Bloomberg Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest oil producer, is also a leader when it comes to slashing the crude price the country needs to balance its budget. The kingdom will need oil to trade at $70 a barrel next year to break even, the Washington-based International Monetary Fund said in its Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia. ...

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to pay more than $300 million to resolve air pollution violations tied to eight chemical plants in Texas and Louisiana, one of a pair of environmental settlements with oil companies announced by the Trump administration. Separately, Denver-based PDC Energy Inc. agreed to pay $22.2 million after storage tanks were found to be leaking smog-forming compounds. ...

Bloomberg Congressional Republicans counting on a $1 billion windfall from selling oil-drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to help pay for tax cuts may be in for a disappointment. Data from previous Arctic oil lease sales suggest the US is likely to collect less than a fifth of that billion-dollar goal over the next decade— about $145.5 million ...