Regional News

Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd will extend its strategy of trimming top executive positions to include lower ranking managers and finally the general workforce as South Africa’s cash-strapped power utility looks to cut costs, according to a person familiar with the plans. The state-owned company last month reduced its highest executive structure to nine positions from 21 by regrading and ...

Bloomberg With brand-name drillers unwilling to jump in, Venezuela is resorting to a newly formed US company for help in shoring up production from its crude reserves, the largest in the world. Schlumberger Ltd and Halliburton Co, the world’s biggest oil-service providers, have announced over $2 billion in combined write-offs for unpaid bills in Venezuela since the second quarter of ...

Bloomberg Jobs in the Texas oil patch dropped for the first time in almost two years, according to the state’s workforce commission. The number of workers handling exploration and drilling duties fell by 500 to 247,700 in November 2018 compared with the previous month, according to the latest data from the Texas Workforce Commission. Snapping a streak of 23 months ...

Bloomberg Brent crude surged to its best weekly gain in more than two years, as encouraging economic news out of the US helped oil markets turn the page on 2018’s price collapse. The global benchmark closed higher, ending the week up 9.3 percent for its best showing since December 2016. Oil rallied alongside the US stock market following a strong ...

Bloomberg European natural gas prices look set to fall for the first time in four years in 2019 as buyers keep a close eye on flows from Russia that reached a record last year. With a healthy amount of fuel in storage after a mild start to this winter, the outlook is bearish. That’s being exacerbated by an expected increase ...

Bloomberg Venezuela, once Latin America’s largest oil exporter, ended 2018 with a whimper as overseas sales dropped to the lowest in nearly three decades. Home to the world’s biggest crude reserves, the country exported 1.245 million barrels a day last year, the lowest since 1990, as production tumbles amid an economic and humanitarian crisis. Financial sanctions imposed by the US ...

Bloomberg Zimbabwe has reached flexible payment arrangements with some gasoline importers that will ensure it stabilises supplies amid a forei- gn-currency shortage that threatens economic growth. The government has struck a deal with a unit of Trafigura Beheer BV and Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) of Kuwait Ltd to extend payment periods for gasoline supplies to as many as six months ...

Bloomberg The new head of Brazil’s state-controlled oil company criticised its history of government interference and vowed to pursue policies that will boost profit, echoing a wider pledge by President Jair Bolsonaro to reduce the state’s role in Latin America’s largest economy. Roberto Castello Branco, who was sworn in as chief executive officer of Petrobras, said he was “revolted” by ...

Bloomberg The Canadian oil industry could be in for another turbulent year in 2019, depending on how some pivotal events pan out. Government-mandated production cuts and the potential startup of a key crude pipeline are among key developments to watch for this year. While the announcement of production curtailments by Premier Rachel Notley has succeeded in lifting Canadian crude prices ...

Bloomberg The world’s biggest banks are reckoning on a rebound in oil prices next year as fears of a recession prove misplaced. The Brent benchmark will average $70 a barrel in 2019, according to a Bloomberg survey of oil analysts. Futures in London and New York plunged this quarter, with volatility soaring in its final week as crude tracked gyrations ...