Bloomberg The man overseeing energy policy in western Europe’s biggest oil- producing nation says the worst downturn in the history of Norway’s offshore industry appears to have bottomed out as this month’s historic OPEC deal continues to reverberate across the globe. Terje Soviknes, who was named as Norway’s next petroleum and energy minister on Tuesday, replacing Tord Lien, …

  TRIPOLI / Reuters Operations at Libya’s southwestern Sharara oilfield were gradually resuming on Wednesday after the lifting of a two-year blockade on a pipeline leading from the field, a senior official said on Wednesday. “We started running the wells and then gradually we will start pumping to the Zawiya refinery,” the official, who works at the field, told Reuters …

  Bloomberg Oil extended its advance as industry data showed US crude stockpiles declined last week, trimming an inventory overhang. February futures rose as much as 0.9 percent in New York after climbing 0.5 percent on Tuesday. Crude inventories dropped by 4.15 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. That compares with a forecast 2.5 million-barrel decrease …