Reuters Qatar’s stock market jumped by its biggest margin in nearly five months on Monday because of hopes that Doha’s diplomatic dispute will be resolved. Most other Gulf markets were firm. Qatar’s stock index, which has been trading near six-year lows, surged 2.2 percent as trading volume doubled. Real estate firm Ezdan Holding, which has been hit hard by a …

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday oil producers might start discussing in June when to raise output once the market out-look was clearer, even though OPEC was expected to conti- nue output curbs in the second half of 2018. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers led by Russia have agreed …

NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE / Reuters Two of India’s state-owned oil refiners have issued tenders seeking to charter tankers for at least five years while giving preference to Indian companies, tender documents reviewed by Reuters showed, which would boost domestic shipping firms battered by slumping tanker rates. India’s Ministry of Shipping asked the refiners to issue long-term crude import tenders …

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia has invited US firms to take part in developing its civilian nuclear power programme, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday, adding the kingdom was not interested in diverting nuclear technology to military use. Reuters has reported that Westinghouse is in talks with other US-based companies to form a consortium for a multi-billion-dollar project to …

Bloomberg From oil majors to trading companies to pipeline operators, US companies are jumping at the chance to supply a newly free Mexico fuel market. After years of preparation, Mexico finished liberalizing prices for gasoline and diesel across the country. Foreign companies were allowed to start moving fuels in April last year, but now consumers’ costs will be more closely …

Bloomberg Don’t expect Big Shale to rush and fill the hole left by OPEC in the oil market. Executives from three of the biggest independent US drillers say they won’t increase activity just because prices rise after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to extend output curbs. The emphasis, instead, will be on maintaining spending discipline …

What the Republicans are offering on taxes is a bad bargain for America’s future. They would borrow — roughly $1.5 trillion over a decade — to finance tax cuts that are pleasing for the present. Future Americans would pay the bill. There are at least three reasons why the Senate should reject its version of this self-serving deal. First, it’s …

Infosys Ltd’s incoming CEO Salil Satish Parekh faces three choices: He can create a more valuable company, return cash to shareholders, or kick the can to a new set of owners. Unlike his predecessor, who got into a messy skirmish with the company’s still-powerful co-founders, Parekh will have some latitude to choose his strategy. For one thing, he has the …

Akzo Nobel NV boss Thierry Vanlancker has the chance of a second stab at a jumbo chemicals deal with US peer Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. He should grab it. Axalta’s negotiating position has been weakened after it started talks with Japan’s Nippon Paint Holdings Co. Ltd. last month, having already entered into discussions with Akzo about a possible all-share merger. …

Might this be China’s new Venezuela? Beijing’s frenzied drive to create a modern Silk Road puts Pakistan front and center, much as Venezuela was once a target of lending by China Development Bank as the nation sought to secure oil supplies. Of the $6 billion to $7 billion of current development projects in Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic …