Regional News

Bloomberg Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said he was optimistic there would be a balance between supply and demand by the first quarter of 2018, leading to a boost in oil prices. Global oil inventories have decreased to an acceptable level and there were positive signs that oil market prices would improve significantly in 2018, Luaibi told journalists. A slight ...

Bloomberg Three years after causing an oil-price crash, the shale boom may not be enough to meet rising global demand because the industry has cut back so sharply on higher-risk mega-projects. Discoveries of new reserves were the fewest on record and replaced just 11 percent of what was produced, according to a Dec. 21 report by consultant Rystad Energy. While ...

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 ...