Bloomberg A plunging oil price gives African central banks more to think about as they move towards a cycle of raising interest rates. With a month to go before the US Federal Reserve delivers what would be its fourth interest-rate increase of the year, African policy makers may still move to tighten to avoid a further sell-off of assets and …

Bloomberg Hedge funds are betting Opec will struggle to reverse oil’s precipitous plunge. Their combined wagers against West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude soared for a seventh straight week, the longest global short-selling streak in data going back to 2011. The bearish bets jumped 14 percent in the week ended on November 13 and have tripled since the end of …

Bloomberg Canada’s oil sector is divided over whether to force a temporary cut to production, with some major producers pushing the controversial idea in a bid to ease a supply glut and halt a steep plunge in prices, according to seven people familiar with the matter. Executives from Canadian Natural Resources Ltd and Nexen Energy ULC are among those who …

Bloomberg American fingerprints are all over oil’s record losing streak that’s plunged prices into a bear market. The State Department’s zigzag on Iran sanctions, President Donald Trump’s tweets about Opec supply, the demand-sapping trade war with China and the explosion of shale oil production are all key factors leading to the collapse in crude prices since early October, Ed Morse, …

Bloomberg ConocoPhillips plans to invite bids by the end of the year for its remaining North Sea assets, which could be valued at up to $3 billion in a sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The assets, which would include what’s left of its holding in the Clair Field, are likely to draw interest from private equity-backed …

Bloomberg China, the driver of global demand, is forecast to become the world’s largest gas-buying country with net imports approaching the level of the European Union by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency’s the World Energy Outlook. China already overtook South Korea as second-largest LNG importer last year and is on track to surpass Japan. By 2040, it will …

Bloomberg San Francisco-based startup Lime has spent the last year scattering an assortment of brightly coloured scooters and bikes around American cities, arguing such services will reduce car use and traffic problems. But even Lime can’t quite sever ties with the automobile. Starting soon, the company will start spreading around Lime-branded cars, too. Lime is launching a car-sharing service in …

Bloomberg The head of Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous vehicle unit gave a cautious outlook for the nascent industry, saying the technology won’t be ubiquitous for decades and that driverless vehicles will always have constraints. Waymo Chief Executive Officer John Krafcik said self-driving cars will require driver assistance for many years to come, and that he doesn’t envision a day when the …

Bloomberg Elon Musk is apparently charting his way out of what he’s referred to as “delivery logistics hell” by making acquisitions and lining up contracts with trucking haulers. The Tesla Inc. CEO tweeted that Model 3s ordered in the US by the end of the month will be delivered by year-end. He wrote that using trucks instead of rail shaves …

Bloomberg Bringing fast, widespread internet to rural Africa has proven vexing for companies that have tried—and largely failed—with strategies ranging from drones to satellites. Now, a sister company of Google says it has the answer: balloons. Loon, spun out of the search giant’s X innovation lab in July, is teaming up with Telkom Kenya Ltd. to build a network of …