Regional News

Riyadh / Emirates Business The health of the Saudi Arabian non-oil private sector improved at the fastest pace in 2018 so far during June. An upturn in output and new order growth were the key components behind the latest expansion. Furthermore, many panel respondents noted sharper capacity pressures, which led to the fastest build-up in backlogs of work in 11 ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia and Russia reaffirmed an agreement between OPEC and its allies, which they say will mean increasing oil production by 1 million barrels a day. Energy ministers Khalid Al-Falih and Alexander Novak spoke on the phone, and reiterated the terms of the agreement reached last month in Vienna, according to statements from the Saudi and Russian energy ministries. ...

Bloomberg US refiners have returned from maintenance with a vengeance, processing more than 18 million barrels a day of crude and other oils for the first time in the week ended June 22. What does that mean for the markets? Gasoline stockpiles have increased 2.9 percent in June, the biggest gain for the month since 2009. There’s enough supply to ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s move to a free market for energy prices remains on track. A recent decision to cap crude oil prices and limit fuel price gains in order to stem inflation was an outlier, according to Javier Iguacel, the nation’s new energy minister. Restricting crude price increases only extinguishes competition and, in turn, the possibility of cutting costs, he said. ...

Bloomberg A red-hot electric vehicle market has triggered a face-off between Big Oil and utilities. Oil majors, who’ve sold fossil fuels to cars for a century, are now moving into an electricity sector that’s preparing for exponential growth. The problem is that utilities, the primary power suppliers for a century, have the same idea. BP Plc predicts electric vehicle sales ...

Bloomberg Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) declared force majeure on another two oil ports, removing thousands more barrels from the market just as global supply concerns put pressure on OPEC to ramp up production. Oil loadings at the Zueitina and Hariga export terminals in eastern Libya have stopped, the Tripoli-based NOC said on Monday. The halt comes just a week ...

Bloomberg The average American household will have $440 less to spend this year due to rising pump prices, putting at risk one-third of the windfall they got from tax cuts. Strong oil prices drove the cost of US gasoline to the highest level in more than three years last month, according to AAA, and pump prices are now 27 percent ...

Bloomberg Canada’s oil industry just moved one step closer to getting some relief from its pipeline woes. Enbridge Inc’s planned $7 billion replacement and expansion of its Line 3 conduit, linking Alberta’s oil fields to refineries in the US, was given the green light by regulators in Minnesota, clearing the way for the project to move ahead. The state’s Public ...

Bloomberg The chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp in Tripoli said he’s confident that the US and other world powers would help block authorities in eastern Libya from exporting any crude after militia captured key ports there. Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar, a commander in the politically divided nation’s east, have handed over control of ports with a combined export ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources has issued a moratorium on new applications for petroleum exploration and development in order to change its licensing process. The restriction won’t affect applications received before the date of publication of the notice, which appeared in the online version of the Government Gazette on June 28 and was signed by Minister Gwede Mantashe. ...