Regional News

  DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Electricity Co (SEC) swung to a first-quarter profit on Wednesday after a royal decree exempted the Gulf’s largest utility firm from municipality fees. The company, which the government is aiming to restructure to improve efficiency, made a profit of 4.94 billion riyals in the three months to March 31, a bourse statement said. This compares ...

  Bloomberg The amount of clean fuel that’s stored across the globe is set to increase as governments tackle pollution, according to the biggest independent storage-tank operator in the world. Royal Vopak NV sees consumption for cleaner energy increasing, and is changing its investment strategy to reflect that, Chief Executive Officer Eelco Hoekstra said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. ...

  Bloomberg Centrica Plc, the UK’s biggest energy supplier, fell to the lowest in more than a year after customer losses continued this year and warm weather trimmed consumption of natural gas and power. The utility reiterated its opposition to price regulation, which would reduce competition, cut choice and lead to potentially higher average prices, according to a trading update ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia and Russia signaled they could extend production cuts into 2018, doubling down on an effort to eliminate a supply surplus just as its impact on prices wanes. In separate statements just hours apart on Monday, the world’s largest crude producers said publicly for the first time they would consider prolonging their output reductions for longer than ...

  Bloomberg Bahrain’s foreign-currency reserves tumbled 11 percent in February, extending a decline that has fueled speculation that the island kingdom would either tap international bond markets soon or seek financial support from other Gulf Arab monarchies. Net foreign assets dropped to 645.2 million dinars, from 725.9 million dinars in January, according to central bank data released on Sunday. Overall, ...

  Bloomberg Iran’s gold jewellery demand climbed to a four-year high in the first quarter, as the rest of the Middle East was hurt by low oil prices. An improving economy helped Iran’s jewelry demand climb 27 percent from a year earlier to 12.9 metric tons in the first three months this year, the World Gold Council said in a ...

  Bloomberg Statoil ASA, Norway’s biggest oil and gas producer, rose the most in five months after first-quarter profit climbed on higher output amid recovering crude prices and as it deepened cost cuts to emerge from a downturn that has battered the industry for more than two years. The shares rose as much as 3.7 percent, the most since December ...

  Bloomberg The era of quantitative easing and emergency measures has left central banks with trillions in assets. In the case of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, it ended up with 10 percent in the country’s state oil company. Even as KazMunayGas National Co. prepares an initial public offering by 2020, the central bank will “stay a shareholder” and the ...

  Bloomberg Pemex is producing more gasoline and diesel at its six refineries across Mexico, reducing fuel imports and leaving less oil available for export. In the first three months of the year, Mexico’s refineries processed 21 percent more crude than a year earlier, according to a company presentation. The increase has largely come from crude that was previously being ...

  Bloomberg Iran will go along with whatever decision OPEC makes at its meeting later this month on whether to extend oil production cuts beyond June, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said. “All indications are that the members want a renewal of the deal and we will go along with what they agree upon,” Zanganeh said on Saturday on the ...