DUBAI / WAM The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) recorded a notable drop in the concentration of major air pollutants due to the transportation restrictions that have been imposed to counter the spread of Covid-19. In this context, MOCCAE reported an average 30 percent decline in the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across UAE between February 1 and ...

ABU DHABI / WAM In line with the Ministry of Health and Prevention’s plans to increase Covid-19 testing throughout the country for the early detection of infections, particularly among those who had contact with already infected cases, the ministry has conducted 38,000 additional tests. Testing resulted in the detection of 563 new cases among various nationalities, bringing the total number ...

Bloomberg Chevron Corp is planning a 10% to 15% reduction in its global workforce this year, the biggest cut to headcount yet among global oil majors following the Covid-19 pandemic. The cuts equate to about 6,000 of its 45,000 non-gas station employees and may be a precursor to staffing reductions at Big Oil rivals such as BP Plc and Royal ...

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp shareholders voted against separating the roles of chairman and chief executive officer as the oil giant navigates a historic collapse in crude prices. Just 33% of investors backed the proposal to create an independent chairman position, compared with 41% last year. Proxy advisers Glass Lewis & Co and Egan-Jones Proxy Services had recommended that shareholders vote ...

Bloomberg Even if the economy continues to recover and a second wave of the pandemic is less damaging than the first, US shale drillers may still take at least a year before moving rigs back into the field, according to the leader of an oilfield-services company. Precision Drilling Corp CEO Kevin Neveu said activity in US shale basins is in ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration lost another bid to kill a tariff loophole on imported solar equipment, enabling American developers to continue skirting its duties for the time being. A US trade court rejected the administration’s request to clear the way for removal of a tariff exemption on bifacial, or two-sided, panels. US Court of International Trade Judge Gary Katzmann said ...

Bloomberg Who needs a loss-making, inflexible oil refinery in a world where demand for petroleum has been obliterated? We’re about to find out. When consumption of transport fuels collapsed this year because of coronavirus, much of the industry moved into survival mode, cutting processing rates and even temporarily stopping refining in some cases. While that helped prop up the industry’s ...

Nobody in business likes auditors: They can be intrusive, meddlesome second-guessers. But managers of publicly traded companies understand that independent auditing is essential, because it protects shareholders against fraud and wasteful spending — and maintains public confidence in the enterprise. President Trump spent most of his career managing a private company. Public accountability wasn’t a big part of Trump’s business ...

My view of the dust-up between Twitter and President Donald Trump is simple: The company should treat him exactly like it would treat any other user. But I’ll also admit to a degree of concern about how it treats other users, particularly the company’s growing determination to regulate opinions expressed on its site. Twitter, long criticised by the left for ...

The Chinese consumer has been one of the most important drivers of the world economy over the past decade, fueling hopes of prolonged growth and profits. So it’s worth looking at what’s happening to household balance sheets as Covid-19 wreaks havoc on a population now feeling the downside of growing personal leverage from the boom. In the last major financial ...