Gold inched up on Thursday, tracking modest gains in the euro as worries about Spain's debt restructuring eased after a European Central Bank official signaled the bank was ready to intervene in debt markets. Spot gold inched up 0.1 percent to $1,659.49 an ounce, standing above the 20-day moving average at $$1,655.58. Gold was little changed at $1,660.80. More»

Oil prices hovered above $101 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude supplies jumped more than expected for a third week, suggesting demand remains weak. Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 19 cents to $101.21 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.44 to settle at $101.02 in New York on Tuesday. Brent crude for May delivery was down 30 cents at $119.58 per barrel in London. More»

International oil services group Aker Solutions has signed a two-year frame agreement with Egyptian oil giant Badr Petroleum Company (Bapetco). Aker Solutions will be the sole supplier of all of the oil company's surface wellhead equipment, installation and lifecycle services operations in the Western Desert of Egypt. The contract value is undisclosed. Dave Hutchinson, president of Aker Solutions in Asia Pacific, said, "We are very excited about this award, as it marks the successful entry of our surface business into the Egyptian and North African markets. Our ambition is to grow Aker Solutions' operations in the Middle East and North Africa." More»

Iran's crude oil production is expected to fall by about 500,000 barrels per day by the end of this year due to a lack of investment resulting from sanctions against the country, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday. Iran's oil production stood at 3.55 million barrels per day at the end of 2011, EIA said in its monthly report released Tuesday, noting that the country's oil output decline began to accelerate during the last quarter of 2011. "EIA believes that the acceleration reflects a lack of investment, which is needed to offset natural production declines," EIA said. More»

Ship owners covered by Japan P&I club must alert the maritime insurer in advance of any plans to transport Iranian oil and petrochemicals that could fall foul of Western sanctions, the insurer said. The United States and European Union have tightened measures aimed at reducing Iran's oil trade, stemming the flow of petrodollars to Tehran to force the OPEC member to halt a nuclear program the West suspects is intended to produce weapons. European insurers and reinsurers will be prohibited from indemnifying ships carrying Iranian petrochemicals anywhere in the world from May, and crude and oil products from July. More»

Saudi Arabia is to supply full contracted volumes of crude oil next month to at least one Asian term buyer, unchanged from April citing an industry source familiar with the matter. More»

Ezz Steel (ESRS)’s consolidated financial statement for the fiscal year of 2011 has revealed that the company has posted net profits of EGP 536.250 million, lower 5%, compared to net profits of EGP 564.544 million for the same comparable period of 2010. During 2011, the company’s consolidated sales reached EGP 18.6 billion, compared to EGP 16.6 billion in 2010, higher 12%. In addition, the Repar sales have pushed up 7% in 2011 reaching 3.6 million tons, compared 3.4 million tons during the previous year. Yet, the flat steel sales have went down 21% reaching one million tons, compared to 1.4 million tons in 2010. More»

China's foreign exchange regulator said Tuesday it will advance the yuan's convertibility on the capital account in a stable and orderly way, although it is not the fundamental goal of the country's foreign exchange reform. It is a gradual process, and also a systematic project that needs the coordination of many departments to offset external impacts, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement on its website. China has only allowed the yuan's convertibility on the current account. A full convertible yuan is the prerequisite of making it an international reserve currency. More»

Brent oil prices dropped on Tuesday, in line with global equity markets, after publication of worse-than-expected jobs data in top crude consumer the United States before the weekend. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May shed 89 cents to $121.78 a barrel in London midday trade. London was closed on Friday and Monday owing to the Easter break but electronic deals continued in New York. New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for May, fell 53 cents to $101.93. On Monday, it hit an intra-day low of $100.81, the lowest point since mid-February. More»

Tehran has cut oil supply to Spain after stopping crude export to Greece as part of its countersanctions, unnamed sources confirmed on Tuesday. Tehran also mulls cutting oil supply to Germany and Italy. No further details were immediately available. Earlier, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi confirmed weekend reports that oil sales to Greece had been halted. More»