Bloomberg Turning Canada’s heavy oil sands into a more marketable kind of crude is making a comeback, or rather half a comeback. Alberta’s government’s C$1 billion dollar pledge ($780 million) will help support the construction of smaller and cheaper varieties of upgraders. The so-called partial upgraders would process the sticky oil just enough so that it can flow freely through ...
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US oil export surge may doom OPEC’s production cut deal
Bloomberg Oil risks sliding back under $60 a barrel as a surge in US shipments to Asia threatens to undermine a deal between OPEC and its allies, according to ING Groep NV. While the producer group complied with a pledge to curb output and ease a glut in 2017, US flows that are gaining a bigger slice of the prized ...
Read More »Egypt plans to award high-speed rail tender in H2 2018
DUBAI / Reuters Egypt plans to award the tender for a high-speed railway between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean in the second half of 2018, transport minister Hisham Arafat said on Monday. The project will connect the eastern resort of Ain al-Sokhna to El Alamein, a town west of Alexandria that was scene of a battle in World War ...
Read More »Nigeria state oil company hasn’t explained missing billions
Bloomberg An agency tasked with cleaning up Nigeria’s murky oil industry says even though financial accountability has improved the state oil company still hasn’t explained billions of dollars of missing revenue. While energy producers have cooperated and complied with requirements to publish payments, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has struggled with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., Waziri Adio, ...
Read More »Iraq to cut oil products imports by 25 percent
BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq’s oil ministry on Monday said the nation would reduce its petroleum products imports by 25 percent as crude oil refinerÂies are being rehabilitated following fighting with IS militants. Iraq is also producing more oil products by processing natural gas liquids, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said in a statement, without indicating a specific timeframe for the import ...
Read More »Saudi WEC invites bids for Jubail water, power project
DUBAI / Reuters Saudi’s Water & Electricity Co (WEC) invited proposals to develop Jubail Phase 3, an integrated water desalination and power plant in the country’s Eastern Province, according to a tender posted on its website. The project, which an industry source estimated to be worth about $5bn, is expected to generate 1.17mn cubic metres of water per day and ...
Read More »EON to take over Innogy from rival RWE
Bloomberg EON SE agreed to acquire Innogy SE from German rival RWE AG, transforming the energy industry as Europe’s largest economy continues its switch to renewable power. In a complicated deal involving shares and asset swaps, EON SE will emerge with the retail and network businesses of both companies, while RWE will end up owning the combined renewable generation businesses ...
Read More »Brexit denial leaves UK energy industry pleading for no change
Bloomberg Across Britain, energy companies are hoping that Brexit just might just go away. Energy has only been a sideshow in the discussions about the UK leaving the European Union even though it’s a key part of the trade bloc’s single market. Power and natural gas companies say Britain’s existing relationship with the bloc on energy matters should remain in ...
Read More »Oil trading giants Glencore, Vitol targeted in PDVSA bribe suit
Bloomberg Oil trading giants including Glencore Ltd. and Vitol SA paid millions of dollars to a former PDVSA trader to get the inside track on Venezuelan oil deals, according to a lawsuit filed by a trust for Petróleos de Venezuela SA. The alleged conspiracy, which includes more than two dozen companies and individuals, even has a name worthy of a ...
Read More »Bahrain’s Investcorp set to launch $100mn new fund
Reuters Bahrain-listed Investcorp plans to launch a $100 million fund dedicated to Oman’s pension funds, the alternative asset manager said on Sunday. Investcorp’s new fund will focus on private equity investments in the United States and Europe, the company said in an emailed statement, and will target mid-sized companies across a broad range of sectors. Investcorp, which manages more than ...
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