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  RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it had successfully cut into its huge state budget deficit this year and will increase government spending in 2017 to boost flagging economic growth. The deficit shrank to 297 billion riyals ($79 billion) in 2016. That was well below a record 367 billion gap in 2015, and below the government’s projection ...

  Bloomberg Iraq said most international oil companies working in the country, along with the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, have agreed to cut crude output to fulfill an OPEC accord. Iraq is fully committed to delivering on OPEC’s Nov. 30 agreement to reduce supplies, Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said on Thursday in Cairo at a meeting of the Organization of ...

  BLoomberg Malaysia’s state-owned energy company Petroliam Nasional Bhd signed an agreement to study two oil fields in Iran, joining international companies from Russia to France that plan to help boost the Persian Gulf nation’s oil and gas production. Petronas signed a memorandum of understanding to assess the South Azadegan and Cheshmeh Khosh oil fields, Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, deputy director of ...

  Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp.’s offer to raise its bid for InterOil Corp. to as high as $3.9 billion isn’t enough to pacify the deal’s most prominent opponent. InterOil founder Phil Mulacek, who left in in 2013 and remains the third-largest shareholder, said Exxon still isn’t offering shareholders full value for InterOil’s hydrocarbon reserves in Papua New Guinea. Exxon last ...

  Bloomberg Those looking for a bright spot in the global warming picture might want to pay closer attention to India. For several years, demand for electricity in the world’s second-most populous country has trailed forecasts, data compiled by India’s Central Electricity Authority show. While the reasons for the mismatch are complex, the gap raises the prospect that India won’t ...

  Bloomberg Taiwan held its benchmark interest rate for a second straight quarter as economic indicators show fourth-quarter strength and improving growth prospects for 2017. Policy makers held the discount rate to banks at a six-year low of 1.375 percent, the central bank said in a statement on Thursday after a meeting in Taipei. All 28 economists in a Bloomberg ...

  Bloomberg Truck Alliance Inc., a Uber-type service for trucks known in China as Huochebang, raised about $115 million in a financing round that valued the startup at $1 billion. The two-year-old company backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Hillhouse Capital secured the capital in a round led by new investors International Finance Corp. and All-Stars Investment Ltd. Tencent, Genesis ...

  Bloomberg China’s liquefied natural gas imports surged to a record last month as the world’s third-biggest buyer boosted shipments to offset winter demand and avert shortages that struck cities including Beijing last year. Inbound LNG shipments jumped 46.6 percent to 2.66 million tons in November from a year earlier, according to General Administration of Customs data released. Natural gas ...

  Bloomberg Nokia Oyj sued Apple Inc. saying the iPhone maker infringed several mobile patents, turning simmering tension between the companies into a bitter public legal battle on multiple fronts. The Finland-based company said Apple agreed to license patented inventions in 2011 but has refused to extend those agreements that are now expiring. Nokia filed complaints with the German Regional ...

  Bloomberg One of the world’s most devoted gearhead clubs is about to get a little pricier in the UK as a result of the country’s vote to leave the European Union. Tesla Motors will increase prices in the UK by 5% in 2017, a move attributed to the falling pound and described as “due to curre- ncy fluctuations,” a ...