Regional News

‘Days of surprises’ are over as problems exposed: Eskom CEO

Bloomberg Almost 15 months into the job, and the boss of South Africa’s state-owned electricity company is getting to grips with issues spanning corruption to defective power plants that threatened to collapse the grid. “The days of surprises are over,” Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. CEO Phakamani Hadebe said in an interview. “We just have to speed up the process of ...

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Crescent Point takes $2 billion writedown

Bloomberg Crescent Point Energy Corp., the Canadian oil driller that fended off an activist investor last year, wrote down the value of its assets by C$2.73 billion ($2 billion) and is putting more holdings on the block as its new chief executive officer targets core operations. The after-tax writedown reflects the fair value of its assets, many of which were ...

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PDVSA’s Caribbean footprint is waning

Bloomberg Despite sitting on top of the world’s largest crude reserves, the reach of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company is receding. In the 1980s Petroleos de Venezuela SA started an international expansion with the objective of finding new outlets for its growing oil production. The company bought Citgo Petroleum Corp. in the US, leased the Isla refinery in Curacao, bought a ...

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Libya’s biggest oil field restarts

Bloomberg Libya’s biggest oil field resumed production. Sharara resumed production and is expected to reach 80,000 barrels in one day, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. Regular output will be fully restored in the coming days, now that the site has been re-secured ...

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Enbridge pipeline delayed in hit to Canada oil sector

Bloomberg In a major blow to the Canadian oil industry, Enbridge Inc. now expects the replacement and expansion of its Line 3 crude oil pipeline to be in service about a year later than expected. The project, previously slated to start shipping crude in the fourth quarter of this year, is now expected to enter service in the second half ...

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Goldman sees oil prices to rise 13%

Bloomberg Oil prices could potentially rise as much as 13 percent from current levels, though the rally may prove fleeting, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Top Opec member Saudi Arabia is cutting output faster than US shale drillers can fill the gap, leaving a void in the market that may push global benchmark Brent crude to $70-$75 a barrel ...

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Vitol sees oil to rally as Opec, Venezuela cause shortage

Bloomberg The world’s largest energy trader says oil prices are set to rally further as Opec output cuts and American sanctions on Iran and Venezuela cause a “shortage” of the low-quality heavy crudes refiners rely on. “From here there’s probably the potential to be a little bit higher,” said Russell Hardy, chief executive officer of Vitol Group. “Oil supply is ...

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Centrica plunges to two-decade low on a gloomy 2019 forecast

Bloomberg Centrica Plc plunged to the lowest in almost two decades after tougher trading conditions in the UK energy market prompted the utility to forecast a gloomy outlook for next year. Hurt both by a government-imposed cap on consumer energy bills and by outages at nuclear plants and gas wells, a target range for average adjusted operating cash flow “is ...

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Saudi strikes deal to build $10bn China refining, petchem complex

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its interest in the Chinese market with a deal to build a $10 billion refining and petrochemicals complex as it vies for crude-oil customers with fellow OPEC members and Russia. Saudi Arabian Oil Co, or Aramco, agreed to set up a joint venture with two Chinese companies to develop the facility in Liaoning province, according to ...

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Brexit threatens to dull UK oil’s allure

Bloomberg Brexit is threatening to spoil the appeal of the UK’s crude in the world’s biggest regional oil market. Seoul-based SK Innovation Co., an Asian buyer of North Sea Forties crude, sees a lower probability of purchases if the UK and South Korea don’t roll over an existing trade deal before Brexit. That’s after British Business Secretary Greg Clark admitted ...

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