Regional News

Bloomberg Italy is looking to shed its status as one of Europe’s most expensive gas markets, but the way it plans to do so has riled traders. Lawmakers will likely discuss a proposed national energy strategy that would overhaul the country’s gas sector and may cut prices by 5 percent. Economic Development Minister Carlo Calenda seeks to turn the plan, ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Spot prices for October-loading Iraqi Basra Light crude in Asia have slipped to discounts against its official selling price and could stay weak for another month after the producer did not cut prices for November, four trade sources said. Iraq kept the November official selling price for Basra Light to Asia unchanged even as Saudi Arabia trimmed ...

ALGIERSE / Reuters Algeria’s state energy company Sonatrach is facing difficulties meeting clients’ demands for gas exports, its chief executive said, citing unwieldy beaucracy and the need to attract more foreign expertise. Sonatrach, Algeria’s cash cow and a major gas supplier to Europe, has been shaken by corruption scandals, the frequent departure of top executives and bureaucratic inefficiencies that have ...

Bloomberg Saudi Aramco plans to make “the deepest customer allocation cuts in its history” in oil supplies in November to help reduce global inventories and balance the market. State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, will make an “unprecedented” cut of 560,000 barrels a day in its allocations to customers next month, the Saudi energy ministry said in a ...

Bloomberg Oil traded near $50 a barrel in New York before data forecast to show a third weekly drop in US crude inventories, while Saudi Arabia said it will sell customers considerably less crude than they’re asking for. Futures rose 0.8 percent after advancing 0.6 percent, rebounding from a weekly loss. Crude stockpiles probably slid by 750,000 barrels last week, ...

Bloomberg Iraq and Iran boosted crude exports in September, taking advantage of a slower pace of shipments from rival Saudi Arabia to win buyers in key markets like China and the U.S. Iraq shipped 3.98 million barrels of crude a day, the highest since December, while Iran’s exports rose to 2.28 million barrels a day, the most since February, according ...

Bloomberg Each week, Friggi Oil Service pays a visit to Ai Due Otri, a traditional Sardinian restaurant in central Rome, to pick up what’s left in the frying pan. Leftover oil from this and other restaurants is trucked to a collection area just outside the capital. It’s then taken to a refinery operated by Eni SpA, Italy’s oil and gas ...

Bloomberg Nigeria’s state oil company said it wasn’t obliged by law to refer contracts to Petroleum Minister of State Emmanuel Kachikwu for review or approval, dismissing allegations it made at least $24 billion worth of deals without following due process. “The law and the rules do not require a review or discussion with the Minister of State or the NNPC ...

Bloomberg Oil producers are succeeding in re-balancing an oversupplied market, though they may need to take further steps to sustain the recovery into 2018, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said. Saudi Arabia and Russia are currently leading consultations between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major suppliers about the future of their agreement to cut oil output, Barkindo ...

Reuters Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) plans to buy a 12 percent stake in Kuwaiti telecoms company Zain in a deal that would more than double its stake as part of its expansion strategy. Having purchased a 9.8 percent stake in August to diversify its investment and market position in the region, Omantel said on Monday that it had signed a non-binding ...