January, 2018

• 20 January

  Shell, BP agree to 2018 deals for Libya oil

  

  Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc agreed to annual deals to buy Libyan crude, underscoring how the North African country’s recovering production and improving security are enticing some of the world’s largest oil companies. Shell’s deal with Libya’s National Oil Corp. was the first of its kind since 2013, and Europe’s biggest oil company will load its first ...

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• 20 January

  Kuwait says exit from oil cuts not on table as prices surge

  

  Bloomberg OPEC and other global oil producers including Russia won’t be discussing how to end output cuts when they meet this weekend in Oman even as crude prices have recently been rising, Kuwait’s oil minister said. Compliance among all countries in the cuts was 125 percent in December, Bakheet Al-Rashidi told reporters in Kuwait City. The rate is preliminary as ...

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• 20 January

  OPEC-Russia oil deal faces new danger: Too much winning

  

  Bloomberg When OPEC and Russia review their strategy for clearing a global oil glut, they’ll face an unusual problem: it could be working just a bit too well. As their output cuts, coupled with robust global demand, tighten the market, crude prices have soared to a three-year high near $70 a barrel. That’s prompted warnings — from Iran’s oil minister ...

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• 20 January

  Oman plans $1 bn infrastructure fund

  Reuters Oman’s sovereign wealth fund is planning to start a $1 billion infrastructure fund to boost investment in projects including the Gulf state’s road, transport and energy systems, according to people familiar with the matter. The State General Reserve Fund is talking to international banks and potential investors for the financing, the people said, asking not to be identified because ...

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• 20 January

  US shutdown begins as Senate fails to pass GOP funding bill

  

  Bloomberg The US government officially entered a partial shutdown on Saturday as Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans blocked a bill to fund the government after the two parties failed to break their deadlock over immigration. The shutdown began one year from the day President Donald Trump was inaugurated. Trump and his aides were typically defiant, with his press ...

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• 20 January

  S Korea seeks North reason for cancelling advance team visit

  Bloomberg South Korea has officially asked North Korea to explain why it cancelled dispatching an advance team to the South to prepare for concerts during the yeongchang Winter Olympics, according to Yonhap. Pyongyang suddenly withdrew an earlier offer to send an advance team over the weekend to South Korea to check performance venues. The team, led by Hyon Song Wol, ...

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• 20 January

  US plans Israel embassy move as early as 2019

  Bloomberg The Trump administration accelerated its timetable for moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, weighing a plan to retrofit the existing consulate there by the end of 2019 in order to fulfill a key campaign pledge by the president. Building a new embassy would have taken too long and is “cost-prohibitive” so “we’re going to retrofit an existing facility,” Steve ...

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• 20 January

  Merkel coalition on the line as German SPD votes to talk or walk

  

  Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition plans face a make-or-break vote this weekend as the Social Democrats decide whether to help usher in her fourth term or walk away from government and risk pushing Europe’s biggest economy further into political uncertainty. Germany’s oldest political party is split over its future direction, and those divisions will play out at a national convention ...

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• 20 January

  ANC agrees on Zuma’s exit as South African president

  

  Bloomberg The leadership of South Africa’s ruling party decided that President Jacob Zuma must leave office but didn’t set a time-frame for his exit, according to six senior party officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The newly-elected top six leaders of the party will manage the transition that will concentrate power in the hands of his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, ...

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• 20 January

  Iran N-deal cannot survive if US pulls out, says Russia’s Lavrov

  UNITED NATIONS / Reuters Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Iran nuclear deal cannot survive if the United States pulls out of the agreement. US President Donald Trump said a week ago that European allies and Congress have to work with him to fix “the disastrous flaws” in the nuclear pact or face a US exit. Trump wants it ...

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