Regional News

BEIJING / Reuters Russia held on as China’s largest crude oil supplier for the ninth month in a row in November, also topping Saudi Arabia for the year so far, Chinese customs data showed on Tuesday. Shipments from Russia in November reached 5.12 million tonnes, or 1.26 million barrels per day (bpd), up 11 percent from a year ago, according ...

Bloomberg India’s biggest oil explorer plans to snatch up producing assets to reach its goal of raising overseas output by more than half in about three years, a faster route than drilling for new reserves. ONGC Videsh Ltd., the overseas investment unit of state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp., spent $2.2 billion last year on an existing Russian project, which ...

DUBAI / Reuters Oman will delay the introduction of a 5 percent value-added tax until 2019 instead of introducing it next year as originally planned, local media reported, a decision that may hurt its effort to strengthen shaky state finances. All six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council agreed among themselves to impose VAT at the start of 2018. But ...

Bloomberg French tycoon Dominique Louis is doubling down on atomic power, betting that global warming will foster a nuclear renaissance. Three months ago, his nuclear engineering group Assystem SA sold 61 percent of its automotive and aircraft business for 400 million euros ($472 million). Louis used the proceeds to buy back some of the company’s shares and acquire 5 percent ...

Bloomberg Oil’s bull run is grinding to a halt. Hedge funds lowered their bets on Brent crude after they rose to a record a week earlier. And the net-bullish position on West Texas Intermediate, which hit a nine-month high last month, dwindled for a third straight week. The message: After a months-long build-up, investors are wavering, concerned US crude will ...

Bloomberg Japan’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports from the United States are expected to double in 2017 to a record and account for around half of its total purchases, government and shipping data showed. The surge comes as shale oil and gas output lifts overall US production. As with crude oil, the American exports displace LPG from the Middle East, ...

Bloomberg Iraq has given foreign energy companies a month to signal their interest in building a new export pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfields in the north of the country. The new pipeline will replace an old and severely damaged section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. It will start from oilfields near Kirkuk and extend to the Fish-Khabur border area with Turkey. ...

MOSCOW / Reuters OPEC and Russia will exit from oil production cuts very smoothly, possibly extending the curbs in some form to avoid creating any new surplus in the market, the Russian energy minister told Reuters. Alexander Novak also said in comments cleared for publication that he saw no direct connection between the oil cuts and Saudi Arabia’s plan to ...

Bloomberg China’s imports of liquefied natural gas in November surged 53 percent to a record as the nation scrambles to meet fuel shortages amid peak winter demand and government’s drive to cut coal use. LNG imports rose 53 percent from the same month last year to 4.06 million metric tons, according to data posted on the website of the General ...

Bloomberg Oil demand may jump in the new year as US refiners plan to take fewer units offline than last winter, freeing them up to churn out more fuel. Crude unit shutdowns in the first two months of the year are expected to be 35 percent below winter 2017, according to data from Energy Aspects Ltd. March outages are seen ...