April, 2018

• 4 April

  Cyberattack hits US gas networks

  

  Bloomberg At least four US pipeline companies have seen their electronic systems for communicating with customers shut down over the last few days, with three confirming it resulted from a cyberattack. Oneok Inc., which operates natural gas pipelines in the Permian Basin in Texas and the Rocky Mountains region, said it disabled its system as a precaution after determining that ...

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• 4 April

  Palestinians to offer 45% stake in Gaza gas field

  GAZA / Reuters The Palestinians are seeking to sell a 45 percent stake in a gas field off Gaza to help to develop the project, its main stakeholder, the Palestine Investment Fund, said on Wednesday after Royal Dutch Shell announced it had pulled out. Gaza Marine, about 30 km (20 miles) off the Gaza coast, has long been seen as ...

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• 4 April

  Oil skids to two-week low

  LONDON / Reuters Oil hit a two-week low on Wednesday after China said it would impose tariffs on a number of US goods including agricultural products, raising the prospect of a growing trade war that could hurt the global economy. China, the world’s largest importer of raw materials, lashed back at the Trump administration’s plan to levy tariffs on $50 ...

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• 4 April

  Bahrain says new discovery has 80bn barrels of tight oil

  

  MANAMA / Reuters A new discovery off the coast of Bahrain is estimated to contain at least 80 billion barrels of tight oil, the kingdom’s biggest ever find, Bahrain’s oil minister said. Bahrain said it had discovered extensive tight oil and deep gas resources off the west coast of the kingdom. Independent appraisals by US-based oil consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton ...

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• 4 April

  Italy’s Edison launches spin-off of oil & gas unit

  

  Reuters Italian energy group Edison, part of French utility EDF, is preparing the sale of its oil and gas unit, the latest power producer to abandon fossil fuels to focus on its retail business, four industry sources said. Edison has selected investment banks Rothschild and Perella Weinberg to organise an auction for the exploration and production division, which could be ...

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• 4 April

  1,300 Chinese products in eyes of Trump tariffs

  

  Bloomberg Chinese companies scrambled to assess the impact of proposed US tariffs on 1,300 products as President Donald Trump took a swipe at companies making televisions to dishwashers but spared levies on other goods that might hurt US consumers. The wide-ranging list of products that may be hit with 25 percent tariffs includes malaria diagnostic test kits, sewing machines and ...

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• 4 April

  SoftBank’s Swiss Re stake unlikely to exceed 10%

  Bloomberg Billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp. is likely to take a stake of 10 percent or less in Swiss Re AG as it seeks to gain a foothold in the cash-rich reinsurance industry. A deal would see Japan’s third richest-man follow other business titans such as Warren Buffett in seeking to profit from the cash flows provided by reinsurance. ...

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• 4 April

  TPG-backed chip tester UTAC explores $1bn sale

  

  Bloomberg UTAC Holdings Ltd., the Singapore-based chip testing firm backed by Affinity Equity Partners and TPG, is exploring options for a sale of its business after completing a bond restructuring, people with knowledge of the matter said. The company met potential advisers in recent weeks to discuss options that could include an initial public offering or sale, according to the ...

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• 4 April

  Billionaires plan $6 billion warchest in India telecom fight

  

  Bloomberg Companies owned by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal may raise as much as 365 billion rupees ($5.6 billion) selling bonds as the telecom titans build a war chest in what investors hope will be the home stretch in India’s bruising tariff war. Mittal-controlled Bharti Airtel Ltd., which sold its first-ever rupee bond of 30 billion rupees in ...

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• 4 April

  Putin trio of Syria winners seen accepting partition for now

  

  Bloomberg The triple alliance of Russia, Turkey and Iran, now the dominant actors in Syria’s war, is stepping up efforts to impose a peace. It may end up presiding over a partition. Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in Ankara on Wednesday for their latest summit on Syria’s future. The three leaders have buried their ...

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