RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it had successfully cut into its huge state budget deficit this year and will increase government spending in 2017 to boost flagging economic growth. The deficit shrank to 297 billion riyals ($79 billion) in 2016. That was well below a record 367 billion gap in 2015, and below the government’s projection ...

  Bloomberg Iraq said most international oil companies working in the country, along with the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, have agreed to cut crude output to fulfill an OPEC accord. Iraq is fully committed to delivering on OPEC’s Nov. 30 agreement to reduce supplies, Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said on Thursday in Cairo at a meeting of the Organization of ...

  BLoomberg Malaysia’s state-owned energy company Petroliam Nasional Bhd signed an agreement to study two oil fields in Iran, joining international companies from Russia to France that plan to help boost the Persian Gulf nation’s oil and gas production. Petronas signed a memorandum of understanding to assess the South Azadegan and Cheshmeh Khosh oil fields, Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, deputy director of ...