Bloomberg China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the world’s biggest oil refiner, posted 40 percent growth in first-half profit amid better earnings from its chemicals business as well as a narrower loss from producing oil and gas and lower financing costs. Net income rose to 27.9 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) in the six months ended June 30, the Beijing-based company known …

Bloomberg Gasoline surged to the highest in two years and oil declined as flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey inundated refining centers along the Texas coast, shutting more than 10 percent of US fuel-making capacity. Motor fuel prices rose as much as 6.8 percent, while New York oil futures slipped 0.9 percent. Harvey, the strongest storm to hit the US since …

Bloomberg An Australian company is introducing its own version of bitcoin that will let homeowners and businesses sell excess energy generated from their rooftop solar panels to neighbors, without a middleman taking a cut. As of Monday, Perth-based Power Ledger had sold about 57 percent of the 100 million so-called “power tokens” offered at 8.8 US cents a piece since …