Regional News

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 …

Bloomberg Oman, the biggest Arab oil producer outside of OPEC, is turning up the heat in a regional battle for business from ships in need of fuel with a $600 million deal to build storage tanks at the port of Sohar. Sohar Port and Freezone signed a contract with Singapore-based trader Trescorp Alliance Pte to build an initial fuel-storage capacity …

Bloomberg / Reuters Saudi Arabia will hold calls with fixed-income investors starting Monday as the world’s biggest oil exporter seeks to sell dollar bonds for the second time this year. The kingdom mandated Goldman Sachs Group Inc., GIB Capital, HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. as joint lead managers and bookrunners to organize …

Bloomberg Statoil ASA is among producers involved in discussions with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. about joining offshore production in the emirate, according to a Norwegian diplomatic dispatch. “All the major oil companies, including Statoil, are positioning themselves for a cooperation with ADNOC in the offshore segment,” Norway’s embassy in Abu Dhabi wrote in a message to the Foreign …

SINGAPORE / Reuters Oil pricing agency Argus Media said on Monday it is seeking market feedback to publish prices for Iraq’s Basra Light and Basra Heavy crude oil grades for cargoes that do not have restrictions on the destinations to which they can be sold. Argus currently publishes prices for Basra Light and Heavy for cargoes that are restriction to …

DUBAI / Reuters The Saudi stock index may rise as crude oil prices held near a six-month high, while other Gulf markets more susceptible to foreign flows may follow the downtrend in Asian shares. Brent was trading at $56.80 a barrel in Asia, staying near a March high struck on Friday. Petrochemical makers, that account for roughly one-quarter of Saudi …

Bloomberg When the who’s who of the oil trading industry gathered in Singapore last year for the annual Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC), the talk was about a painful year ahead. Of the dozen or so senior oil traders canvassed, all but one expected prices to be capped at about $50 a barrel. A year later, the sentiment has turned …

Bloomberg China slapped fresh sanctions on North Korea, curbing some oil product exports to the country, after US President Donald Trump ordered new sanctions this week. China halted the outbound shipment of condensate and liquefied natural gas to North Korea from Saturday, and will limit exports of refined oil products from Oct. 1, the Ministry of Commerce said in a …