Regional News

Bloomberg S&P Global Ratings cut the credit rating of Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s 550-megawatt Topaz Solar Farms to junk, noting that the plant counts on embattled utility giant PG&E Corp for all of its revenue. S&P lowered ratings on Topaz Solar by five notches to ‘B’ from ‘BBB-’ and maintained the ratings on CreditWatch, meaning it may make further cuts. In …

Bloomberg Output cuts in oil-rich Alberta and Saudi Arabia are combining to leave heavy-crude refiners from the Gulf of Mexico to Asia in a bind. While curtailments in the Canadian province have propelled local prices to their strongest level in almost a decade, other grades like Arab Heavy and Heavy Louisiana Sweet are also surging. The Saudis are expected to …

Bloomberg Sinopec, China’s top oil refiner, won approval from the country’s cabinet for a long-awaited initial public offering of the retail unit that runs its vast chain of gas stations and convenience stores, people with knowledge of the matter said. The green light from the State Council clears the final Chinese regulatory hurdle for the deal and means the IPO …

Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc is seeking buyers for an Ontario refinery and some sour gas facilities in Alberta as the company focuses on its $31 billion liquefied natural gas project in British Columbia. “These assets have been a cornerstone of Shell Canada for many years, however, they are no longer a fit with Shell’s evolving portfolio,” the company said …

Bloomberg Saudi Aramco could tap the bond market for about $10 billion to help fund the acquisition of petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp, according to the country’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih. The kingdom will decide in the “next few weeks” about the size of the proposed bond, though the offering would not be “huge,” Al-Falih told reporters in Abu …

Bloomberg Russia’s Novatek PJSC is looking at storing liquefied natural gas produced in the Arctic on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu so it can better meet spot demand from China and cut shipping costs. Saibu Gas Co, which last month signed a preliminary deal to allow Russia’s biggest LNG producer to use its storage facilities, said it may build two …

Bloomberg Alberta’s government maintained its mandated oil curtailment in February at the same level as January even as Canadian heavy oil prices surged. The province’s oil producers collectively must cut February output by 325,000 barrels a day, according to an email from Mike McKinnon, an energy ministry spokesman. The baseline for the cuts is the highest single month of production …

Bloomberg Britain’s plan for a nuclear revival was thrown into disarray after the second Japanese company in as many months seemed to pull the plug on a new plant. The UK government has put atomic energy at the heart of its effort to attract 100 billion pounds ($130 billion) of investment to upgrade its aging reactors it needs to keep …

Bloomberg India’s oil demand growth in 2018 rebounded from the slowest pace in four years as the country recovered from the shock of a cash ban and the roll out of a national sales tax. The nation’s consumption of petroleum products rose 4.1 percent to about 210 million tonnes, the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell said. Growth improved …

Bloomberg China’s crude oil purchases from the Middle East and West Africa dropped to a four-month low in December, following a buying binge the previous month that saw the Asian country’s stockpiles swell. Observed flows to China from the two regions dropped to 5.04 million barrels a day, the lowest since August, after reaching a 2018-high of 6.45 million barrels …