Regional News

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 …

Bloomberg The US may be exporting natural gas at a record clip, but that hasn’t stopped it from accepting new imports. A tanker with fuel from Nigeria has berthed at the Cove Point import terminal in Maryland, while a second ship with Russian gas is idling outside Boston Harbor. Pipeline constraints, depleted stockpiles and a 98-year-old law barring foreign ships …

Bloomberg A diesel glut in Asia is encouraging traders of the fuel to ramp up cargoes from India to Europe, where stockpiles were ravaged by refinery halts and unusual weather earlier this year. Around 577,000 tonnes of the fuel already arrived this month or are en route to Europe from India’s refineries — whose supplies get sent east or west …

Bloomberg Hess Corp tumbled the most in almost three years, wiping out $1.5 billion in market valuation, after work at the oil explorer’s most promising international investment was halted by a Venezuelan blockade. The intervention threatened to derail development of a 5 billion-barrel discovery off Guyana’s coastline that is so important to Hess’s future growth plans that it receives top …

Bloomberg Kenya needs about $85 million annually in the short term for green projects in agriculture, transport and manufacturing, and as much as $888 million annually during the follow- ing five to 10 years, according to a banking industry lobby. The financing is needed to counter the effects of rapid climate change that could erase about 2 percent of economic …