GENEVA, May 24 (Reuters) – Sinopec subsidiary
Addax Petroleum wants to buy more North Sea assets this year,
its Chief Executive said, in a sign that Chinese firms may
further boost their regional investments after two multi-billion
deals in 2012.

Addax, a Swiss-based oil producer and explorer which was
bought by China’s top refiner in 2009 for more than $7 billion,
first entered the North Sea last July with the purchase of a 49
percent stake in Canada’s Talisman.

ABUJA/GENEVA, May 23 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s state-oil company
and a local unit of Exxon Mobil plan to tap the bond
market by 2016 to fill a funding shortfall in developing oil
exploration projects, the companies have said.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) owns at
least 50 percent in several joint ventures with oil majors such
as Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon and Chevron but
often fails to meet its share of project funding.

GENEVA/LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) – The UK and French
governments will join a global initiative that will require oil
and mining firms to comply with new disclosure measures aimed at
tackling corruption, British Prime Minister David Cameron said
on Wednesday.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has
stakeholders in the public and private sectors and requires
resource companies to disclose payments made to governments.

LONDON/ZUG, Switzerland (Reuters) – Glencore (GLEN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) bosses tightened their grip on the newly enlarged miner and trader on Thursday, as shareholders voted out all former Xstrata directors including the already outgoing chairman, replacing him with former BP boss Tony Hayward.

The move propels Hayward – “vilified” for his role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill – back into the corporate limelight at one of London’s largest companies.

LONDON/ZUG, Switzerland (Reuters) – Glencore Xstrata (GLEN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chairman John Bond surprised investors on Thursday by announcing he had been voted out of the top job at the miner and trader at the group’s first annual shareholders’ meeting.

Bond gave no explanation, but as the meeting began in Zug, Switzerland, he handed responsibility for chairing the gathering to former BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) boss Tony Hayward, the company’s senior independent director.

LONDON/GENEVA, May 14 (Reuters) – Gunvor will beef up its
assets by buying or building refineries and terminals from Asia
to Africa as opportunities for trading grow with oil majors
shifting their focus to producing energy, the trading house said
on Tuesday.

Gunvor outlined the plans in its first prospectus to
investors as it seeks to raise at least $200 million via a bond
issue. The firm is co-owned by Gennady Timchenko, seen as one of
the closest allies of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

GENEVA, May 14 (Reuters) – A study commissioned by a global
banking lobby group has found that banks pose a greater systemic
risk than their commodity trading house competitors do and the
report has not been made public, its author said.

Craig Pirrong, a University of Houston academic confirmed he
was the author of the study commissioned by the Global Financial
Markets Association (GFMA).

GENEVA, May 13 (Reuters) – Swiss trading house Vitol
has dropped plans to bid for Canada-listed oil and
gas producer Sterling Resources, Sterling said on
Monday, after talks stalled over price.

Vitol, which is also a Sterling shareholder, said in
February it would offer C$192 million ($190 million) for
Sterling, giving it a foothold in the North Sea oil and gas
sector.

GENEVA, May 9 (Reuters) – Swiss trading house Gunvor said
tonnage of commodities traded hit a record high last year, with
crude oil contributing less than a third as the firm shifts its
focus to refined oil products and other commodities.

Provisional turnover was a record 136 million tonnes versus
122 million in 2011, while crude accounted for just 30 percent
of the total, according to a presentation given by David Fyfe,
Gunvor’s head of market research and analysis.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Swiss authorities have opened a money laundering investigation into a former treasurer of Spain’s ruling party suspected of depositing millions of euros from bribes in Swiss bank accounts, the Geneva prosecutor handling the case said on Monday.

Luis Barcenas, accused by Spanish authorities of abusing his position to secure bribes, evading taxes and laundering money is at the heart of a growing corruption scandal that has hurt the conservative People’s Party and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.