Regional News

LONDON / Reuters Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices fell for a third week as above-average temperatures softened demand across North Asia and top consumer Japan resumed output from a long-shut nuclear reactor. Spot prices for May delivery slipped to about $7.10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), 60 cents below last week’s levels, said several trade sources surveyed ...

LONDON / Reuters Oil exports from southern Iraq have fallen by 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) this month, according to shipping data and an industry source, suggesting OPEC’s second-largest producer is heading for a third month of lower shipments. Southern Iraqi exports in the first 21 days of March averaged about 3.36 million bpd, compared to 3.43 million bpd in ...

Bloomberg Ready the cash-printing machines — the world’s most sophisticated refineries are about to enjoy great times thanks to what might seem like a minor tweak in rules for the type of fuel ships consume. From 2020, vessels must buy fuel with less sulfur, or alternatively be fitted with equipment to curb emissions of the pollutant. One thing is clear: ...

KUWAIT / Reuters Kuwait’s Public Authority for Industry (PAI) plans to set up a multi-purpose industrial city in the Gulf Arab state with total expected investments of $6.6 billion, an official said on Wednesday. PAI Acting General Manager Abdulkareem Taqi told Reuters that the government would put in place the infrastructure for the city at an estimated cost of $600 ...

Bloomberg Nigerian energy conglomerate Sahara Group Ltd. said it revived plans for a share-sale as it looks to increase oil production four-fold to 100,000 barrels per day. Lagos-based Sahara mulled an initial public offering in the Nigerian commercial capital and London in 2015, before falling crude prices forced it to backtrack. “The IPO is now back on the table,” Tonye ...

Bloomberg An avalanche of apparently mistaken orders at the close knocked Taiwan’s third-biggest stock down almost 10 percent in minutes, draining $3 billion from its market value. Formosa Petrochemical Corp lurched from around 116 Taiwan dollars to 106 in a cascade of orders that culminated in a 15.2 million-share closing auction — a trade valued at more than $55 million. ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s exports of diesel and gasoline soared to a record in January, underscoring a big advantage the world’s largest oil exporter has over other producers who’re more dependent on shipments of lower-value crude. While the kingdom kept crude output below an OPEC-agreed cap, its shipments of diesel, gasoline and other fuels surged by 27 percent to a record ...

Bloomberg India is poised to lift its domestic natural gas price to the highest in at least two years, boosting earnings of producers like Oil and Natural Gas Corp., according to a survey of analysts and industry participants. The federal government will increase the price to $3.2 per million British thermal units for April to September, almost 11 percent more ...

Bloomberg Oil climbed to a two-week high as investors weighed record compliance to output curbs by OPEC and its allies against expanding US supplies and a broader selloff in risk assets. Futures in New York rose as much as 1.1 percent after dropping for the first time in four sessions. While US crude inventories are forecast to have grown by ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s government is seeking to build a liquefied natural gas industry in Germany basically from scratch to reduce the nation’s dependence on supplies arriving by pipeline from Russia and Norway. With gas reservoirs depleting from the UK to the Netherlands, Germany is becoming increasingly reliant on Russia for its energy needs at a time when political tensions are ...