Riven by rivalries, OPEC heads to key talks

  Paris / AFP Cartels only work when their members stick together — but precious little unity is likely to be on show among OPEC producers at a key meeting in Algiers on Wednesday. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries seem doomed to disagree on whether to freeze production to reverse a collapse in oil prices. At ...

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Oil services find hope in giant windmills anchored to ocean bed

  Bloomberg Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. has for decades built hulking platforms to extract oil and natural gas from the seabed. With the collapse of offshore drilling, the company has turned to helping harvest another energy resource: wind. Gulf Island built all five turbine foundations for the first US offshore wind farm, which is expected to go into service in ...

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Algeria sees oil market in ‘critical’ shape ahead of OPEC talks

  Bloomberg The oil market is in “much more critical” shape than when OPEC last met and its members must seek ways to stabilize crude prices, possibly by freezing or cutting output, Algeria’s energy minister said ahead of talks among the group’s members this week in Algiers. Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is ...

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Work on KIPCO real estate project in Kuwait begins

  KUWAIT / Reuters Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO), the Gulf state’s largest investment company, said on Sunday construction had begun on its $2.0-$2.5 billion real estate project in Kuwait, which has been downsized by around half from its original estimated cost. The mixed-use project, which had previously been valued at $5 billion, was scaled down after an earlier estimate did ...

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Mystery of oil held on Chinese islands puzzles crude markets

  Bloomberg China’s got the world puzzling over its oil hoard. From underground caverns by the Yellow Sea to a scattering of islands in the Yangtze River delta, the government has been stockpiling crude for emergencies in a network of storage sites dotted around the country. Record purchases this year by the world’s biggest energy consumer have helped oil prices ...

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Gulf stocks drop after scepticism over Algiers talks sinks crude

  Bloomberg Stocks in Dubai and Saudi Arabia led a drop in Gulf equities following a slump in the price of oil stoked by fading prospects for an output deal between major producers. The DFM General Index and Tadawul All Share Index both declined 0.6 percent on Sunday, with the Saudi gauge posting its fourth loss in five sessions as ...

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Earnings, algorithms no match for Yellen as stocks jump

  Bloomberg The Federal Reserve may not be the only thing obsessing U.S. investors these days. But going by the rally that followed Janet Yellen’s decision to hold interest rates steady, it’s the biggest thing. Throwing off concerns ranging from falling earnings to the machinations of automated traders, the S&P 500 Index surged 1.2 percent last week, the biggest gain ...

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Security risk in sharing your birthdate online

  AP Of all the personal information people tend to give out willy-nilly on the internet, birthdate is perhaps the most ubiquitous. It’s not just Yahoo and Facebook seeking that information. Websites, newsletters, online stores and a plethora of other places want your birthdate — and many services won’t let you sign up until you provide it. And it’s probably ...

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What to do if you’ve been breached in the Yahoo hack

  Relaxnews In recent weeks Yahoo has been prompting users to change their passwords and to add a phone number as an extra layer of security and on Thursday the reason for these requests became clear. The tech company announced that a hack could have compromised 500 million users’ details. MAKE THE CHANGE NOW Whether you’re one of the 500 ...

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Snapchat launches new video-catching sunglasses

  San Francisco / AFP Vanishing message service Snapchat announced it will launch a line of video-catching sunglasses, a spin on Glass eyewear abandoned by Google more than a year ago. The California-based company, which also announced it is changing its name to Snap Inc., said in an online post that its Spectacles will be “available soon,” with media reports ...

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