Bloomberg A province governed by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 13 years is impeding his plans to promote clean energy. Modi’s effort to make liquefied natural gas more affordable, by halving its import tax in the government’s annual budget February 1, is being scuttled by the withdrawal of tax benefits by the western Indian state of Gujarat, through ...
Read More »Gazprom launches charm offensive as it meets Asian investors
Bloomberg It’s a long-distance relationship that’s never really taken off. Executives from Gazprom PJSC in Moscow flew thousands of miles east this week to Singapore and Hong Kong for the first time since 2015 in a bid to drum up interest in the world’s largest natural gas producer. Even after last year’s commodities rally and a revival in Russian ...
Read More »US supplies dim confidence in OPEC cuts
Bloomberg Oil closed near $54 a barrel in New York as estimates of record US stockpiles overshadow OPEC’s efforts to balance the market. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are meeting more than 90 percent of the curbs they agreed to make, the group’s Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo, said in Abuja, Nigeria. The United Arab Emirates is ...
Read More »Fracking provider STEP seeks $152 million in Canadian IPO
Bloomberg STEP Energy Services Ltd., a fracking services provider, plans to raise about C$200 million ($152 million) in the biggest initial public offering in the Canadian oil and gas industry in more than two years. The shares are expected to be sold at C$14 to C$16 a piece, giving the Calgary-based oilfields service firm a valuation of about C$802 ...
Read More »Shell shuns new oil sands as low crude prices force cost control
Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc is unlikely to take on new oil-sands projects as it maintains a grip on costs after crude’s crash forced competitors to write down Canadian reserves. While Shell’s existing oil-sands operations generate strong cash flows, the expense of developing new projects discourages additional investments, Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden said in an interview. Oil ...
Read More »Emerging Asia infrastructure needs US$26 trillion by 2030
Bloomberg Asia’s infrastructure race is just getting started. Emerging economies across the region will need to invest as much as $26 trillion on building everything from transport networks to clean water through 2030 to maintain growth, eradicate poverty and offset climate change. That’s according to an Asian Development Bank report released on Tuesday that highlights the need for massive ...
Read More »Worker shortage drives Japanese firms into ‘child care’
Bloomberg Faced with a shortage of workers, Japanese companies are taking matters into their own hands, helping the government fix a chronic lack of day care that is blunting efforts to get more women into the workforce. Nichiigakkan Co., which provides hospital administration and care services, is among more than 500 companies approved for new subsidies to start their ...
Read More »China’s public-private partnerships are ‘public-public’
Bloomberg China’s effort to promote public-private partnerships to fund roads, bridges and railways and keep a lid on rampant debt growth is succeeding in luring companies to the projects. Problem is, they’re mainly state-owned. Two years into the PPP push, the majority of partners in the projects have turned out to be state-owned enterprises, according to analysts at Fitch ...
Read More »US durable goods orders jump 1.8%
WASHINGTON / AP US businesses boosted their orders for long-lasting manufactured goods in January by the largest amount in three months, but a key category that tracks business investment plans slipped. Orders for durable goods rose 1.8 percent in January after two months of declines, the Commerce Department said. The strength stemmed from a big surge in demand for ...
Read More »Turkey seeks US support to attack IS group Syria bastion
Bloomberg Turkey is seeking US support to lead a ground offensive against IS main stronghold in Syria, a Turkish official said, a move that could give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more influence in the conflict and undermine Kurdish groups linked to separatists he’s fighting at home. Troops and Syrian rebels loyal to Ankara would advance on Raqqa through areas ...
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