Regional News

Bloomberg OPEC’s strategy to end a worldwide crude glut is causing havoc for a vital link in the oil industry’s supply chain: the fleet of supertankers that shuttle fuel between continents. The ships’ average earnings plunged last year by more than half to levels not seen since 2009 and far below what shipping analysts had been predicting. Now, the producer ...

TUNIS / Reuters Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) said it had won two international arbitration cases over the 220,000 bpd-capacity Ras Lanuf refinery, and called for the refinery to restart as soon as possible. The NOC said in a statement that the arbitration cases, which date to 2013, had been settled in its favour at the International Chamber of Commerce ...

DUBAI / Reuters OPEC is monitoring unrest in Iran as well as Venezuela’s economic crisis, but the group will only boost output if there are significant and sustained production disruptions from those countries, a senior OPEC source from a major Middle Eastern oil producer said. Venezuela’s economic troubles have hit the country’s oil out-put, which is at near 30-year lows, ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and some of the kingdom’s biggest companies said they’ll pay Saudi staff more money, matching a royal order that extended handouts to government workers to ease public discontent over rising prices. Aramco, preparing for what could be the world’s largest initial public offering, will pay “eligible employees” an extra 1,000 riyals ($267) a month for ...

Bloomberg Oil rose after drilling activity in the US eased, adding to signs the global crude surplus is abating. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.5 percent, following a 1.7 percent increase last week, when they hit a three-year high. Rigs drilling for crude fell by five to 742 in the seven days ended January 5, according to Baker Hughes data. ...

SINGAPORE/ Reuters Profits for Asia’s oil refiners dropped to their lowest since May last year as rising supplies dragged down regional fuel prices at the same time that global crude oil prices have climbed to two-year highs, data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed. Margins at a typical complex refinery in Singapore fell to $5.93 a barrel, the lowest since May ...

Bloomberg Retailer United Electronics Co., the second-best performing Saudi Arabian stock of 2017, is looking to increased demand for televisions before this year’s soccer World Cup, expanded consumer credit and rising online sales to counter any slowdown caused by the start of value-added tax. The company, known as eXtra, plans to open new stores in 2018 as it seeks to ...

CAIRO / Reuters Encouraged by Egypt’s economic reforms, a major gas find, streamlined business rules and a devalued currency, investors are increasingly optimistic about prospects for the North African country after years of political turmoil. Foreign holdings of Treasury bills hit a record high in December, foreign inflows into the stock market last year were the highest since 2010 and ...

Bloomberg Oman has accepted an amount of $210 million grant from Saudi Arabia to fund two projects at its flagship Arabian Sea port of Duqm, a rare agreement between two countries. The funding, which will be provided by the Saudi Development Fund, will finance a 61-million-rial ($158 million) fishing facility and a road costing 20 million rials, state-run Oman News ...

Bloomberg The UK Health and Safety Executive is investigating the causes of a crack in a key North Sea oil pipeline that disrupted production at more than 80 fields for weeks. While an HSE spokesman couldn’t comment further on the matter, such investigations aren’t automatically triggered. Incidents must be severe or unusual enough to meet the regulator’s criteria for a ...