Oil set for monthly decline as OPEC seen standing firm on supply
Oil headed for its largest monthly drop since July as Iran signaled the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries won’t reduce its production target at a meeting this week.
BlackRock sees more commodity pain on slowing China, dollar
he world’s largest money manager says that the worst commodity selloff in a generation still has room to run.
Introducing the new OPEC member that likes lower oil prices
After defending the interests of oil- exporting nations for five decades, OPEC has made a surprising choice with its newest member: a country that consumes about twice as much crude as it pumps.
Oil jumps as Mideast tensions rise after Russian plane downed
Oil jumped after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the border with Syria, fanning concern that conflict in the region may intensify.
OPEC seen holding the line as $40 crude looms over Vienna
It’ll take more than $40 crude to make OPEC change its mind, analysts said before the group’s Dec. 4 meeting in Vienna.
Looking for volatility? Try Germany’s shift to renewable energy
Germany’s shift to renewable energy has created a power market so volatile that humans are having trouble keeping up with it.
Norway’s offshore fleet in for more pain as 100 vessels stacked
The number of Norwegian offshore vessels idled with nothing to do has gone from zero to 100 in just a year. And the woes are far from over, the industry’s top lobbyist said.
Oil slides as Venezuela sees mid-$20 crude if OPEC doesn’t act
Oil extended its decline amid a broader commodity rout while Venezuela predicted crude prices may drop as low as the mid-$20s a barrel unless OPEC takes action to stabilize the market.
Oil bulls see little chance of help from OPEC as supply grows
Hedge funds are betting OPEC won’t do anything next month to keep crude oil above $40 a barrel.
Norway oil fund backs push to end bank dominance over bonds
The world’s largest sovereign investor wants to curtail the big banks’ hold over bond trading. The $860 billion Norwegian sovereign-wealth fund is backing the European Union’s campaign to bring transparency to the bond market and make debt trade more like stocks. The fund says the current setup -- where investors call a bank to get a price -- is dysfunctional and should be fixed by forcing the banks to publish their prices.
Oil heads for third weekly decline as US stockpile continues gain
Oil headed for a third weekly decline on signs a global glut will be prolonged amid the longest run of US stockpile gains in seven months. Futures are down 0.8 percent this week after falling below $40 a barrel Wednesday for the first time since August. Crude inventories expanded for an eighth week, the longest stretch of increases since April, government data showed Wednesday. That’s sustaining supplies in the world’s biggest oil consumer more than 100 million barrels above the five-year average level.
Obama and Putin agree on bombing Islamic State’s oil pipeline
When Vladimir Putin met with Barack Obama in Turkey on Sunday to discuss the terrorist attacks in Paris, he brought along some photos. The satellite images showed rows of trucks laden with Islamic State oil stretching into the Syrian horizon, a person familiar with matter said. Putin’s point was that US bombing alone can’t eliminate the vast smuggling network that provides much of the extremist group’s funding. Obama was already well into a stepped-up campaign against the group’s oil resources and that night US aircraft destroyed 116 tankers hauling crude from seized fields.
Africa oil boom fades as $50 crude shuts door on high-cost deals
“On the brink of a boom,” was the banner on PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s review of Africa’s oil industry 16 months ago. Now, oil below $50 has made more than two out of three investment projects on the continent non-viable. “Capital markets are effectively closed to the oil and gas industry” in Africa, Tony Hayward, former head of BP Plc and now chairman of Genel Energy Plc, said at a conference in Cape Town last month. “A decade of exploration, with billions of dollars invested and only limited commercial success.”
Rock Energy targeted for board shakeup by Activist FrontFour
US hedge fund FrontFour Capital Group has sent a letter to oil and gas producer Rock Energy Inc requesting a special meeting where it plans to replace three members of the board. The changes are necessary “in order to effect immediate and significant changes to the board in order to preserve and enhance shareholder value,” FrontFour said in a statement Thursday.
It’s not just oil that explorers can spill, secrets leak too
Australian oil producer Linc Energy Ltd. is investigating the source of a leak. Just not the sort that you’d expect. The Brisbane-based explorer is trying to determine how information about a possible deal involving some its shale oil assets was released “prematurely,” according to an e-mailed statement on Thursday.
OPEC menaced by US shale hits Canada harder in price fight
OPEC took a swing at US shale and knocked down Canada. Threatened by surging production from North America, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has been pumping above its quota for 17 months as it seeks to take market share from higher-cost regions. The resulting 60 percent price crash is hitting Alberta harder than Texas. Canadian producers are struggling to cut the cost of extracting bitumen from the oil sands, and their other wells are failing to match the efficiency gains of US rivals, a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis shows.
Shell’s BG deal cleared by Australian competition regulator
Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s $70 billion deal to buy BG Group Plc was cleared by Australia’s competition watchdog despite concerns it could reduce natural-gas supply to local customers and boost prices. “The proposed acquisition would be unlikely to substantially lessen competition in the wholesale natural gas market,” Rod Sims, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said in a statement on Thursday.
Nigeria’s $5.5-billion arms scandal tests Buhari’s war on graft
Revelations that top officials are suspected of pilfering the equivalent of almost the entire annual defense budget would cause shock waves in most countries. Not in Nigeria, where the public sees political power and graft as bedfellows. The novelty this time is that President Muhammadu Buhari immediately ordered the arrest of a former national security adviser, after a government commission found that he and other officials allegedly misappropriated as much as $5.5 billion that was supposed to buy equipment to fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram. “I don’t think Nigerians would be very surprised about somebody stealing $5 billion at all,” Boye Gbadebo, a Nigerian national who works as an Africa analyst at consultancy Ake Partners, said by phone from Johannesburg.
After leading oil industry on exploration, Eni seeks to cash in
One of the most cherished assets held by Italy’s largest oil company, Eni SpA, isn’t a refinery or an oilfield -- it sits inside a building in the small town of Ferrera Erbognone near Milan: one of the world’s fastest super- computers.
Audi says gift cards help identify owners of tainted diesels
Volkswagen AG’s “goodwill gesture” of $1,000 worth of gift cards to owners of cars with engines that pollute more than the law allows is helping the company identify those autos when it comes time to fix them, Audi of America President Scott Keogh said Tuesday.
Obama tells CEOs climate change offers growth opportunities
Speaking in a city where air pollution is often visible and palpable, U.S. President Barack Obama challenged governments and businesses in Asia-Pacific nations to keep up efforts to cut emissions that cause climate change. The president’s call to action, delivered to executives from some of the world’s biggest companies at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Manila, was made in anticipation of talks in Paris starting late this month intended to deliver binding targets for each nation to cut carbon emissions. “Few regions have more at stake in meeting this challenge,” Obama said at the summit, after a meeting earlier Wednesday with Philippine President Benigno Aquino.
Takeover of Simmons ends 41-year run for ’peak oil’ dealmaker
The takeover of Simmons & Co. by Piper Jaffray Cos. marks the end of an energy industry dealmaker founded by one of the leading champions of the “peak oil” theory, Matthew R. Simmons.
BP’s drilling plan offshore Australia turned back by regulator
BP Plc will need to revise its plan to explore for oil in an untapped frontier off the coast of southern Australia before regulators will approve its drilling program estimated to cost more than A$1 billion ($710 million).
Tackling $38billion of debt, Mistry charts Tata’s growth
At the helm of the Tata Group for more than two decades, Ratan Tata took a biggest-is-best approach. Putting India’s largest conglomerate on steroids, he propelled Tata onto the world stage by adding marquee brands such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Tetley tea and New York’s Pierre hotel to the group producing much of the nation’s salt, steel, trucks, electricity, fertilizer and other basic goods. He also increased debt 11-fold in his final 10 years.
Oil approaching $40 deepens investor pessimism on recovery
Hedge funds have turned more pessimistic on oil as prices flirted with $40 a barrel for the first time since August.