Regional News

Bloomberg Crude production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries dropped again in November to a six-month low. Total production fell 80,000 barrels a day to 32.47 million a day last month, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data. That was the lowest level since May, when output was 32.29 million. Angola led the …

Bloomberg Europe’s biggest utility is betting on an Italian green power renaissance to lift business. Enel SpA expects Italy’s new national energy strategy to reverse a decline in green power generation by encouraging companies to help meet ambitious new goals, according to Antonio Cammisecra, chief executive officer of the utility’s renewables unit. “There will be a great renaissance of renewable …

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday oil producers might start discussing in June when to raise output once the market out-look was clearer, even though OPEC was expected to conti- nue output curbs in the second half of 2018. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers led by Russia have agreed …

NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE / Reuters Two of India’s state-owned oil refiners have issued tenders seeking to charter tankers for at least five years while giving preference to Indian companies, tender documents reviewed by Reuters showed, which would boost domestic shipping firms battered by slumping tanker rates. India’s Ministry of Shipping asked the refiners to issue long-term crude import tenders …

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia has invited US firms to take part in developing its civilian nuclear power programme, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday, adding the kingdom was not interested in diverting nuclear technology to military use. Reuters has reported that Westinghouse is in talks with other US-based companies to form a consortium for a multi-billion-dollar project to …

Bloomberg From oil majors to trading companies to pipeline operators, US companies are jumping at the chance to supply a newly free Mexico fuel market. After years of preparation, Mexico finished liberalizing prices for gasoline and diesel across the country. Foreign companies were allowed to start moving fuels in April last year, but now consumers’ costs will be more closely …

Bloomberg Don’t expect Big Shale to rush and fill the hole left by OPEC in the oil market. Executives from three of the biggest independent US drillers say they won’t increase activity just because prices rise after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to extend output curbs. The emphasis, instead, will be on maintaining spending discipline …

Bloomberg OPEC and Russia just gave their most implacable foe, US shale, an early holiday gift. As corporate boards for American oil explorers prepare to sketch out 2018 drilling budgets, the historic agreement by Saudi Arabia, Russia and other major crude producers to extend supply caps for another year may prompt directors to spend more on drilling. That’s because the …

RIYADH / Reuters Major Saudi Arabian retailer Jarir Marketing Co expects single-digit growth in sales in 2018, after a double-digit pace this year as it took market share from smaller rivals, its chairman said. Government regulations pushing retailers of electronics to hire Saudi citizens instead of less costly foreigners hurt smaller companies that were less able to absorb the financial …

Bloomberg S&P Global Ratings lowered Bahrain’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’, prompting Bahrain’s central bank to reaffirm the country’s currency peg to the US dollar. S&P Global Ratings said the rating cut was due to weak external liquidity and increasing financial risk due to more limited access to international capital markets. The Central …