Regional News

Bloomberg Glencore Plc and Vitol SA are among companies submitting bids for a stake in the Indeni Petroleum Refinery, Zambia’s only fuel processor, according to the southern African nation’s development agency. Seven offers were made for a stake in the 20,000 barrel-a-day plant, including from the China Petroleum Technology & Development Corp., Philia Trading Pte Ltd, and a group including ...

DUBAI / Reuters Construction work has begun on a joint venture to build a shipyard on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast, oil rig builder Lamprell Plc said in a statement. The joint venture, International Maritime Industries (IMI), started operations after reaching agreement for a loan from the state-backed Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), the statement said. The SIDF agreed in principle ...

Bloomberg Brazil fuel imports are set to fall from a record as the country’s state-owned oil company lowers prices in a bid to regain market share. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, which owns 13 out of the 16 refineries in the country, cut diesel prices by 47 percent and gasoline by 38 percent at the refinery gate since January. As a result ...

Seoul / Reuters South Korea’s move to shut coal-fired generators to control air pollution at the same time as nuclear reactors are going into scheduled maintenance is resulting in surging fuel oil imports, as utilities burn the dirty feedstock to meet power demand. South Korea’s trade ministry said in February it would suspend five coal-fired power plants, with a combined ...

Bloomberg After a decade planning the world’s largest floating gas export plant, Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s supplies could get tapped by a competitor first. Shell and Japan’s Inpex Corp. are both targeting gas from a connected reservoir in Australia’s remote Browse Basin, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) off its northwest coast, according to consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Meeting its planned ...

Reuters Saudi Arabia plans to keep its crude oil production in April below 10 million barrels per day (bpd), and maintain exports under 7 million bpd, the energy ministry said on Wednesday, as the top OPEC producer wants to end a global supply glut and boost prices. Saudi Arabia has been pumping below its OPEC target since January and reducing ...

TRIPOLI / Reuters Libya’s Zawiya oil terminal returned to normal operations after workers who were blocking ships from docking agreed to end a one-day strike, two sources said. Zawiya exports crude from Libya’s giant El Sharara oilfield, which produces 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), more than a quarter of the North African country’s output. Production at El Sharara had not ...

Bloomberg The 22 billion-euro ($27.1 billion) deal that’s shaking up the world of German utilities also has a very British dimension. EON SE’s acquisition of Innogy SE will combine the two UK business they own, shrinking the country’s Big Six utilities to five at a time when both the government and main opposition party are pressing for lower bills. It ...

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) said on Tuesday it was planning to resume proposed merger talks with Sahara Petrochemical in a deal that could create a 14.7 billion riyals ($3.9 bln) chemicals company. The two companies called off a planned merger in 2014, citing an inadequate regulatory framework in the kingdom for the collapse. Sipchem said on ...

Bloomberg A US appeals court ruled against New York’s bid to block a pipeline that will shuttle natural gas to a $900 million power plant under construction there, setting a potential precedent for other battles over gas conduits. The court sided with federal energy regulators’ ruling that New York waived its right to act on the pipeline by failing make ...