Bloomberg South Africa said it will proceed with a court case to invalidate the sale in 2015 of its strategic oil stocks, despite crude prices recently dropping below what traders paid at the time. The $280 million deal for 10 million barrels of South Africa’s reserves, criticised as a rip off when oil prices were in a slump, was sold ...

Bloomberg Four years after devastating wildfires burned down sections of Fort McMurray, the city in the heart of Canada’s oil sands is now grappling with two new emergencies at the same time: the coronavirus pandemic and flooding. Just as people were sheltering at home to avoid the virus, a 25-kilometre (16-mile) natural dam created by melting ice on the Athabasca ...

Bloomberg Continental Resources Inc is being sued by a closely held oil driller that accused the shale giant of walking away from a $200 million deal following an historic collapse in crude prices. Casillas Petroleum Resource Partners and Continental signed a so-called purchase and sale agreement on March 6, according to the lawsuit, one trading session before crude tumbled about ...

Bloomberg Norway, western Europe’s biggest oil producer, joined international efforts to curb supply for the first time in almost two decades after prices plumbed new depths. The Nordic country will cut production by 250,000 barrels a day in June and 134,000 barrels in the second half of the year, the Petroleum and Energy Ministry said. That’s based on a reference ...

Bloomberg The French and Spanish economies plunged into record contractions and German unemployment climbed more than expected amid virus shutdowns that are pushing Europe into its deepest recession of the post-war era. France shrank 5.8%, the most since 1949, with Spain suffering a 5.2% drop in GDP. The figures highlight the dramatic effect of government-ordered shutdowns as just two weeks ...

Bloomberg UK homebuilders are starting to pull out of deals to buy land as they brace for a hit to demand. Inland Homes Plc, a firm that specialises in getting urban sites ready for construction, said on Thursday that three deals with large publicly traded homebuilders had been aborted because of the coronavirus pandemic. The cancelled deals show how developers ...

Bloomberg A gauge of Russian manufacturing slumped to the lowest level since records began in 1997 as lockdowns across Europe choked demand. The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 31.3 in April, down from 47.5 in March, IHS Markit said on Thursday. The median estimate of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for 40.5. “Output and new orders contracted ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. said quarterly sales and profit rose, buoyed by demand for internet-based software and cloud services needed to accommodate a shift to remote working during the coronavirus crisis. Profit in the period ended March 31 rose to $10.8 billion, or $1.40 a share, the company said in a statement. Sales rose 15% to $35 billion. The results from ...

Bloomberg The euro-area economy plunged into a record contraction, an outcome that will only add more urgency to controversial demands for joint European fiscal support. Output in the 19-country region shrank 3.8%, reflecting shutdowns to contain the coronavirus that have pushed businesses close to collapse, sent unemployment surging and forced governments to unleash billions of euros in emergency stimulus. As ...

Bloomberg Tesla Inc. will cut the price of its standard-range Model 3 in China for the second time this year so it can continue to qualify for government rebates on electric vehicles that are being tightened. The move will drop the price of the sedan below the 300,000 yuan ($42,400) maximum threshold for electric cars in China to qualify for ...