Regional News

Bloomberg PetroChina Co brushed off a $1.5 billion writedown from the disposal of some assets as it estimated full-year net income more than doubled last year thanks to higher crude prices. China’s biggest oil and gas producer said net income could have jumped as much as 132 percent in 2018, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, ...

Bloomberg The Brazilian unit of EDP — Energias de Portugal SA plans on boosting investments once Latin America’s largest economy starts to recover, aiming to double in size by 2020. The firm, which began operating in Brazil during the privatisation wave of the 1990s, is “completely optimistic” with the outlook for the country, Chief Executive Officer Miguel Setas said in ...

Bloomberg MEG Energy Corp looks to be on its own again after Husky Energy Inc pulled its hostile bid for the Canadian oil-sands producer and no white knight emerged during the takeover battle. The data room that MEG had opened to entice other suitors during the Husky tussle is now closed, and its strategic review process has concluded, said Megan ...

Bloomberg Alberta’s crude curtailment plan has caused a dramatic rise in the price of heavy Canadian oil. But for shares of energy companies, it hasn’t been as much of a help. Since the production curtailment was unveiled early last month, Western Canadian Select crude has almost doubled to about $43 a barrel, narrowing its discount to benchmark US oil to ...

Bloomberg Global oil demand remains on course to be stronger this year than in 2018 as a boost from lower fuel prices counters slowing economic activity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). “We have seen prices fall very significantly since the peak at the beginning of October, and that is providing some relief to consumers,” Neil Atkinson, head of ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is in talks to build an oil refinery in South Africa as part of a pledge to invest as much as $10 billion in Africa’s most developed economy. Joint studies for a refinery and petrochemical complex will be conducted by state oil giant Saudi Aramco and South Africa’s Central Energy Fund, energy ministers from the two countries ...

Bloomberg Oil explorers still reeling from the late-2018 price collapse shut down drilling rigs in the biggest US field and elsewhere at the fastest pace in almost three years. The number of working oil rigs plunged by 21 this week to 852, the lowest since late May, according to data released by oilfield-services provider Baker Hughes. A 26 percent surge ...

Bloomberg Nigeria’s state-owned oil company said it’s in talks with financiers to raise as much as $4.1 billion and will seek to sign service deals to increase production from three leases. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp, or NNPC, is in discussions with Lagos-based Sterling Oil Exploration & Energy Production Co to raise $3.15 billion and CMES-OMS Joint Venture Ltd for ...

Bloomberg The Japanese conglomerate Hitachi Ltd confirmed it will halt work on its nuclear power project in the UK, delivering a blow both to its ambitions to export more of its technology and Britain’s effort to revive its atomic industry. The company will book a loss of about 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) after suspending indefinitely its plans to build ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration’s decision to keep issuing oil drilling permits during the government shutdown is putting those authorisations in legal jeopardy, environmentalists argued in a filing. The Bureau of Land Management has already violated a federal spending law and legal requirements for public consultation by issuing at least 153 drilling permits since the shutdown began on December 22, WildEarth ...