January, 2019

• 9 January

  China eases back on Mideast, African oil after buying binge

  

  Bloomberg China’s crude oil purchases from the Middle East and West Africa dropped to a four-month low in December, following a buying binge the previous month that saw the Asian country’s stockpiles swell. Observed flows to China from the two regions dropped to 5.04 million barrels a day, the lowest since August, after reaching a 2018-high of 6.45 million barrels ...

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• 9 January

  China’s State Grid to spend $5.7bn on ‘hydro plants’

  

  Bloomberg State Grid Corp of China, the dominant electricity distributor in the world’s biggest energy consumer, will invest 38.7 billion yuan ($5.7 billion) to build five pumped hydro storage plants as part of the nation’s efforts to ease idled solar and wind power capacity. The projects, in Hebei, Jilin, Zhejiang, Shandong provinces and the far west Xinjiang autonomous region, will ...

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• 9 January

  Oil lobbyist warns of political risk in Norway

  

  Bloomberg Norway’s oil industry is in full recovery mode, but the country’s top petroleum lobbyist is worried about growing opposition ahead. At the same time as it gave a big boost to investment forecasts for next five years, Norwegian Oil and Gas Association sounded one of its starkest warnings yet on political risk facing the nation’s biggest industry. Explorers and ...

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• 9 January

  Mexico oil chiefs under pressure amid fuel crisis

  

  Bloomberg Mexico’s opposition is accusing the government of addressing the issue of fuel theft irresponsibly as supply fears spread to the nation’s capital. Members of the senate are calling for the newly appointed energy minister Rocio Nahle and Petroleos Mexicanos chief executive Octavio Romero to explain how they will fix fuel distribution amid shortages at gasoline stations in central Mexico, ...

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• 9 January

  EDF unit draws bidders for its oil and gas assets

  Bloomberg Electricite de France SA’s Italian unit has attracted potential bidders including Neptune Energy and Warburg Pincus’s Apex International Energy for its oil and gas business, people familiar with the matter said. Bidders for Edison SpA’s exploration and production assets, primarily located in Egypt and Italy, may offer as much as $2 billion, the people said, asking not to be ...

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• 9 January

  Trump’s prime-time bid to end border wall impasse falls flat

  

  Bloomberg Donald Trump summoned the nation’s attention to the Oval Office for a prime time pronouncement on the border wall standoff at the centre of the government shutdown. Then, he offered nothing new. Instead, Trump used the president’s most symbolic and powerful perch — traditionally reserved for times of war or calls for national unity — to rattle off familiar ...

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• 9 January

  Kim leaves China after Trump sanctions talks

  

  Bloomberg North Korean leader Kim Jong-un left Beijing after talking and dining with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to South Korean media, in a show of unity as they engage in delicate negotiations with President Donald Trump’s administration. Kim spent a little more than a day in the Chinese capital and was en route to Pyongyang on Wednesday, Yonhap News ...

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• 9 January

  Macedonia votes in bid to join NATO, EU

  

  Bloomberg The Republic of Macedonia will try to clear the biggest hurdle to joining NATO and the European Union this month with a decisive vote to change its name that will either open the path to membership or slam the door shut. The former Yugoslav state is at the centre of a tussle for influence over Europe’s most volatile region. ...

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• 9 January

  Japan, South Korea seek talks over ‘forced labour’

  Bloomberg Japan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the South Korean ambassador to seek talks in an escalating standoff over forced labour claims that it has said risks undermining the legal basis for relations between the neighbours. The ministry summoned Ambassador Lee Su-hoon after a South Korean court this week approved the confiscation of assets in South Korea in a case involving Nippon ...

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• 9 January

  Kenya party rift risks ethnic tensions

  

  Bloomberg An alliance that helped deliver Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta two terms in office is fracturing, reviving tensions in the country’s Rift Valley region that was wracked by widespread violence a decade ago. The deputy chairman of the ruling Jubilee Party stepped down after saying Deputy President William Ruto shouldn’t be allowed to succeed Kenyatta. That undermines an arrangement in ...

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