Regional News

MEXICO CITY / Reuters Norway’s Statoil will evaluate new offshore projects in Mexico, including potential tie-ups with state oil company Pemex, the firm’s top executive said, adding that a first deepwater well in an existing Gulf project will likely be drilled next year. Statoil is focussed mostly on future deepwater opportunities in Mexico but does not rule out others, CEO ...

LONDON / Reuters Global energy trader Mercuria Group has agreed to take an interest in the oil refining system of China’s ChemChina, sources familiar with the matter said. As part of the deal, state-run ChemChina would increase its stake in Mercuria, one of the world’s largest oil trading firms. ChemChina already holds a 12 percent stake in the Swiss-based company ...

Bloomberg OPEC is on the verge of “mission accomplished” in its quest to clear the global oil glut that caused the worst industry downturn in a generation, the International Energy Agency said. Less than 10 percent of the surplus in oil inventories remains, as OPEC and its partners have cut production by even more than they intended while world demand ...

MILAN / Reuters Italian energy group Eni is considering stepping up its investment in nuclear fusion, potentially doubling down on a technology considered so uncertain that Eni remains the only global oil company prepared to place a bet on it. Eni and bigger rivals such as Shell and BP have been looking at moving into renewable energy as climate change, ...

Bloomberg Iraq delayed an international auction of rights to 11 of its oil and natural gas deposits, pushing back the bidding date after introducing changes to the contract, according to people familiar with the matter. The oil ministry re-scheduled the auction for April 25, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. ...

BEIJING / Reuters China’s March crude oil imports climbed from a month earlier to the second highest on record, calculated on a daily basis, as refiners replenished stocks on generous government quotas and ahead of peak maintenance season. March shipments came in at 39.17 million tonnes, or 9.22 million barrels per day (bpd), the General Administration of Customs said. That ...

NEW DELHI / Reuters Global oil supply remains a concern amid OPEC and Russian-led output reductions, with production falling from mature oilfields while demand growth remains strong, the International Energy Agency’s Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Wednesday. This was despite forecasts of rising oil output from non-OPEC producers, led by the United States, which is expected to be able ...

Bloomberg Oil surged to a two-week high in New York as President Donald Trump told Russia in a tweet to “get ready” for US missiles to be fired at Syria. Futures in New York rose as much as 1.3 percent after climbing the most in eight months. President Donald Trump has intensified preparations for a response to a suspected chemical ...

Bloomberg The world’s first small-scale nuclear power reactor may be just eight years away. NuScale Power LLC, which is leading global efforts to build a so-called small modular reactor, is seeking as much as $120 million in equity investment to accelerate design of a matching power generator. The company has already spent more than $700 million, and has “hundreds of ...

Bloomberg The head of China’s largest natural gas importer believes the country’s energy ties with the US are set to deepen, despite trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies that has roiled financial markets. “There is more room for cooperation than confrontation between China and the US,” China National Petroleum Corp. Chairman Wang Yilin said in an interview with ...