January, 2018

• 2 January

  China’s Chongqing gas exchange aims to be Asia price benchmark

  

  CHONGQING / Reuters China plans to launch a natural gas exchange in Chongqing in early 2018, aiming to create an Asian price benchmark as the nation’s use of the fuel surges amid its shift away from coal. China is the world’s third-biggest consumer of natural gas behind the United States and Russia. An exchange in its fast-growing market would be ...

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• 2 January

  Big oil exit leaves Norway tending to ‘own future’

  

  Bloomberg Norway is realising it will have to do without the deep pockets of the biggest oil companies as it seeks to extend an era that has made it one of the world’s richest countries. The most recent blow came when only 11 companies applied for new blocks in the Arctic Barents Sea, touted as the country’s most promising area ...

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• 2 January

  Libya’s AGOCO to fix power issues hampering output

  BENGHAZI / Reuters Libya’s Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) is hoping to resolve power problems by the end of March that are keeping production well below potential, its chairman said. In recent weeks, AGOCO’s production has been fluctuating between around 150,000 and 230,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to an oil source who asked not to be named. Production stood ...

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• 2 January

  Hyundai-Kia tie-up falls further behind GM, VW on delivery drop

  

  Bloomberg Third time’s the charm, but not for Korea’s largest carmaking group. Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said they sold 7.25 million autos in 2017, a million short of the companies’ joint target and missing forecasts for the third consecutive year. Deliveries fell to the lowest level since 2012. The group is forecasting a 4.1 percent increase ...

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• 2 January

  China to stop production of 553 vehicle models over fuel use

  

  Bloomberg China’s will end the production of 553 passenger-car models that don’t meet fuel-consumption limits amid efforts by the nation to curb pollution. The halt in production was expected to begin on January 1, the China Vehicle Technology Service Center said in a statement Thursday. Models include FAW VW’s Audi FV7145LCDBG sedan, Beijing Benz’s Benz BJ7302ETAL2 sedan and Shanghai GM’s ...

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• 2 January

  Coal power pace slows in India as glut leaves plants unused

  

  Bloomberg India is adding the least amount of coal-fired power in more than a decade as tepid demand from indebted state retailers fails to utilise the nation’s existing generation capacity. Coal-fired capacity, which accounts for more than three quarters of the nation’s electricity, rose by 809 megawatts during the April-November period, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the latest available ...

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• 2 January

  Fed outlook on rate hikes dims auto sales view in 2018

  

  Bloomberg As automakers seal their first annual US sales decline since 2009, expectations for more interest-rate hikes are bolstering the nearly unanimous view that car demand will shrink again in 2018. Few analysts anticipate sales this year will reach 17 million vehicles, which was just achieved for a third-straight year and only the fifth time in history. The Federal Reserve ...

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• 2 January

  UK realty price jumps came outside London

  

  Bloomberg An English spa town and two coastal areas saw the biggest house-price increases in the UK in 2017, outstripping gains in London’s hotspots. Cheltenham in southwest England saw a 13 percent jump in prices in 2017, almost five times the national increase of 2.7 percent, Bank of Scotland Plc’s Halifax division said. The average house in the town, famous ...

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• 2 January

  UK manufacturing growth slows

  Bloomberg UK manufacturing growth slowed more than forecast in December, retreating from a four-year high. IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers Index for the industry slid to 56.3, below the median estimate of economists for a reading of 57.9. Still, that pace of expansion left the quarterly average at the highest since 2014. “Expansion remained comfortably above long-term trend rates,” said Rob ...

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• 2 January

  Maserati recalls luxury sedans to fix fire risks

  

  Bloomberg Maserati North America Inc. is recalling more than 1,000 of its newest luxury cars to fix leaky fuel pipes that increase the potential for an engine fire. The 2018 Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans—with prices starting at $73,050 and $105,600, respectively—have a faulty fuel delivery pipe in the engine compartment that may leak gasoline, the company said. The cars haven’t ...

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