Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund has raised its economic growth forecasts for Saudi Arabia as oil prices rise, though the pace of expansion remains below government estimates. Gross domestic product will likely grow 1.6 percent this year, the IMF said, compared with an earlier forecast of 1.1 percent. The Washington-based lender also revised its 2019 economic growth forecast to 2.2 ...

Bloomberg Oil’s advance slowed after prices hit a new three-year high amid signs that US crude stockpiles increased last week. Futures were little changed in New York after closing at the highest level since December 2014. Industry data signalled inventories rose by 4.76 million barrels last week, which will be the first gain in 10 weeks if confirmed by a ...

KHOBAR / Reuters An advisory council to Saudi Arabia’s government has asked the kingdom’s securities regulator to study the impact of listing Saudi Aramco on the local bourse amid concern that a huge initial public offering could damage the market. The Shura Council’s fiscal committee has also asked the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to make sure that the stock market’s ...

Bloomberg BP Plc, the oil major that sold a third of its assets after a disastrous rig accident in 2010, said it won’t be left behind as the industry boosts investment in new energy. “We haven’t made really big bets but we’re scanning and screening everything” to assess renewables opportunities, Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said. BP must “get its ...

Bloomberg Iceland’s hope of finding oil offshore its coast is fading after China and Norway decided to back out of the island nation’s only remaining exploration license. Cnooc Ltd., China’s state-controlled producer, and Petoro AS, Norway’s state-owned oil company, decided to relinquish their interest in the license, Iceland’s National Energy Authority said in a statement. Their junior partner, Eykon Energy ...

Bloomberg Japan’s thermal coal imports rose to a record last year and liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases climbed for the first time in three years, as the fuels filled the gap in power generation left by the country’s slow restart of its nuclear power plants. The figures underscore the country’s continued reliance on imported fossil fuels for power generation, as ...

Bloomberg Russia should stop blocking United Nations efforts to investigate alleged violations of a 2013 accord to remove chemical weapons from Syria, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. As the party ultimately responsible for chemical weapons use by the Syrian regime, Russia should at least abstain during UN Security Council votes, Tillerson said in Paris at the end of ...

Bloomberg Twin car-bombings killed at least 26 people outside a mosque in the Libyan city of Benghazi, calling into question the ability to stabilise a divided nation struggling to make peace. The attack is the deadliest to hit Libya’s second-largest city in almost two years and undercuts militia leader Khalifa Haftar’s claim to have vanquished militant groups in the nation’s ...

Bloomberg Britain will stay closely aligned to the European Union’s regulatory regime after it leaves the bloc but wants the freedom to go its own way if it chooses in future, Brexit Secretary David Davis has said. During negotiations with the EU, the UK will aim to secure the power to diverge from the bloc’s rules on financial services and ...

Bloomberg The ground-based system of interceptors that the US would use to defend the mainland and Hawaii against a threatened North Korean attack is improving after past setbacks, the Pentagon’s testing office said in a new report. The $36 billion system “demonstrated the capability to defend the US homeland from a small number” of intermediate range or intercontinental ballistic missiles ...