Regional News

  Bloomberg Even if oil producers didn’t seal the output freeze deal they hoped would stabilize the market, they saw revenues soar in the run up to the failed meeting last weekend in Doha. The 29 percent advance in prices since word first leaked that Saudi Arabia and Russia were considering capping output boosted the value of global oil production …

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is considering a dual listing as a way to reach investors beyond the local stock market for the sale of shares in state-owned oil giant Aramco, which could be the world’s largest initial public offering, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince said. “We are thinking about several options,” Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who heads Saudi Arabian Oil …

  REUTERS On a stretch of barren coast 550 km south of the capital Muscat, workers at a ship repair yard swarm over cargo vessels from around the world, labour that will help to determine Oman’s fate in an era of cheap oil. The yard, owned by the government’s Oman Drydock Co and operated by South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & …

  REUTERS The African nation of Gabon wants to rejoin OPEC after more than two decades, two OPEC sources said, becoming the second former member in a year to seek a return to the oil exporters’ group just as it is taking the first steps in years to prop up prices. If it returned, Gabon would be the smallest producer …

MOSCOW / Reuters Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak hopes leading oil producers will agree to freeze output at a meeting in Doha on April 17, he said, which should help the global oil market to rebalance. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar agreed in February to freeze production at January levels, but said at the time the deal was contingent …

RABAT / Reuters French carmaker Renault and component suppliers will invest 10 billion dirhams ($1.04 billion) in Morocco to build an “industry ecosystem”, the country’s industry minister said on Friday. Renault’s ecosystem and its new plants will raise Renault’s local sourcing of components to 65 percent from 32 percent and are projected to generate 20 billion dirhams in revenues, Moulay …

DUBAI / Reuters Iran is exporting around 350,000 barrels of crude oil a day to India and hopes to increase this number, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying on Saturday after meeting Indian counterpart Dharmendra Pradhan. The Shana news agency, linked to Iran’s oil ministry, quoted Zanganeh as saying Indian oil purchases from Iran were at 350,000 barrels …

LONDON / Reuters Oil refineries are shifting into high gear to produce as much gasoline as possible for the world’s fuel-hungry drivers – kicking the problem of a worsening diesel glut further down the road. The “margin” or profit derived from refining crude into diesel has plunged in Europe, hitting multi-year lows this week as demand for the fuel – …

BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq plans to lower the oil price forecast in its 2016 budget to about $32 a barrel from $45, widening its fiscal deficit by several billion dollars, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a senior government official said. The new price estimate is based on the continued low level of global oil prices in recent months, said …

Bloomberg While two years of crashing prices for oil, natural gas, and coal triggered dramatic downsizing in those industries, renewables have been thriving. Clean energy investment broke new records in 2015 and is now seeing twice as much global funding as fossil fuels. One reason is that renewable energy is becoming ever cheaper to produce. Recent solar and wind auctions …