Regional News

BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq plans to award oil and gas exploration and development contracts in 11 new blocks on April 15, oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said. Iraq had initially set June 21 as the date to open the bids for the new blocks, located in border areas with Iran and Kuwait, and in offshore Gulf waters. Bidding documents will ...

HONG KONG / Reuters China is taking its first steps towards paying for imported crude oil in yuan instead of the US dollar, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, a key development in Beijing’s efforts to establish its currency internationally. Shifting just part of global oil trade into the yuan is potentially huge. Oil is the world’s ...

Bloomberg Fifty-five years after starting natural gas production from Europe’s biggest field, the Netherlands have signed its death warrant. Output from the Groningen deposit will be cut by two-thirds from the year starting October 2022 and halt by 2030 to ensure the safety of people in the province of the same name after earthquakes linked to extraction, Economy Minister Eric ...

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp., Total SA and Lukoil PJSC are among international companies interested to win rights to develop 11 oil and gas border fields as OPEC’s number two producer continues to build production capacity. Iraq plans to hold a bidding round on April 15 and award service contracts the same day for companies to develop 11 onshore and offshore ...

Bloomberg An upbeat shale patch, much to OPEC’s dismay, is hiring and ready to drill for more oil as producers are comfortably making a profit. But you have to be big if you’re competing in America’s prime spots. The vast majority of explorers surveyed for a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas report said they could profitably drill a new well ...

NEW YORK / Reuters Saudi Arabia and Russia are working on a historic long-term pact that could extend controls over world crude supplies by major exporters for many years. Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters that Riyadh and Moscow were considering a deal to greatly extend a short-term alliance on oil curbs that began in January 2017 after ...

NEW YORK / WAM Saudi Aramco announced commercial cooperation worth over $10 billion with 14 American companies during Saudi-US CEOs forum in New York. Saudi Aramco on Wednesday participated in the event to promote bilateral business and cooperation between the two countries. The forum was scheduled to coincide with the official visit to the United States by Crown Prince Mohammed ...

Bloomberg CEFC China Energy Co., the sprawling conglomerate that’s come under increasing government scrutiny, plans to sell its entire global property portfolio with a book value of more than 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion), according to people with knowledge of the matter. Almost 100 properties are up for sale, including its headquarters in an upscale Shanghai neighbourhood, four floors of ...

Bloomberg European oil majors are swarming the shallow-waters of the Gulf of Mexico as the country races to attract investment before an election. Anglo-Dutch giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the UK’s BP Plc, France’s Total SA, Italy’s Eni SpA, Spain’s Repsol SA, Russia’s Lukoil PJSC and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG of Germany all won blocks — a number of them ...

Bloomberg Concho Resources Inc. will buy rival shale oil producer RSP Permian Inc. in an $8 billion all-share deal, creating one of the largest producers in the region at the center of America’s energy boom. The deal is the biggest ever in the Permian Basin, topping Exxon Mobil Inc.’s acquisition of assets from the Bass family for as much as ...