Regional News

KUWAIT / Reuters Kuwait’s Oil Minister Essam al-Marzouq said on Wednesday that OPEC could hold an extraordinary meeting in mid-March if oil producers did not reach a decision to extend their supply cut pact when it next meets in November. “In the coming November meeting, we may not reach a decision to extend… the agreement and we could hold an ...

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabian food maker Savola Group, the country’s largest food products company, said on Wednesday that it is selling a 2 percent stake in Almarai, the Gulf’s largest dairy company for 1.12 billion riyals ($307.6 million). The sale was conducted through an accelerated bookbuilding process, which will cut Savola’s stake in Almarai to 34.52 percent from 36.52 ...

Bloomberg Mexico will most likely expand its oil hedge marginally for 2018 as it liberalizes gasoline prices, while the cost for the government to protect crude exports against a drastic drop in prices will be about the same as for this year, Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said. The earthquake off Mexico’s coast last week should trigger a portion of ...

BAGHDAD / Reuters Royal Dutch Shell is seeking to sell Iraq’s Majnoon oilfield and the oil ministry has started preparations to finalise its exit, according to an oil ministry letter and oil officials. A letter signed by Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi and dated Aug. 23 and directed to Shell Iraq Petroleum Development gave approval for Shell to quit Majnoon, ...

Bloomberg India’s oil consumption in August shrank 6.1 percent, the most since April 2003, as floods ravaged several parts of the country curbing demand for diesel and gasoline. The world’s fastest growing oil consumer used 15.75 million tons of fuels in August, compared with 16.78 million tons a year ago, according to the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. ...

AGENCIES OPEC on Tuesday forecast higher demand for its oil in 2018 and pointed to signs of a tighter global market, indicating its production-cutting deal with non-member countries is helping to tackle a supply glut that has weighed on prices. In a monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said the world would need 32.83 million barrels per ...

Bloomberg Oil steadied near $48 a barrel as refiners on the US Gulf Coast continued to recover following two strikes from Hurricane Harvey, while Irma weakened further after moving inland. Futures slipped 0.5 percent in New York after rising 1.2 percent. US refiners closed by Hurricane Harvey more than two weeks ago continue to restart, including the nation’s largest, operated ...

BASRA / BAGHDAD / Reuters Worsening clashes among tribes and a political void is threatening security at oil installations in Iraq’s main southern oil producing region, officials and security sources said. Iraq has concentrated security forces in the north and west of the OPEC oil producer in the biggest campaign since the US-led invasion in 2003 to retake territory lost ...

DUBAI / Reuters The government of Bahrain is expected to offer investors significant premiums over its outstanding debt when it issues bonds this week because of growing concern over its finances in an era of cheap oil, portfolio managers said. A triple-tranche issue may follow, including a long seven-year sukuk issue maturing in 2025, a 12-year conventional bond and, subject ...

DUBA / Reuters Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih discussed with his Venezuelan and Kazakh counterparts the possible extension of the global oil supply cut pact beyond March 2018, the Saudi energy ministry said. OPEC and other producers, including Russia, have agreed to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels per day until next March in a bid to reduce ...