DUBAI (Reuters) – State oil giant Saudi Aramco’s profit plunged 73% in the second quarter of the year, as a slump in energy demand and prices due to the coronavirus crisis hit sales at the world’s biggest oil exporter. But the company stuck with plans to pay $... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. The king, who has ruled the world’s larg... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates wants to see a return of Libya’s oil production as soon as possible but with safeguards in place to prevent proceeds from fuelling further conflict in the north African country, a senior Emirati official tweeted on Mo... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) (8306.T) expects countries in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to be in deep recession this year with overall real GDP contracting 3.7% from a previous growth forecast of 2.9%. Th... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – The Saudi-led coalition engaged in Yemen on Monday urged a leading separatist group that declared self-rule in the south to rescind its move, saying it was an “escalatory action” at a time all parties should focus on confronting the novel co... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Iraq’s oil minister said late on Sunday that the big oil cut deal reached at an OPEC+ meeting would help stabilize the market. Thamer al-Ghadhban said in a statement that the “massive oil cut deal will help lower oil inventories and boost pri... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Deep oil output cuts by OPEC and other producing nations would not be enough to prevent a huge build in global crude inventories in the second quarter as measures to contain the coronavirus lead to “unprecedented” demand loss, the head of th... More »
DUBAI/LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – OPEC and allies are working on a deal for an unprecedented production cut equivalent to around 10% of global supply, an OPEC source said after U.S. President Donald Trump called on oil nations to stop the oil rout caused by the ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Kuwait’s Health Ministry announced 10 new cases of coronavirus in the country on Monday bringing the total number to 56, a ministry official said. The official, who was speaking during a news conference broadcast on state television, urged ci... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Kuwait and Bahrain on Monday recorded their first new coronavirus cases, all involving people who had visited Iran, which has reported 43 cases of the disease, state media said. Kuwait detected the virus in three people among 700 who had been... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Oman’s energy minister Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhy told Reuters on Monday he fully supported Saudi Arabia’s readiness to react to any impact the new coronavirus could have on the oil market. “Oman fully supports the statement (and the spirit)... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – State-owned oil company Saudi Aramco said on Sunday it had exercised its “greenshoe option” to sell an additional 450 million shares, raising the size of its initial public offering (IPO) to a record $29.4 billion. Aramco initially raised a $... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco met investors in Dubai on Sunday to market its initial public offering (IPO), after trying to secure demand from Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund for the deal, worth up to $25.6 billion, which relies heavily on local and regional b... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco’s weighting in Saudi Arabia’s main stock index once the oil giant has listed shares is not expected to breach the maximum limit set by the Gulf kingdom’s Tadawul exchange, a senior executive said on Sunday. “There is a ceiling f... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri on Saturday warned regional countries of unspecified dire consequences if it is proven that they meddled to stoke unrest in Iran, the semi-official news agency Fars reported. “Some countries in the regio... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on Saturday warned regional countries of consequences if it is proven that they meddled to stoke recent unrest in Iran. “Some countries in the region should know that they will not have an easy life in t... More »
DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s giant state oil company finally kick-started its initial public offering (IPO) on Sunday, announcing its intention to float on the domestic bourse in what could be the world’s biggest listing as the kingdo... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia hopes its coordination with the United States and Turkey in Syria will help security and stability in the region, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday, according to the RIA news agency. Speaking during a visit to China, Shoig... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran will pursue any aggressor, even if it carries out a limited attack, and seek to destroy it, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday, after attacks on Saudi oil sites which Riyadh and U.S officials blamed on Tehran. “B... More »
DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia will seek to make a case at a global gathering in New York this week for concerted action to punish and deter arch-foe Iran after strikes on Saudi oil plants rattled global markets and exposed the kingdom’s vulnerability t... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States was “locked and loaded” for a potential response to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, after a senior U.S. administration official said Iran was to blame. Trump also ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran has warned the United States against any new attempt to seize an Iranian oil tanker in open seas after it left Gibraltar, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on state television on Monday. The Iranian tanker caught in a standoff ... More »
(Reuters) – Saudi air defenses intercepted two Houthi drones, one of them targeting a residential area in the southern city of Abha, the Saudi press agency said on Tuesday, citing the Saudi-led coalition. Al Masirah TV, citing a military spokesman, said on Mon... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is preparing to send additional troops to the Middle East in response to mounting concerns over Iran, which Washington blames for attacks on oil tankers last week, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, speaking on ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military on Monday released new images it says showed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) removing an unexploded limpet mine from a Japanese-owned tanker that was attacked on June 13 in the Gulf of Oman, as Washington blames Tehra... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Saudi Aramco’s chief executive said on Tuesday the oil industry is facing “a crisis of perception” and the views of some observers that the end of oil is near with the rise of electric vehicles are illogical and not based on fact. Amin Nasse... More »
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – White House adviser Jared Kushner is visiting U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states to seek support for a long-awaited peace proposal for the Middle East that he said would require concessions from both Israelis and Palestinians. Kushner, who is U... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards launched war games in the Gulf on Saturday, state television reported, after a U.S. aircraft carrier entered the waterway amid rising tension with Washington over reimposed U.S. sanctions. Television showed a... More »
DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar said it will quit OPEC to focus on gas in a swipe at Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the oil exporting group which is trying to show unity in tackling an oil price slide. Doha, one of OPEC’s smallest oil producers but the world’s bi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is quietly pushing ahead with a bid to create a new security and political alliance with six Gulf Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, in part to counter Iran’s expansion in the region, according to U.S. and Arab offic... More »
ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Kurdish security forces killed gunmen who had stormed a government building in the Kurdish city of Erbil on Monday and took hostages in an attack suspected of being carried out by Islamic State, security officials said, Armed with pisto... More »
NEW YORK/LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil futures prices have soared past three-year highs, OPEC’s deal has cut millions of barrels of inventory worldwide and investors are betting in record numbers that prices could rocket past $80 and even hit $90 a barrel t... More »
FILE PHOTO – Buildings are seen on a coast line in Doha, Qatar, June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon DUBAI (Reuters) – Qatar has filed a complaint to the United Nations about an alleged violation of its airspace in December by an Emirati military aircraft, st... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Some Arab states are trying to destabilize Qatar’s riyal but efforts to drive down its value could backfire by hurting other dollar-linked currencies in the region, a Qatari central banker said. Khalid Alkhater, currently in Britain on leave ... More »
Saudi Arabia's future king has tightened his grip on power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting royals, ministers and investors including billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal who is one of the kingdom's most prominent businessmen. More »
Bribery, embezzlement, money laundering and abuse of power are among the accusations leveled against dozens of Saudi princes, officials and businessmen detained in an anti-corruption probe, a Saudi official told Reuters on Monday. More »
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund plans to invest about $1 billion in Richard Branson's space company, Virgin Galactic, and sister companies The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit, according to a joint statement published on Thursday. More »
President Donald Trump will outline a tougher U.S. strategy for countering Iran on Friday that will seek to strengthen the enforcement of what he considers a flawed nuclear deal and deny funding for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. More »
Qatar's third-largest lender, Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ), is considering borrowing money on the Taiwanese bond market, its group chief executive told Reuters, as a crisis in the region makes it harder to raise funds. More »
Voting started on Monday in an independence referendum organized by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, ignoring the threats of the Kurds' neighbors and fears of further instability and violence across the Middle East. More »
When oil giant Saudi Aramco discloses its financials for the first time next year, it must either surprise investors with world record profits or reduce its aspirations for a $2 trillion valuation in its initial public offering (IPO). [IPO-ARMO.SE] More »
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would discuss trade and military issues with the emir of Kuwait at the White House on Thursday, as well as tensions over Qatar. More »
Warplanes attacked a checkpoint outside the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday, killing five civilians in a taxi and two armed personnel manning the site, witnesses said. More »
Qatar will build a stadium shaped like an Arabian skull cap for the 2022 World Cup, organizers said on Sunday, as the Gulf state moves ahead with preparations for the tournament despite a diplomatic rift with its neighbors. More »
Four Arab countries that imposed sanctions on Qatar have told the United States that U.S. companies doing business with them would not be punished for also working with Doha, four sources with knowledge of the matter said. More »
Saudi Arabia favours New York for the main foreign listing of state oil giant Aramco, even though some financial and legal advisers have recommended London as a less problematic and risky option, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. More »
Qatar held joint military exercises with Turkish troops on Monday, Qatari media reported, showcasing their strategic alliance two months into a boycott by Arab neighbors which accuse Doha of supporting terrorism. More »
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, speaks at an event at Chatham House in London, Britain July 17, 2017. The United Arab Emirates was not responsible for an alleged hack of Qatari websites which helped spark a mo... More »
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Qatar Petroleum is seen at its headquartes in Doha, Qatar, July 8, 2017. Picture taken July 8, 2017. Qatar’s tensions with its neighbors are making world markets edgy about any hint of financial instability among the Gulf economies, who... More »
Turkey has sent 197 cargo planes, 16 trucks and one ship to Qatar to meet its daily needs since a dispute broke out last month between Qatar and other Gulf states, Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said on Wednesday. More »
FILE PHOTO: Shaybah oilfield complex is seen at night in the Rub’ al-Khali desert, Saudi Arabia, November 14, 2007. Saudi Arabia will cut crude oil shipments to its customers in August by more than 600,000 barrels per day to balance the rise in domestic consum... More »
A mosque is seen alone a coastline in Doha, Qatar, June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon Four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support for terrorism have sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television and reducing ties to their... More »
Turkey’s defense minister said on Friday his country had no plans to review its military base in Qatar and that any demand for its closure would represent interference in Ankara’s relations with the Gulf state. More »
Buildings are seen on a coast line in Doha, Qatar, June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon Turkish exports to Qatar have tripled from their normal levels to $32.5 million since four Arab countries began boycotting the Gulf state on June 5, Turkey’s Customs and T... More »
Qatar’s Finance minister Ali Sherif al-Emadi speaks during a briefing on the financial outlook for Qatar, in Doha, Qatar, February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon Qatar can easily defend its economy and currency against sanctions by other Arab states, Qatari f... More »
An Eikon ship-tracking screen shows tanker traffic around Qatar over the last seven days in this June 6, 2017 illustration photo. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration Abu Dhabi petroleum port authorities have eased restrictions on oil tankers going to and from Qa... More »
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, May 30, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has spoken by phone with the leader... More »
OPEC President, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, and OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo talk to journalists before the beginning of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, Austria, May 25, 2017.... More »
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih (L) and Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak attend a joint briefing in Beijing, China May 15, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s two top oil producers, agreed on Monday to extend oil ... More »
The OPEC flag and the OPEC logo are seen before a news conference in Vienna, Austria, October 24, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger Kuwait’s oil minister Essam al-Marzouq said on Thursday he expected a global pact to cut oil supplies to be extended beyond June, su... More »
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei takes a selfie with women at the Islamic Art Museum in Doha, Qatar, April 11, 2017. Picture taken April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tom Finn Chinese artist Ai Weiwei called on wealthy Gulf Arab states to take in more Syrians displaced ... More »
Shaybah oilfield complex is seen at night in the Rub’ al-Khali desert, Saudi Arabia, November 14, 2007. REUTERS/ Ali Jarekji/File Photo Saudi Arabia’s crude exports to the United States in March will fall by around 300,000 barrels per day from February, in lin... More »
FILE PHOTO – Pump jacks drill for oil in the Monterey Shale, California, U.S. on April 29, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo U.S. shale oil producers are plotting ambitious production growth outside the red-hot Permian Basin in Texas, widening a resurgen... More »
FILE PHOTO: Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani attends a meeting during the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) summit at the Foreign Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, October 10, 2016. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his cou... More »
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani presides over a meeting of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, in Tehran, Iran February 7, 2017. President.ir/Handout via REUTERS Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit Oman and Kuwait on Wednesday, state media repo... More »
FILE PHOTO: Pipelines are seen at the industrial zone at the oil port of Ras Lanuf, Libya January 11, 2017. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori/File Photo Swiss-based commodities giant Glencore has extended a deal with Libya’s state oil firm to be the sole marketer o... More »
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro (C) attends the 17th Non-Aligned Summit in Porlamar, Venezuela September 18, 2016. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday that OPEC and non-OPEC countries were “close” to re... More »
BASRA, Iraq Iraq’s oil exports from its southern ports rose to 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd) on average in July, up from 3.175 million bpd in June, as the OPEC nation increased crude production, Iraqi oil officials said. Output at the Luhais field, operate... More »
DUBAI Authorities in the Gulf Arab states of Kuwait and United Arab Emirates on Friday warned of security dangers to playing the wildly successful new smartphone app Pokemon GO. Users must resist the urge to point camera phones at Pikachu popping out in front ... More »
SINGAPORE Iran has set its June official selling prices (OSPs) for heavier crude grades it sells to Asia at the biggest discounts to Saudi and Iraqi oil since 2007-2008, raising the stakes in its fight to regain market share. This is third time Iran has change... More »
RIYADH Saudi Arabia’s plans for economic reform foresee winding down ‘jobs for life’ in an inefficient state bureaucracy and replacing them with new careers in a dynamic private sector. That’s the theory, at least. But in the short term, there is a problem: 20... More »
BEIJING/SINGAPORE Global oil traders have entered into rare barter deals with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), supplying Iran with much-needed gasoline in exchange for high-quality fuel oil, after most economic sanctions against Tehran were lifted in J... More »
DUBAI President Hassan Rouhani and his allies won 15 out of the 16 Tehran seats in the Assembly of Experts, final election results published on Monday showed, ousting two prominent hardliners including the speaker of the powerful clerical body. The results, ca... More »
