Regional News

Bloomberg Oil is poised for its first monthly decline in half a year as January’s rally fades on growing fears over booming US shale supply. Futures in New York were little changed, putting them on course for a 2.8 percent drop in February. An industry report was said to show US oil inventories rose last week, which would be the ...

Bloomberg Oklahoma is tightening its rules for fracking after studying a new cluster of earthquakes in one of the hottest US regions for drilling. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission announced that all explorers within certain areas must use equipment known as a seismic array, which detects movement underground. The regulators also lowered the quake threshold for pausing work from 3.0 magnitude ...

LONDON / Reuters More than $200 billion of investment in liquefied natural gas is needed to meet a boom in demand by 2030, Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s top LNG trader, said. The LNG market is set to continue its rapid expansion into 2020 as facilities approved for construction in the first half of the decade come on line, in ...

TOKYO / Reuters The United States will overtake Russia as the world’s biggest oil producer by 2019 at the latest, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, as the country’s shale oil boom continues to upend global markets. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at an event in Tokyo the United States would overtake Russia as the biggest crude ...

RIYADH / Reuters Marriott International expects to attract $2 billion of investment in Saudi Arabia in the next four years by almost doubling the number of hotel rooms it operates there, an executive said. The kingdom aims to boost domestic and international tourism in its drive to diversify the economy away from oil exports. It is has set a target ...

Bloomberg Oil traded near a three-week high after a supply disruption in Libya and as investors await US inventory data. Futures in New York slid 0.3 percent after closing at the highest since February 5 as crude exports from a key Libyan terminal were disrupted. The focus now shifts to US stockpiles, which are forecast to have risen last week. ...

Bloomberg Big oil tankers sailing from the US are set to bring along some benefits for refiners in Asia while allowing them to sidestep traders serving the world’s top crude-buying region. The new option to load oil into very large crude carriers at the US Gulf Coast terminal operated by the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, will reduce costs ...

Bloomberg Oil steadied as Libya’s crude exports from a key terminal were disrupted and Saudi Arabia pledged that global producers will ease their output curbs without shocking the market. Futures in New York were little changed, after rising 3 percent the previous two sessions. Libya’s crude loadings from the Mellitah terminal will be “modified” after protests impeded output at the ...

Bloomberg China’s natural gas imports from Central Asia, a long-time source of the fuel via pipeline, slipped last month, worsening a winter shortage and increasing the world’s biggest energy user’s reliance on seaborne supplies. Imports during January from Turkmenistan, China’s biggest overseas source of gas last year, dropped 14 percent from a year earlier, and 4 percent from December, data ...

Bloomberg Ghana may start locking in future prices for oil and petroleum imports from the end of March as it seeks to contain inflation, said Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. A net exporter of crude oil, Ghana could benefit from rising prices while continuing to keep domestic costs in check by agreeing to buy fuel at pre-set prices, Ofori-Atta said in ...