SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will announce a new list of countries that will receive exceptions to financial sanctions on oil trade with Iran as soon as early next week, a government official said on Thursday.

Not all of Iran’s oil buyers are likely to get the waivers, said the source, who declined to elaborate. Around two thirds of Iran’s crude exports flow to Asia, where the biggest buyers are China, Japan, India and South Korea.

SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will announce a new list of countries that will receive exceptions to financial sanctions on oil trade with Iran as soon as early next week, a U.S. official in Washington said on Thursday.

The latest round of U.S. sanctions come into effect on June 28 and aim to cut Iran’s oil revenue to pressure Tehran into halting its nuclear program. Western powers suspect Iran is aiming to develop nuclear arms, but Tehran says the program is for civilian purposes.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The United States will “very soon” announce a new list of countries that will receive waivers to financial sanctions on oil trade with Iran, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

The latest round of U.S. sanctions come into effect on June 28 and aim to cut Iran’s oil revenue to pressure Tehran into halting its nuclear program, which Western powers suspect is aimed at developing arms.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 (Reuters) – Oil prices near $100 a
barrel are still a threat to a slowing global economy that is
likely to consume less fuel than the International Energy Agency
(IEA) had forecast, the IEA’s executive director said on
Tuesday.

Brent crude this week dropped to a 16-month low
below $96 a barrel before recovering to around $99, well off a
peak of more than $128 in March but not low enough to stimulate,
rather than hinder growth, Maria van der Hoeven said.

ADELAIDE, May 14 (Reuters) – French oil firm Total
is looking for oil and unconventional gas projects in Australia
in which it could take a role as operator, the company’s chief
executive said on Monday.

Australia is on its way to becoming the world’s largest
liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, with around $170 billion
in projects under construction. Total already has minority
stakes in two of those projects, and is looking to expand,
Christophe de Margerie said.

ADELAIDE (Reuters) – Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia wants an oil price of around $100 a barrel and would like to see global inventories rise before demand picks up in the second half of the year, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Sunday.

International Brent crude settled at $112.26 on Friday, well off a peak of over $128 in March. Brent has mostly traded above $100 since early 2011, keeping fuel costs high and threatening to damage a fragile global economy.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s sugar exports in the 2012-13 season are likely to fall around a million tonnes on the year to 2 million tonnes as a drought hits the crop in top producing state Maharashtra and domestic consumption rises, the Indian head of ED&F Man said.

The exports, while lower than the 3 million tonnes of the 2011-12 season to end-September, would mark the third consecutive year that India has produced more sugar than it has consumed.

MUMBAI (Reuters) – A major upgrading of its refinery in Gujarat by Essar Oil (ESRO.NS: Quote, Profile, Research) should boost its margins by up to $5 a barrel, its chief executive said on Thursday, adding nearly three quarters of a billion dollars to its annual revenues.

Essar has just completed a $1.6 billion overhaul and expansion at the Vadinar refinery, raising capacity to around 360,000 barrels per day from 280,000 bpd and adding units that can process cheaper, heavier crude into fuels.

MUMBAI, April 26 (Reuters) – A major upgrading of its
refinery in western India by refiner Essar Oil should
boost its margins by up to $5 a barrel, its chief executive said
on Thursday, adding nearly three quarters of a billion dollars
to its annual revenues.

Essar has just completed a $1.6 billion overhaul and
expansion at the Vadinar refinery, raising capacity to around
360,000 barrels per day from 280,000 bpd and adding units that
can process cheaper, heavier crude into fuels.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Iron ore production by privately owned miners in Karnataka will likely resume in July, Mines Minister Dinsha Patel said on Tuesday, after what will have been a year’s hiatus due to a government and judicial crackdown on illegal operations.

Patel said initial production from the state would go to local steel mills, but a resumption of mining means the world’s third-biggest supplier of iron ore could hope to regain its $6 billion, 100 million tonnes average annual exports, mainly to China, in 2012/13.