Regional News

MOSCOW / Reuters Russia’s oil producers and energy ministry discussed a six-month extension to global oil output cuts, TASS news agency repor-ted, citing unnamed meeting participants, shorter than a 9-month extension floated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Energy Minister Alexander Novak and domestic oil producers held a meeting last week to discuss the deal, which is scheduled to expire on …

TUNIS / Reuters Poland’s dominant gas firm PGNiG has signed its first mid-term deal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries from the United States, as part of a wider plan to cut its reliance on Russian supplies, it said. State-run PGNiG said that as part of the deal, signed with Centrica LNG Co. Ltd, it will receive nine LNG shipments …

Bloomberg A relentless flow of natural gas from America’s shale basins is drawing bears to the market — and that’s music to the ears of at least one Asia-backed investor. Kalnin Ventures LLC — an investment company with funding from Thailand’s largest coal miner, Banpu Public Company Ltd. — has spent about $417 million over the past two years snapping …

Bloomberg OPEC has an Iraq problem: the group’s second-biggest exporter is lurching between quota busting and production-crimping crisis, clouding the policy-making picture as ministers decide how long they need to extend output curbs. After consistently exceeding its output quota all year, Iraqi production plunged in October when clashes between the federal army and fighters from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region disrupted …

Bloomberg Centrica Plc will scrap its default tariffs for new customers by the end of March as part of a set of proposals for reforming the UK energy retail market. Removing the rolling plan, known as standard variable tariff, and replacing it with a choice of fixed-term contracts with a duration as long as three years will increase competition, the …

BAGHDAD / Reuters BP and Eni are among companies that have expressed an interest in developing the giant Majnoon oilfield which Royal Dutch Shell plans to leave next year, Iraqi oil officials said. Shell has agreed to exit the Majnoon field in southern Iraq and hand over its operation to the state-run Basra Oil Co. by the end of June …

Bloomberg BHP Billiton Ltd. is aiming to complete its exit from the US onshore oil and gas sector within two years after settling on asset sales ahead of alternatives such as an initial public offering. “We’re determined to divest these businesses,” Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mackenzie said at an annual meeting in Melbourne. “We have concluded with our shareholders that …

HOUSTON / DUBAI / Reuters As Venezuela’s dilapidated energy sector struggles to pump enough crude oil to meet the country’s OPEC output target, rival producers within the exporters group have started to plug the gap, OPEC and industry sources said. The South American country’s oil output hit a 28-year low in October as state-owned oil giant PDVSA struggled to find …

Bloomberg A bid for Santos Ltd. may trigger counter offers for the Australian oil and gas producer that has stakes in some of the world’s cheapest liquefied natural gas. The Adelaide-based company surged the most in a year after saying it received and rejected a A$9.5 billion ($7.2 billion) takeover approach from Harbour Energy Ltd. led by former Royal Dutch …

Bloomberg Mexico is scouring the earth to stock up on diesel fuel before market-liberalization measures take effect. Petroleos Mexicanos, the country’s state-run oil company, has been on a buying spree of about a tanker load of diesel a day from the US alone this year and recently purchased it as far afield as the United Arab Emirates and China. Mexico …