March, 2018

• 31 March

  China taking first steps towards paying for oil in yuan this year

  

  HONG KONG / Reuters China is taking its first steps towards paying for imported crude oil in yuan instead of the US dollar, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, a key development in Beijing’s efforts to establish its currency internationally. Shifting just part of global oil trade into the yuan is potentially huge. Oil is the world’s …

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• 31 March

  Dutch to close EU’s biggest gas field to limit earthquakes

  

  Bloomberg Fifty-five years after starting natural gas production from Europe’s biggest field, the Netherlands have signed its death warrant. Output from the Groningen deposit will be cut by two-thirds from the year starting October 2022 and halt by 2030 to ensure the safety of people in the province of the same name after earthquakes linked to extraction, Economy Minister Eric …

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• 31 March

  Exxon, Total join majors interested in Iraq oil auction

  

  Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp., Total SA and Lukoil PJSC are among international companies interested to win rights to develop 11 oil and gas border fields as OPEC’s number two producer continues to build production capacity. Iraq plans to hold a bidding round on April 15 and award service contracts the same day for companies to develop 11 onshore and offshore …

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• 31 March

  Shale patch makes money, ready to drill for more

  

  Bloomberg An upbeat shale patch, much to OPEC’s dismay, is hiring and ready to drill for more oil as producers are comfortably making a profit. But you have to be big if you’re competing in America’s prime spots. The vast majority of explorers surveyed for a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas report said they could profitably drill a new well …

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• 31 March

  here’s Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad

  

  Emirates Business Apple updated its most popular iPad with support for Apple Pencil plus even greater performance, starting at 1349 AED. The new 9.7-inch iPad and Apple Pencil give users the ability to be even more creative and productive, from sketching ideas and jotting down handwritten notes to marking up screenshots. The new iPad is more versatile and capable than …

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• 31 March

  Xiaomi takes on iPhone X with new MIX 2S

  

  Bloomberg As Xiaomi Corp. heads toward a potentially huge initial public offering, the Chinese startup has announced a new flagship smartphone aimed squarely at the high-end users that flock to Apple and Samsung devices. The $500 Mi MIX 2S was unveiled in Shanghai by co-founder Lei Jun. Success for the new phone, which goes on sale in China on April …

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• 31 March

  Google backs startup working on remote-controlled driverless car

  

  Bloomberg Alphabet Inc.’s Google is getting into self-driving cars in a new way. Gradient Ventures, an early-stage venture fund within Google, is leading a $6 million investment in a new company that’s building software to let humans control cars remotely. Scotty Labs, a nine-person startup, works on “teleoperations,” an emerging slice of the autonomous vehicle business that may grow more …

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• 31 March

  Saudi Arabia bank pegs growth hopes on mortgages, reforms

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s second-biggest bank is betting that government efforts to develop the entertainment industry, boost home-ownership and open up the role of women in the economy will fuel growth this year. The kingdom is undergoing an economic overhaul driven by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman that includes removing restrictions on cinemas, concerts and women driving and working. It also …

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• 31 March

  HSBC to pay $100mn to settle libor-rigging lawsuit

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to pay $100 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit by over-the-counter investors, including the city of Baltimore and Yale University, who claimed they were harmed when they bought securities tied to rigged Libor. The proposed settlement by the London-based bank follows similar agreements the investor group reached with Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., and most recently …

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• 31 March

  Yen challenges BOJ bid to taper by stealth

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan is finding out just how hard it is to be stealthy — when everyone is looking right at you. The central bank looks set to end this fiscal year well behind on its target for Japanese government bond purchases. But having inadvertently sparked a yen rally in January, a repeat of this “stealth taper” of …

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