports in September jumped to the second-highest on record. US oil inventories ...

LONDON / Reuters China has built its crude oil stockpiles at a record pace in 2017 and while its purchases could tail off towards the year-end, inventories could hit the billion-barrel mark in six months, the International Energy Agency said. China has spent around $24 billion on building its crude reserves since 2015, at an average of $50 a barrel, ...

LONDON / Reuters Already record US oil exports are set to surge further in the coming month as stored oil in one of the world’s last areas of excess stockpiles pours into global markets, the chief executive of trading house Mercuria, Marco Dunand, said. The US shale oil revolution upended global energy markets, and in late September the country’s oil ...

Bloomberg The key to replacing aging nuclear plants in the US Northeast may lie 1,000 miles away, along a remote river tumbling through the Canadian wilderness. In boreal forests above the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Hydro-Quebec is building a series of dams that will generate enough electricity for more than one million homes. The $5.2 billion project on the Romaine ...

Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA promised to stop financing shale and oil sands projects as part of its latest efforts to tackle climate change. France’s biggest bank will no longer do business with companies whose main business stems from oil and gas obtained from shale or oil sands, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The policy covers companies involved in ...

Bloomberg Oil held gains near $51 a barrel as OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo reiterated a rapid market re-balancing is under way, and as US production was again disrupted by a storm. Futures added 0.8 percent in New York after advancing 3.3 percent in the previous two sessions. The global economic recovery has gained traction and oil de-stocking gathered momentum over ...