Category: Business

Iran’s oil reserves risk becoming stranded assets unless the new U.S. administration eases sanctions that have left the country lagging rivals in output capacity and losing a race against time as the transition to low carbon energy gathers pace. Iran, which sits on the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves, relies heavily on oil revenue, but sanctions […]

Norway’s Equinor is looking to sell more assets in the United States and exit several other countries as part of a major global reshuffle as it tries to return to profit after writing down $25 billion of U.S. assets over the past decade. While the company, like other energy majors, has been hit by last […]

An invitation from Tesla boss Elon Musk for Russian President Vladimir Putin to join him for a chat on a social networking app? “Very interesting,” the Kremlin said on Monday. Musk tagged the Kremlin’s Twitter account on Sunday, tweeting: “Would you like (to) join me for a conversation on Clubhouse?” “It would be a great […]

As cryptocurrencies increasingly go mainstream, pressure is growing on the world’s biggest central banks to move forward with their plans to issue digital cash and fend off private sector threats to traditional money. The biggest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has shifted from the fringes of finance towards embrace by major investors, companies and even cities. Tesla Inc’s […]

French tycoon Vincent Bollore will retain strong influence over Universal Music Group as a major shareholder following its planned 30-billion-euro ($36 billion) spin-off on the stock market by media conglomerate Vivendi. Vivendi is seeking to extract the most value from its crown-jewel asset, the world’s biggest music label and home to singers such as Lady […]

Paralysed by financial crisis and riven with political risk, a number of Lebanon’s banks are struggling to meet a central bank target to raise their capital defences by 20% by the end of this month. Less than half of the country’s dozen or so large banks are expected to meet the requirement, which the central […]

Volkswagen said bad planning on the part of its suppliers has compounded a computer chip shortage blighting the global auto industry, claiming it gave ample notice that the coronavirus’ hit to car production would be limited. VW was in December the first carmaker to warn of a chip supply crunch that has hit global automakers, […]