Bloomberg The outlook for declining oil production in Venezuela may get grimmer if the US bans supply of a key commodity used to help Venezuelan crude flow from oilfields to the coast. Production in the Orinoco oil belt, which accounts for half of the country’s output, depends on heavy naphtha imported from the US to reach global markets. Naphtha is …

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. has shut production platforms and a processing plant in the highlands of natural gas exp-orter Papua New Guinea after an earthquake struck the Pacific nation. The US oil giant closed the facilities to assess damage from a magnitude 7.5 earthquake early on Monday morning, it said in a statement. Administrative buildings, living quarters and a mess …

Bloomberg US claims that a Latvian bank laundered money and violated sanctions on North Korea led to the lender’s demise in little over a week, turning the spotlight on the European Central Bank’s role as chief supervisor for euro-zone lenders. The US Treasury proposed banning ABLV Bank from doing business in dollars, but the ECB doesn’t have the power to …