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Bloomberg China’s oil refining giant said its trading unit lost almost $700 million last year after being wrong-footed by zigzagging markets, revealing one of the biggest losses by a commodity trader in the last decade. Sinopec blamed the losses at its Unipec unit in part on “inappropriate hedging techniques” and said it closed its positions after discovering the problem. Oil ...

Bloomberg China’s offshore oil and gas experts are dipping their toes in wind power, bringing their experience working on the ocean floor and adding a new twist to their portfolios. Cnooc Ltd., the country’s top offshore oil explorer, said it wants to use its expertise in marine geology to replicate its success in the offshore wind sector. The company entered ...

Bloomberg America’s gasoline producers can run, but they can’t hide from a plunge in refining profit margins that sanctions against Venezuelan crude would only worsen, analysts said. The biggest US refiners are expected to report strong fourth-quarter earnings thanks to profits from diesel processing in a strong US economy, as well as a drop of about 40 percent in crude ...

Bloomberg Heavy Canadian crude isn’t getting any cheaper — but that hasn’t stopped companies from splurging on costly rail shipments. Rail-car loadings hit a record 356,000 barrels a day in the week ended Jan. 11, up from a daily average of 296,000 barrels in December, according to Genscape Inc., which monitors some of the larger crude-by-rail terminals in Western Canada. ...

Bloomberg The committee of lawmakers crafting a plan for the southern US border is expected to start meeting this week, even as a defiant President Donald Trump made clear he won’t take no for an answer in his effort to construct a border wall. “Does anybody really think I won’t build the WALL?” Trump said in a tweet that ran ...

Bloomberg The US military’s cybersecurity capabilities aren’t advancing fast enough to stay ahead of the “onslaught of multipronged” attacks envisioned by adversaries, the Pentagon’s combat testing office is warning. Despite some progress in fending off attacks staged by in-house “Red Teams,” the testing office said “we estimate that the rate of these improvements is not outpacing the growing capabilities of ...

Bloomberg Jacob Zuma, who quit as South African president last year after being implicated in a string of scandals, is facing fresh allegations that he took bribes from services company Bosasa to shield it from prosecution and advance its business interests. Angelo Agrizzi, Bosasa’s chief operating officer from 1999 to 2016, told a judicial inquiry that’s probing graft during Zuma’s ...

Bloomberg The prize is Venezuela’s military. And both sides of the deepening crisis are working to win it. Activists backing National Assembly leader Juan Guaido walked the streets of Caracas, passing out copies of a measure that promises amnesty against corruption or abuse allegations to any member who defects. Some in uniform seemed willing to receive the documents; others burned ...

Bloomberg Cyprain fled his home when separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Northwest region threatened to kill him after he served government soldiers. He’s one of a growing number of civilians trapped between the army and roaming gangs of English-speaking insurgents fighting to break away from the majority-Francophone nation. The conflict has decimated the local economy in the conflict zone, and according ...

Bloomberg US stocks fell after Caterpillar and Nvidia blamed slowing global growth for disappointing results, adding to concern the trade war with China is hitting corporate profits. The dollar edged higher. The S&P 500 began a crucial week for trade and monetary policy sharply lower as the sector bellwethers doused enthusiasm over the young earnings season. The Dow Jones Industrial ...