Regional News

  JOHANNESBURG / AP Nigeria wants Royal Dutch Shell to reopen one of its main pipelines but the oil multinational is resisting, analysts say, for fear it could once again be bombed by militants. The Trans Forcados Pipeline, the main feed to the 400,000-barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal, has been shut for all but three weeks of the past year, Lagos-based ...

  Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. is trading in long-term projects that pump oil over decades for US shale drilling that can be switched on or off as crude prices change. Long a world leader in multi-billion dollar oil and natural gas developments that take years to build and even longer to profit, Exxon is diverting about one-third of its drilling ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Oman’s government has given itself breathing space from the pressure of financing a large budget deficit by selling $5 billion of international bonds, almost completing its entire foreign borrowing plan for 2017 in a single issue. Wednesday’s bond sale, in tranches of five, 10 and 30 years, was about double the size that most investors had ...

  Bloomberg Sasol Ltd., the world’s biggest producer of liquid fuels from coal, said the first units at its Lake Charles chemical project will start operating in 2018, as the company reported lower first-half profit because of currency losses and a strike. The Lake Charles project is 64 percent complete and still within its $11 billion budget, co-Chief Executive Officer ...

  Bloomberg Shares of US refiners pared gains after President Donald Trump’s administration denied that it was considering a proposal to change biofuel blending rules. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn and the leading US biofuel trade group struck a deal to revamp a law that mandates oil refiners to either blend petroleum-based fuels with ethanol and biodiesel, or buy blending credits ...

  Bloomberg BP Plc said it will need a crude price of about $40 a barrel in 2021 to cover spending and dividends, down from $60 this year, as Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley seeks to reassure investors on the oil major’s growth outlook and finances. The break-even level will fall as BP keeps capital spending at no more than ...

  Bloomberg STEP Energy Services Ltd., a fracking services provider, plans to raise about C$200 million ($152 million) in the biggest initial public offering in the Canadian oil and gas industry in more than two years. The shares are expected to be sold at C$14 to C$16 a piece, giving the Calgary-based oilfields service firm a valuation of about C$802 ...

  Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc is unlikely to take on new oil-sands projects as it maintains a grip on costs after crude’s crash forced competitors to write down Canadian reserves. While Shell’s existing oil-sands operations generate strong cash flows, the expense of developing new projects discourages additional investments, Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden said in an interview. Oil ...

  Bloomberg Qatar Petroleum plans to merge two petrochemical units in its latest consolidation of businesses, as the world’s fourth-biggest oil and natural gas producer seeks to trim costs in its domestic operations and expand internationally. The state-run company will fold the operations of Qatar Vinyl Co., part of Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding Co., into Qatar Petrochemical Co., a unit of ...

  Bloomberg India’s central government will transfer its stake in state-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp. to the country’s biggest oil explorer as part of its plans to create an integrated oil company, The Economic Times newspaper reported, citing people it didn’t identify. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will issue a proposal for approval by the country’s cabinet to ...