Regional News

SINGAPORE / Reuters Saudi Aramco’s trading arm will start trading non-Saudi crude oil to mainly feed its international joint ventures as the world’s largest oil exporter seeks to optimise profits, industry sources familiar with the move said. The expansion into crude comes as Saudi Aramco is working to boost its valuation ahead of the planned listing of up to 5 ...

Bloomberg Oil traded near $52 after entering a bull market as US industry data showed an unexpected decline in crude stockpiles, the first decrease since Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast last month and shuttered refineries. Futures fell 0.2 percent in New York after slipping on Tuesday. Inventories fell by 761,000 barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said ...

Bloomberg The offshore drilling market will take a long time to rebalance as more consolidation and rig retirements are needed to cut oversupply, according to DNB ASA, Norway’s biggest bank. While the market has probably reached bottom, the question is how long it will stay there, Kristin Holth, DNB’s head of global ocean industries, said in a phone interview on ...

Bloomberg The age of persistently weak oil prices is nearing its end, with demand booming and a supply squeeze in the offing, according to Trafigura Group. The global market could face a shortage by 2019, Ben Luckock, co-head of Group Market Risk at the third-largest independent oil trader, said at the S&P Global Platts APPEC conference. As much as 9 ...

Bloomberg An ExxonMobil subsidiary this week said it would root out methane leaks and upgrade production technology as part of an effort to manage industrial pollution, the latest move by an energy sector that’s beginning to take matters into its own hands while the Trump administration works to roll back Obama-era climate rules. The quiet announcement contrasts with recent events ...

RIYADH / Emirates Business Otis Saudi Arabia has been selected for the prestigious Riyadh Metro – lines 4, 5 and 6 – by FAST Consortium of companies, which is led by Spanish construction group FCC and includes partners Samsung C&T, Alstom, Strukton, Freyssinet Saudi Arabia; and is contracted by the High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh. Otis, the world’s ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Oil prices may rise to $60 a barrel by the end of this year or by early 2018 as OPEC and non-OPEC producers are expected to extend supply cuts beyond March, while oil inventories continue to decline, a former Saudi energy ministry official said in Washington. “With the current arrangement and commitment of major producers, and their ...

Bloomberg US crude was back in a bull market on Tuesday as Turkey threatened to shut down Kurdish oil exports in response to the region’s independence vote, while Trafigura Group and Citigroup Inc. added to warnings of a looming supply squeeze. Turkey can “close the valves” on oil shipments from Kurdistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Ankara opposes an ...

KUWAIT / Reuters Assets managed by Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), one of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, have grown more than 34 percent over the past five years, Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh said. Speaking at a Euromoney conference, Saleh described the state’s reserves and assets, managed by the KIA, as representing a “safety valve” for the economy during times ...

BEIJING / Reuters Russia beat Saudi Arabia to become China’s top crude oil supplier for a sixth month in August, as independent refiners ramped up purchases and as state-owned refiners bought seaborne shipments from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino. China’s crude oil imports from Russia in August were 4.426 million tonnes, or about 1.04 million barrels per day ...