BEIJING / Reuters State oil trader Unipec will develop “really strong” ties with China’s independent refiners, said a company executive on Tuesday, even as they present a growing challenge to its parent and Asia’s top refiner, Sinopec Corp. China issued crude oil import quotas to privately run refiners, often called “teapots”, for the first time in 2015, ending decades of ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia raised 17 billion riyals ($4.5 billion) from its first local Islamic bond sale this year as the biggest Arab economy seeks funds to bridge a budget deficit amid low oil prices. The government received investor offers in excess of 51 billion riyals, three times the deal size, according to a statement posted on the Ministry of Finance ...

Bloomberg OPEC member Kuwait plans to start trading energy and not just producing it, joining other Middle Eastern producers eager to claw back some of the profit traders like Vitol Group and Glencore Plc earn by buying and selling the region’s oil. State-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. is in talks with both commodities dealers along with some international oil companies about ...

London / Reuters Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia pledged to curb exports from next month and OPEC called on several members to boost compliance with output cuts to help to rein in oversupply and tackle flagging prices. Brent crude futures were up 49 cents at $49.09 a barrel by 0933 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate futures ...

Bloomberg Oil’s bear market may finally be taking its toll on the shale boom. Hours after Halliburton Co. warned that explorers are “tapping the brakes” on drilling, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said it’s trimming spending in the first earnings report this quarter from a major shale producer. That could make this week a turning point for the troubled global oil market ...

Bloomberg A dairy farm in the home of the world’s biggest energy exporter is considering using cow dung to meet its power needs. Saudi Arabia’s National Agriculture Development Co. is planning to develop a $200 million biomass plant fired by excrement from its bovines, according to people familiar with the matter. Nadec, as the dairy company is known, is in ...

Bloomberg A bevy of corporate earnings pulled US stocks higher, while European equities climbed on rising confidence among German businesses. Treasuries retreated with the dollar as the Federal Reserve began its policy meeting. Earnings from Caterpillar Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. led to outsize gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, while Alphabet Inc.’s disappointing results weighed on technology indexes. Banks ...

DUBAI / Reuters Poor corporate earnings, due in part to Saudi Arabia’s austerity policies and sluggish economic growth, weighed on the Saudi stock market on Tuesday as most regional bourses were virtually flat. The Saudi stock index fell 0.3 percent in thin trade. National Shipping Co (Bahri) sank 5.6 percent after reporting that quarterly net profit plunged to 153.9 million ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etihad Airways on Tuesday introduced the Boeing 787-9 on its scheduled daily service from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, to Beirut, Lebanon. The new 787 Dreamliner service replaces the Airbus A321 aircraft previously operating the airline’s EY535/EY538 flights to and from the Lebanese capital. The Boeing 787-9 features Etihad Airways’ next-generation Business and ...

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia hired Goldman Sachs to manage the sale of a stake in Riyadh airport, the first major privatisation of an airport in the kingdom, three sources familiar with the matter said. The Saudi Civil Aviation Holding plans to sell a minority stake in Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, the sources said, without providing a timeframe for ...