BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraq agreed a deal with US energy company Orion on Monday to process natural gas extracted at its giant Nahr Bin Omar oilfield. The memorandum of understanding, signed in Baghdad by representatives of the oil ministry and the US company, will allow Orion Gas Processors to build facilities to capture the gas from the field located in …

Bloomberg Libya’s powerful black market traders are encountering an unfamiliar sight: people showing up with bundles of dollars for sale. Rising oil prices have relieved financial pressure on Libya, allowing authorities to channel more dollars to importers since the start of the year. Meanwhile, the central bank has eased restrictions on currency transfers that had made the black market the …

Bloomberg Brent crude steadied after Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to continue supply cuts. Futures rose as much as 0.5 percent in London before paring those gains. Output limits should remain through 2018 as rebalancing may be achieved next year, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in a Bloomberg television interview held with his Russian counterpart. Russia is prepared …

Bloomberg Philadelphia Energy Solutions LLC, owner of the largest oil refinery serving the New York Harbor gasoline and diesel market, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, a joint-venture between The Carlyle Group LP and a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners LP, filed a petition in US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Chief Executive Greg Gatta said in a memo …

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia has asked banks for proposals to refinance its $10 billion international syndicated loan and to help the sovereign raise funds through other means, the country’s debt management office said. In addition to the req- uest for proposals (RFP) on the loan refinancing, the government has issued RFPs covering further US dol- lar debt capital market …

Bloomberg UBS Group AG investors were left underwhelmed by the bank’s first share buyback since the credit crisis and rejigged financial targets. The stock declined the most since July after the Zurich-based bank downgraded a key profitability target, as well as paring back forecasts for its asset- management business and net new money at its combined wealth-management unit. The bank …

Bloomberg The Central Bank of Nigeria won’t hold its rate-setting meeting scheduled for Monday and Tuesday because lawmakers have yet to approve monetary policy committee members, leaving the body unable to form a quorum. The bank will “maintain key monetary policy variables” at levels decided in November, Governor Godwin Emefiele said in an emailed statement, effectively leaving the key interest …

Bloomberg When euro-area finance ministers launch the process to find a new European Central Bank vice president, they won’t be flooded with nominations. So far, only Spain has said it will put forward a candidate to replace Portugal’s Vitor Constancio, whose term expires at the end of May, with Finance Minister Luis de Guindos the most likely nominee. The meeting …

DUBAI / Reuters National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the Gulf Arab state’s largest commercial lender, reported a 5.4 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit, in line with analysts’ forecasts, according to Reuters calculations. The bank made a net profit of 80.0 million dinars ($266.3 million) in the three months to December 31, compared with 75.9 million dinars a year earlier, …

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc and the US Justice Department, announcing last week that the bank would pay $100 million for front-running client currency orders, left one thing unstated — the name of a big client the bank’s traders defrauded. That unidentified victim was London-based insurer Prudential Plc, according to court records and testimony in a related case and a person …