January, 2019

• 19 January

  Legality of oil drilling permits issued during shutdown challenged

  

  Bloomberg The Trump administration’s decision to keep issuing oil drilling permits during the government shutdown is putting those authorisations in legal jeopardy, environmentalists argued in a filing. The Bureau of Land Management has already violated a federal spending law and legal requirements for public consultation by issuing at least 153 drilling permits since the shutdown began on December 22, WildEarth ...

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• 19 January

  Venezuelan oil loses US buyers amid sanctions

  Bloomberg Five US refiners either significantly reduced or totally replaced purchases of Venezuelan crude in 2018, and more may follow suit as president Donald Trump mulls new sanctions against the South American nation. Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Phillips 66 haven’t processed Venezuelan crude in their US refineries since the US imposed financial sanctions against the country and its oil ...

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• 19 January

  Aramco refinery JV hires SMBC, Riyad Bank to advise on funding

  

  Bloomberg Satorp, the joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Total SA, hired Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) and Riyad Bank to help raise funds to develop a petrochemical facility in the kingdom, according to people with knowledge of matter. Financing for the $5 billion Amiral project is expected to be arranged from banks and export credit agencies, the people said, ...

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• 19 January

  China offers path to end US trade imbalance

  

  Bloomberg China has offered to go on a six-year buying spree to ramp up imports from the US, in a move that would reconfigure the relationship between the world’s two largest economies, according to officials familiar with the negotiations. By increasing goods imports from the US by a combined value of more than $1 trillion over that period, China would ...

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• 19 January

  Nissan cutting 700 workers at US plant

  

  Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co plans to cut as many as 700 workers at one of its US factories, adding slower truck and van sales to the list of woes for a company reeling from a leadership crisis. The Nissan assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi, will eliminate one shift of Titan and Frontier pickup production, and drop one shift building the ...

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• 19 January

  Foxconn may delay hiring for new plant

  Bloomberg Foxconn Technology Group may delay its timeline for hiring workers at its new Wisconsin plant, adding to mounting gloom over the state of the technology industry and global trade. The biggest assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. in Taiwan and Asia, said it has “adjusted” the timeframe for recruitment and hiring at its ...

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• 19 January

  ‘Singapore’s female workers lag men in pay’

  Bloomberg Female professionals in Singapore are, in some cases, earning just half the amount of their male counterparts, the Straits Times reported. High-paying jobs with the widest earnings gap between the genders include specialist medical practitioners and managing directors or chief executives, the paper said, citing data from the Ministry of Manpower. The data highlights room for improvement in Singapore ...

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• 19 January

  Alibaba to postpone hiring, cut travel spending

  

  Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is cutting its spending on travel and postponing some new hiring as China’s largest e-commerce company braces for a slowing economy, people familiar with the matter said. Some new hires were told they can’t start until the new fiscal year begins in April, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is ...

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• 19 January

  ‘Bali to impose $10 tax on foreign tourists’

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s resort island of Bali is set to impose a $10 levy on foreign tourists to preserve its environment and culture, The Jakarta Post reported, citing Governor Wayan Koster. The provincial government is deliberating whether the tax, which won’t be imposed on Indonesian citizens, will be collected as part of the airline ticket or at counters at the airport, ...

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• 19 January

  EU outlines trade goal with US in bid to bolster truce

  

  Bloomberg The European Union unveiled a blueprint for a free-trade deal with the US that would cut tariffs on a wide range of industrial goods including cars in a bid to heal commercial ties. European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom asked EU governments in Brussels for the go-ahead to start negotiations on lowering trans-Atlantic commercial barriers, prodding US President Donald Trump ...

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