MOSCOW / Reuters Russian state oil firm Rosneft is struggling to close its $12.9 billion acquisition of India’s Essar Oil Ltd because six of Essar’s Indian creditors have yet to approve the deal, sources close to the talks said. The state-run banks and financial institutions that are delaying Rosneft’s biggest foreign acquisition hold about $500 million of Essar’s debt, five …

ALGIERS / Reuters The new chief of Algeria’s state energy company Sonatrach has urged employees to simplify bureaucracy, and focus on the core business of production as the North African state deals with lower oil prices, an internal company letter shows. The message from new CEO Abdelmoumen Ould Kadour was sent to Sonatrach employees just over a month after he …

CAIRO / Reuters The International Monetary Fund said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt on a second loan instalment that would make available about $1.25 billion. The IMF approved a $12-billion, three-year loan programme to Egypt in November and paid out $2.75 billion of the first $4 billion tranche of the loan. An IMF team was in Cairo …