Regional News

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s central bank said it had not banned trading of the Qatari riyal since Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Doha, and said visiting Qatari citizens could exchange their currency. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing Doha of backing terrorism, which Qatar denies. ...

Bloomberg Blackstone Group LP’s reach for $10 billion in energy assets is the firm’s latest bet that the US shale boom is just hitting its stride. The world’s largest alternative-asset manager agreed to buy Harvest Fund Advisors for an undisclosed amount, adding the firm’s 18-member team led by Eric Conklin to an investment empire that spans private equity, real estate, ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) on Asian routes will remain under pressure for at least the next month, facing strong headwinds from a glut of tonnage, brokers said. “There are around 80 to 90 ships available for charter in the first 10 days in September – that’s about three ships for every cargo,” a ...

Bloomberg Libya’s getting better at resolving stoppages in its oil industry, underpinning a growing perception that the OPEC member is closer to becoming a stable producer again. That’s because of the duration of the incidents. While in prior years protests could shutter fields for months and years, now the stoppages are being resolved within days and barely hindering flows. Sharara, ...

Bloomberg The market for physical barrels of crude from places as far apart as Oman and Colombia is strengthening beyond the traditional seasonal peak in demand, a positive indicator for global benchmark futures prices that remain stuck near $50. Physical differentials — the price gap between individual grades of crude and widely traded markers like Brent or West Texas Intermediate ...

UNITED NATIONS / Reuters Saudi Arabia said it was installing four cranes at three ports in Yemen to help boost humanitarian aid deliveries and was ready to assist with installing cranes at the key port of Hodeidah once it was under control of a neutral party. The Saudi mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the cranes ...

CAIRO / Reuters GB Auto, the Egyptian automotive assembler and manufacturer, expects demand for cars to pick up by the end of 2017 as dealers run down inventories, the company’s CEO said. Consumer demand in Egypt took a hit in November last year, when the central bank floated the pound currency to secure a three-year $12 billion International Monetary Fund ...

DUBAI / Reuters OPEC member Iraq has formed a joint venture with a shipping company owned by Arab states to transfer, store and trade crude and oil products, according to official documents and industry sources. Middle East oil producers are venturing into buying and selling oil to boost their incomes as a sharp drop in crude prices since mid-2014 has ...

BENGHAZI / Reuters Production at Libya’s Sharara oilfield dropped to between 130,000 and 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), from about 280,000 bpd, because of recent security breaches, an engineer who works at the field said on Tuesday. Field employees had difficulty accessing some of the field’s facilities after cars and mobile phones were stolen, said the engineer, who did not ...

Bloomberg When OPEC and Russia first embarked on their strategy to clear a global oil glut, it was expected to succeed within six months. It now looks like the battle could last for years. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners plan to wrap up their production cuts next spring, already nine months later than originally expected. Yet ...