LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has blocked efforts by oil major Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to settle a $2.3 billion (1.5 billion pounds) debt it owes Iran by paying in kind with grains or pharmaceuticals, industry sources said.

Shell has been trying for months to find a way to work around international sanctions that prevent it paying in currency for crude it bought from the National Iranian Oil Company before a European Union embargo on Iran that started last July.

LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) – Britain has blocked efforts by
oil major Royal Dutch Shell to settle a $2.3 billion
debt it owes Iran by paying in kind with grains or
pharmaceuticals, industry sources said.

Shell has been trying for months to find a way to work
around international sanctions that prevent it paying in
currency for crude it bought from the National Iranian Oil
Company before a European Union embargo on Iran that started
last July.

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil major Royal Dutch/Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is seeking to work around international sanctions by repaying a $1.4 billion oil debt to Iran with a grain barter deal via U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill CARG.UL, industry sources said.

Shell wants to repay a debt that is growing larger because of unpaid interest, having failed to settle its accounts with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) ahead of a European Union embargo on oil imports that started on July 1.

DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley’s (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) talks with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund over the sale of its commodities business have run into difficulty, and the deal may need to be reworked if it is to go ahead, banking sources said.

One of the top banks in commodity trading over the past 30 years, Morgan Stanley has been in discussion for more than a year with Qatar over the sale of at least a majority stake in the energy-focused trading business, the bankers said.

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is showing no sign
of changing its policy of high oil output to support global
economic growth, despite a fall in crude prices below $90 a
barrel for the first time in 18 months.

Gulf and Western government sources in contact with Saudi
officials said the OPEC power can tolerate oil at $90 or below
for months, price levels that hurt Iran and Russia as they face
off against Riyadh over the conflict in Syria.

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) – Oil price assessment service
Platts, which is owned by McGraw-Hill, has too much
power in physical oil markets, a well-known industry consultant
told a global financial regulatory group.

The International Organisation of Securities Commissions
(IOSCO) is considering increasing oversight of oil price
reporting agencies (PRAs), whose prices are used to settle
billions of dollars of deals in physical oil, the world’s
biggest traded commodity.

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil consuming nations may seek reassurance from Saudi Arabia that it will not cut oil production and neutralise the impact on oil prices if consumer countries release emergency reserves, diplomats and industry sources said.

The issue may be raised by a U.S. delegation, led by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which is in Riyadh this weekend to discuss Syria with Gulf states. Clinton will see Saudi King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil consuming nations may seek reassurance from Saudi Arabia that it will not cut oil production and neutralize the impact on oil prices if consumer countries release emergency reserves, diplomats and industry sources said.

The issue may be raised by a U.S. delegation, led by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which is in Riyadh this weekend to discuss Syria with Gulf states. Clinton will see Saudi King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.

Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is poised to cooperate with the United States on a release of strategic oil stocks that is expected within months, two British sources said, in a bid to prevent fuel prices choking economic growth in a U.S. election year.

A formal request from the United States to the UK to join forces in a release of oil from government-controlled reserves is expected “shortly” following a meeting on Wednesday in Washington between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron, who discussed the issue, one source said.