Regional News

Bloomberg Billionaire Carl Icahn says an oil industry push for structural change to the US biofuels mandate will persist, raising the prospect of legal action, even if the Environmental Protection Agency denies refiner requests. Independent oil refiners have no plans to abandon their view that the current structure of the Renewable Fuel Standard is flawed, Icahn said in an interview, ...

Bloomberg China’s creating the world’s largest power company. The government of President Xi Jinping approved the merger of Shenhua Group Corp., the country’s top coal miner, with China Guodian Corp., one of the largest power generators, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said in a one-sentence statement posted online on Monday. The new entity, with assets of 1.8 trillion ...

Bloomberg China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the world’s biggest oil refiner, posted 40 percent growth in first-half profit amid better earnings from its chemicals business as well as a narrower loss from producing oil and gas and lower financing costs. Net income rose to 27.9 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) in the six months ended June 30, the Beijing-based company known ...

Bloomberg An Australian company is introducing its own version of bitcoin that will let homeowners and businesses sell excess energy generated from their rooftop solar panels to neighbors, without a middleman taking a cut. As of Monday, Perth-based Power Ledger had sold about 57 percent of the 100 million so-called “power tokens” offered at 8.8 US cents a piece since ...

ISTANBUL / ANKARA / Reuters Saudi Telecom Company is in the lead to buy the 55 percent of fixed-line operator Turk Telekom owned by Oger Telecom, sources said, adding that the Turkish government could acquire the $3.9 billion stake if those talks fail. The potential deal comes as Oger, Turk Telekom’s biggest shareholder, faces increasing pressure from creditor banks after ...

Bloomberg EuroMena Funds, a Beirut-based private-equity firm that has raised $350 million since 2006, plans to almost double assets as it seeks investments in Lebanese-owned companies operating abroad. After a decade of deploying most of its capital in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, EuroMena’s latest fund has spent $55 million for stakes in a toilet-paper manufacturer in Nigeria, a Tunisia-based operator ...

Bloomberg The Energy Department, in a long-anticipated report on the security of the US electric grid, makes the case for rescuing the nation’s coal industry from widespread plant shutdowns, but stops short of an assault on renewable power that environmentalists had feared. The study, commissioned by Energy Secretary Rick Perry who has warned that policies favoring solar and wind may ...

Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc is investigating a solar power project in an Australian region better known for its fossil fuels, particularly coal. The company is studying the feasibility of a solar development on its land in the Western Downs area of Queensland, which is subject to a final investment decision, a spokeswoman said by email. Though Shell’s statement didn’t ...

Bloomberg Sunrun Inc., the residential solar company that’s boosting market-share, rose to a 52-week high last week after saying it will tap a partnership with the biggest US cable-TV company to add new customers. Comcast Corp. and Sunrun agreed to a 40-month partnership after a trial showed that cable customers had interest in solar products, according to a statement. San ...

KHOBAR / Reuters­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Saudi Arabia and China are to cooperate on nuclear energy projects following discussions between the two countries on ways to support the kingdom’s nuclear energy programme, state news agency SPA reported. Saudi Arabia has been for years trying to diversify its energy mix so that it can export more of its oil, rather than burning it at ...