Bloomberg Rosneft PJSC plans to start a $2 billion share buyback this year, while also cutting spending and debt. The state-run producer, which pumps more than 40 percent of Russia’s crude, has already signalled a shift towards more efficient “organic†growth, ending years of deal-driven expansion that made it the country’s most indebted company. The latest announcement could boost Rosneft’s ...
Read More »OPEC output dips as group over-delivers on cuts agreement
Bloomberg OPEC continues to over-deliver on its production cuts, with output falling further last month as the group nears its goal of rebalancing the oil market. The cartel pumped 31.93 million barrels a day, down from a revised 31.97 million in March, a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data found. OPEC and a group of non-OPEC ...
Read More »Chilly Britain absorbing more gas ‘that would have gone to Europe’
Bloomberg Britain is so cold it’s keeping more of the natural gas it produces and imports for itself. Over the past month, UK gas exports have repeatedly plumbed the lowest levels in at least a decade for this time of the year. Usually, with winter past and heating demand subsiding, Britain would have ample supplies to ship to the continent. ...
Read More »Germany set for solar record over warm climate
Bloomberg Germany is headed for record solar power generation next week as forecasters predicted warm weather for central and eastern Europe and even raised the prospect of heatwaves hitting the southeast region later this month. While Europe’s renewable energy revolution has fundamentally changed how the power market works, it’s probably most notable at this time of year. German prices slumped ...
Read More »No-deal Brexit risk is back as Barnier warns talks may fail
Bloomberg The prospect of a no-deal Brexit is real again. European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier is ramping up his rhetoric and officials in private worry that the risk of a messy divorce, which had receded at the end of last year, is now back. At least twice in the last week Barnier has made public warnings that talks could ...
Read More »Militants kill 14 in strike on Libya’s election HQ
Bloomberg Militants killed at least 14 people at the headquarters of Libya’s elections commission, Interior Minister Abdel-Salam Ashour said, in a likely symbolic strike as the fractured country edges toward potentially stabilising votes. Gunfire erupted as the attackers targeted security forces guarding the building, said Khaled el Mannai, deputy head of public relations at the commission in Tripoli. While one ...
Read More »Gabon’s PM resigns after court dissolves parliament
Bloomberg Gabon’s Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet presented a resignation letter to President Ali Bongo Ondimba on Tuesday after the Constitutional Court dissolved the central African nation’s parliament, according to a government statement. The parliament was dissolved after an April 30 deadline to hold legislative elections lapsed. Its functions will be taken over by the Senate until the vote is held ...
Read More »US criticises Burundi plans to alter presidential term limits
Bloomberg The US State Department said a referendum to amend Burundi’s constitution that includes changing presidential terms “through a non-transparent process†will undermine the East African nation’s democratic institutions. Burundi is scheduled to hold a plebiscite on May 17 that could see President Pierre Nkurunziza extend his 13-year rule until 2034. His decision in 2015 to run for a third ...
Read More »Mueller probe: Trump lawyers lack security clearance
Bloomberg Donald Trump’s current team of lawyers lacks the security clearances needed to discuss sensitive issues related to a possible presidential interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to two people familiar with the matter. Trump’s former lead lawyer John Dowd had been the only member of the president’s personal legal team with a security clearance, the people said. When ...
Read More »In hungry Venezuela, soup propels evangelist’s presidential run
Bloomberg The main attraction at Javier Bertucci’s presidential campaign rally wasn’t the Christian hip hop, the interpretive dancers or even the bouncy castle. It was the soup. The 48-year-old Venezuelan televangelist came to the seaside community of Catia La Mar with vats of hearty beef stew that drew hundreds of hungry people carrying plastic containers and cups. He has spent ...
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