Regional News

Bloomberg Oil steadied after a third weekly loss on speculation that sustained drilling by US producers will blunt efforts by OPEC and Russia to re-balance an oversupplied crude market. Futures were little changed in New York after sliding 3.8 percent last week. Inventories are declining and reductions will accelerate in the next three to four months, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister …

SINGAPORE / Reuters The costs to ship fuel and crude oil from Qatar are expected to rise after the United Arab Emirates banned vessels that previously called at Qatar from docking at UAE ports, multiple sources from the oil and shipping sectors said on Monday. After Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and others last week severed diplomatic and transport links …

Bloomberg India’s oil demand bounced back in May, led by the highest growth in gasoline consumption in nine months and the fastest increase in diesel usage since November. Total fuel consumption rose 5.4 percent to 17.79 million tons in May, the most in six months, according to the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. Demand for diesel, which accounts …

LONDON / Reuters OPEC’s battle against an oil glut is under threat as unsold crude from members Nigeria and Libya, which are exempt from a global production-cutting deal, is swamping the Atlantic Basin. Nigeria has more than 60 million barrels of unsold crude, traders of its oil said, surpassing the level reached when global oversupply peaked two years ago. More …

Bloomberg Iraq, the world’s third-biggest crude exporter, plans to triple refining capacity by 2021 to shake off its reliance on refined-product imports. Processing capacity will increase to 1.5 million barrels a day from just over 500,000 now, not including Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Deputy Oil Minister Fayyad Al-Nima said in an interview in Baghdad. The country spends more than $2 …

Bloomberg The oil market has all but abandoned the hope of a re-balancing any time soon, with the re-emergence of a pricing structure that signals investors expect a glut to endure into next year. The return of a deep contango — when oil prices for immediate delivery are lower than forward contracts — comes days after several Wall Street banks …

Bloomberg Oil fell for a third week as rising supplies from the US to Nigeria to Libya showed that OPEC is still struggling to clear a global glut. Futures fluctuated in New York, trading at the sub-$50 levels seen before OPEC first agreed to curb output in November. US data showed total crude and product stockpiles rose by the most …

NEW DELHI / Reuters Iran’s oil exports to the West surged in May to their highest level since the lifting of sanctions in early 2016 and almost caught up with volumes exported to Asia, a source familiar with Iranian oil exports said. Iran, which used to be OPEC’s second biggest oil exporter, has been raising output since 2016 to recoup …

Bloomberg Mexico has taken the first step in its annual oil hedging program, asking Wall Street banks for price quotes on the put options it buys to lock in prices for the follo- wing year, according to people familiar with the matter. Mexico usually buys put options from a small group of investment banks, starting as early as May but …

Bloomberg European energy markets started to feel the impact of the escalating diplomatic row in the Middle East after natural gas prices soared when tankers full of Qatari fuel abruptly changed course. Two ships bound towards Europe veered course, taking them away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal, the transit route for gas into the Mediterranean Sea and a …