Regional News

ABU DHABI / Reuters Saudi Arabia plans to prequalify for bidding firms from two or three countries by April or May for the first nuclear reactors it wants to build, a consultant for the government body work-ing on the nuclear plans said on Monday. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, wants nuclear power to diversify its energy supply mix, ...

Bloomberg For US shale drillers who have seen prices climb almost 50 percent in six months, it’s been largely a rig-less recovery, a conundrum for traders seeking to forecast the future. Normally, you’d expect the rigs to return to the field in significant numbers as producers flush with added cash looked to boost output. But the weekly Baker Hughes tally ...

Bloomberg A BP Plc unit will pay $102 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of overcharging California for natural gas, the state’s attorney general said. The accord spared BP from facing a jury trial that was scheduled to start this week in San Francisco. A lawyer for the ex-employee who initially filed the complaint as a whistle blower ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Singapore posted record sales volumes of marine fuels for the third straight year in 2017, even as the city state reva-mped the market last year leading to stiff competition and margin erosion. Singapore last year sold an all-time high 50.6 million tonnes of marine fuels, a 4.2 percent increase over the 48.6 million tonnes sold in 2016, ...

Bloomberg Morocco, which depends on imports for almost all of its energy needs, will soon tender for companies to build a $4.6 billion natural gas project, Energy Minister Aziz Rabbah said. The project will process gas for power and provide gas to industry, Rabbah said on Sunday in an interview in Abu Dhabi. With the financial and technical consultants chosen, ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters Oil prices have risen above $70 per barrel for the first time since 2014 as investors bet supply cuts led by OPEC will dominate the market this year. But some traders are sounding a warning — the world’s biggest crude consuming region, Asia, is showing signs of an impending downward correction. Prices for Brent crude oil futures, ...

Bloomberg Kazakhstan has overtaken Iraq to become the biggest over-producer in the pact between OPEC and its allies to curb oil output. The Caspian Sea nation’s output has been rising over the past year as the giant Kashagan field ramps up production. That’s in spite of Kazakhstan’s pledge to pump 20,000 barrels a day less under the landmark deal agreed ...

NEW DELHI / Reuters Indian oil consumption in 2017 grew at its slowest in four years, according to government statistics, hit by the government’s demonetisation move and a tax increase that knocked the gain in fuel use back to a modest 2.3 percent. The low growth also coincided with another year of weak, albeit improving, new vehicle sales. Last year’s ...

Bloomberg Less than two weeks in, 2018 is shaping up to be the year of the fracker. The world’s two biggest oilfield service providers, Schlumberger Ltd. and Baker Hughes, are the best performers in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Energy Index this year. Even smaller rivals are cashing in on investor enthusiasm over a 50 percent rise in oil prices ...

Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc is taking small steps towards a future dominated by electric cars, renewable energy and carbon constraints, demonstrating its intent not to remain solely an oil and gas company. The energy giant agreed last month to purchase First Utility Ltd., the UK’s seventh-largest power provider. Its offshore-wind partnership with Eneco may expand further, with newspaper Telegraaf ...