Month: October 2019

(Bloomberg) — Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. China is still open to agreeing a partial trade deal with the U.S., an official with direct knowledge of the talks said, signaling that Beijing is focused on limiting the damage to the world’s second-largest economy.Negotiators heading to Washington for talks starting Thursday aren’t optimistic about securing a broad agreement that would end the trade war between the two nations for good, said the official, who asked not to be named as the discussions are private.But China would accept a …read more […]

Saudi Aramco’s chief executive said on Wednesday there would be no impact on the stock market listing plans of the state oil giant after attacks on its installations last month, which he blamed on Iran. Attacks such as those on Sept. 14, which sent oil prices up as much as 20%, may continue if there is no concerted international response, Amin Nasser told the Oil & Money conference in London. The attacks targeted the Abqaiq and Khurais plants at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry, causing fires and damage and shutting down 5.7 million barrels per day …read more […]

Angola wants to cash in on the roughly 3 billion cubic feet per day of associated natural gas it produces, most of which is now flared, the petroleum minister said on Wednesday. The announcement of efforts to generate more revenues by reducing gas flaring comes as Africa’s second largest crude producer faces a fall in output from its mature oil fields. “Over the years, Angola has somewhat neglected to capitalise on the natural resources that it has to offer,” Mineral Resources and Petroleum Minister Diamantino Azevedo said in a brochure released at an African energy conference in Cape …read more […]

European stocks steadied on Wednesday, but sentiment remained fragile as negotiations for a Brexit withdrawal deal seemed all but dead and the U.S.-China trade dispute triggered another round of selling. Washington is also moving ahead with discussions about restrictions on capital flows into China, Bloomberg reported. …read more […]

The bouts of added conflict are denting hopes that Washington and Beijing will find a resolution to their long-running and painful tariffs war. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Electricite de France SA said repairs of faulty welds at a nuclear plant under construction in western France will boost the project’s cost by 14% to 12.4 billion euros ($13.6 billion), adding further financial strain to the cash-strapped atomic power giant.The latest budget hike at the Flamanville-3 reactor is yet another blow to the French state-controlled utility, which raised its cost estimate for two similar reactors it’s building in the U.K. just weeks ago. It also fuels doubts about nuclear’s future in France, where the government has been reluctant to approve new projects before Flamanville-3 is online.EDF has …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — PG&E Corp., the California utility giant forced into bankruptcy by two years of devastating wildfires, is carrying out the biggest planned blackout yet to keep power lines from sparking more blazes.PG&E began cutting electricity as part of an orchestrated shutoff that will eventually plunge almost 800,000 customers into darkness across Northern California, including parts of Napa Valley and Oakland. Cutoffs began after midnight local time Wednesday, with the first phase impacting about 513,000 customers, as hot, dry winds were forecast to pick up speed.Altogether, more than 2 million people may be affected, based on city estimates and the …read more […]