Bloomberg Indonesia posted a surprise trade deficit in September as the US-China trade war and a global slowdown continued to weigh on exports in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Exports contracted for an 11th consecutive month, falling 5.7% from a year ago but not as much as the decline of 6.5% forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. That resulted in ...

Bloomberg Santos Ltd. agreed to buy ConocoPhillips’ northern Australia business for $1.4 billion in a deal that will boost the Adelaide-based oil and gas producer’s position in the growing Asian liquefied natural gas market. The transaction may allow Santos to become the country’s largest independent energy producer and capitalise on a push by Asian consumers, including China, to switch to ...

Bloomberg China’s biggest refiner plans to reduce operations from next month after a surge in the cost of shipping crude eroded margins. Freight rates have skyrocketed since the US announced sanctions on Chinese shipowners in late-September, triggering a flight from vessels owned by affected companies and a bidding war for alternative tankers. That’s driven up the cost of importing crude ...