Bloomberg China’s insatiable appetite for solar power led to a surprise increase in global clean-energy investment last year even as US President Donald Trump pushed to undermine pollution rules and curbs on coal. About $333.5 billion poured into renewable energy and cutting-edge power technologies, up 3 percent from 2016 and 7 percent short of the record set in 2015, according ...
Read More »Flow of unwanted oil from China set to turn into a deluge
Bloomberg The pace at which China exports the fuel it doesn’t want is set to jump by more than four times in 2018, according to the nation’s biggest energy producer. That’s a harbinger of bad news for processors in the rest of Asia — from South Korea to Japan and India — who now have to contend with higher crude ...
Read More »Trump’s offshore oil plan will struggle to lure rigs from Guyana
Bloomberg The world’s hottest offshore prospect for oil companies is off the coast of Guyana, where a string of major discoveries has drawn hundreds of millions of dollars in a quest for crude. The Trump administration is hoping to lure some of that investment to the US with a proposal to sell leases in almost every inch of the nation’s ...
Read More »Algeria inks deal with Vitol to cut fuel import bill
TIGUENTOURIN / Reuters Algeria’s state oil firm Sonatrach will exchange crude for refined products with the world’s largest oil trader Vitol, a Sonatrach official said of the rare move that aims to reduce a record fuel import bill. Vitol would receive up to 2 million barrels a month of the OPEC member’s light, sweet crude and would deliver gasoline and ...
Read More »Engie, ACWA bid for 800MW solar project in Morocco
Bloomberg Morocco attracted bids from France’s Engie SA and EDF Energies Nouvelles to build 800 megawatts of solar power as the North African country seeks to curb energy imports. The French utilities, as well as Riyadh-based ACWA Power International, led groups bidding last month for engineering, procurement and construction contracts, Obaid Amrane, a member of the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable ...
Read More »European car sales hit 10-year high on SUVs
Bloomberg European car sales reached a 10-year high in 2017 as widening economic growth boosted consumer confidence, with SUVs from French manufacturers Peugeot and Renault, Italian competitor Alfa Romeo and Japanese rival Toyota propelling demand. Registrations in 2017 increased 3.3 percent to 15.6 million vehicles, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA, said in a statement. The figure was ...
Read More »Door open for UK to return to EU fold
Bloomberg European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker offered a new twist in his campaign to keep Britain part of the EU. A day after urging British Prime Minister Theresa May to reverse Brexit before it happens in March 2019, the head of the European Union’s executive arm said the UK can always re-apply for membership after departing. Juncker cited the EU’s ...
Read More »Melrose makes $10.2 billion hostile offer to acquire GKN
Bloomberg Melrose Industries Plc made a hostile 7.4-billion-pound ($10.2 billion) bid for GKN Plc, which spurned the approach, setting up a battle to win shareholder support for the deal or the aviation supplier’s own plan to break itself up. The offer values GKN at 430.1 pence a share in cash and stock, Birmingham, England-based Melrose said in a statement. After ...
Read More »US travel industry unites to fight decline in foreign tourism
Bloomberg As more international travellers decide to skip America, ten business associations including the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Restaurant Association have created a travel industry group aimed at reversing the growing unpopularity of the US as a vacation destination. Historically, America only had to sit back and let foreign tourists and their money roll in. Over the ...
Read More »US cuts aid to Palestinians through UN to $60 million
Bloomberg The US has told the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians that it will contribute only about half of a $125 million payment to the body, while demanding a “fundamental reexamination†of the social-service agency’s mission and funding before deciding whether to pay the rest. “It is time other countries, some of them quite wealthy, step in and do ...
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