Regional News

Bloomberg The Republic of Congo expects to raise oil production by as much 65 percent this year as two new projects come on stream, Hydrocarbons Mi- nister Jean-Marc Thystere-Tchicaya said. Congo joined OPEC and plans to open up its oil industry, which the government says is dominated by Total SA and Eni SpA, to new investors. Sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest oil ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia promised to act decisively to keep oil prices under control, signalling a real supply boost approaching 1 million barrels a day is on the way to global markets. “We will do whatever is necessary to keep the market in balance,” Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih told reporters, while sitting alongside his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak at OPEC ...

Bloomberg Egypt may have just issued its last LNG tender, setting the stage to resume exports next year. Imports of liquefied natural gas may stop in the fourth quarter, allowing for exports to start early next year as Eni SpA’s Zohr and other gas fields boost production in the country and help to draw more foreign investment, Petroleum and Mineral ...

Bloomberg Pipeline bottlenecks in North America’s biggest oil field are so pervasive that drillers are quitting new wells at a record pace. And it’s about to get a lot worse. The vast pipe networks that haul crude from the Permian Basin are almost completely full thanks to a production boom in the oil-rich area of West Texas and New Mexico. ...

Bloomberg Upstart Mexican driller Sierra Oil & Gas S de RL de CV, which co-owns a billion-barrel find in the Gulf of Mexico, has hired Canada’s Scotia Waterous to sell a stake in a nearby exploratory block. “We are negotiating the final terms of the agreement with the buyer,” said Ivan Sandrea, Sierra’s chief executive officer, speaking over the phone ...

Bloomberg French energy utility Engie SA faces a 120 million-euro ($139 million) tax bill after the European Union said it benefited from an unfair fiscal arrangement with Luxembourg. Concluding a state-aid probe into the tax affairs of Engie, the European Commission on Wednesday said Luxembourg selectively deviated from provisions of national law to help lower the tax bill for France’s ...

Bloomberg The biggest US shale region will have to shut wells within four months because there aren’t enough pipelines to get the oil to customers, the head of one of the industry’s largest producers said. The worsening bottleneck in the Permian region that straddles west Texas and New Mexico offers an unexpected fillip to OPEC and other oil producers outside ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s crude exports jumped in the first half of June, before the world’s largest oil exporter meets with other producer states to thrash out a collective production policy. Observed shipments from the country’s Persian Gulf and Red Sea ports averaged 7.388 million barrels a day during the first 15 days of June, compared with 7.145 million barrels a ...

Bloomberg For the first time ever, Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook for US utilities to negative, warning that the sector’s debt levels have reached their highest since the financial crisis and may remain there for months. The sector’s consolidated debt-to-equity ratio has hit the highest level since 2008 as companies finance mergers, acquisitions and other investments in renewable energy ...

Bloomberg Shale oil hasn’t always been Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s best friend, but they’re working on the relationship. Shell is said to have bid, with partner Blackstone Group LP, on a portfolio of US shale assets BHP Billiton Ltd. wants to sell for about $10 billion. If it wins, the Anglo-Dutch oil major could exceed its goal of doubling its ...