China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on Sunday bought an 8% share in Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the biggest concession for production of hydrocarbons on the land, for $ 1.8 billion. Chinese state company CNPC became the third Asian partner of the oil company, along with Japan and South Korea. In addition, among the partners are listed British BP (joined in December) and French...

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold papers of Wal-Mart for $ 900 million, opting instead to invest billions of dollars in an airline. As a result, Buffett now has almost no Wal-Mart shares, while the largest US traditional retailer is seeking to catch up with Amazon and other online retailers. Amazon’s market value now stands at $ 356 billion versus $ 298 billion of Wal-Mart. Last year, the...

One of China's largest real estate developers, Dalian Wanda Group, is looking for European financial sector objects to acquire. Earlier media reported about negotiations with German Postbank, but the Chinese company has denied the information. However, observers are noting growing interest of Chinese conglomerates to the European financial market. According to Financial Times’ sources, Chinese...

BP released its annual Energy Outlook for 2017. The company's experts monitor trends in the global energy market and make predictions on unfolding circumstances and changes tone of market in 2017. Additionally, they identify the main factors that influence the global energy market. Here are main conclusions of the report’s drafters. • Global GDP is growing under influence of the rapid rising of...

Agriculture in Europe has been exposed to negative impact of several factors, such as overproduction of dairy products, Brexit and the UK’s rapprochement with the United States, influx of cheaper products from countries outside the EU. Dairy Dairy production is the most problematic agricultural sector of Europe. The industry has become subsidized since in mid-July 2016 the union’s government...

Baker McKenzie law firm and research firm Rhodium found out that in the past year, Chinese companies slipped 30 foreign acquisitions worth $ 75 billion. Enthusiasm of Chinese investors has been constrained by limited foreign regulators and the Chinese authorities fighting with outflow of capital from the country. However, for a total in 2016, volume of direct investment from China to the United...

Demand for gold in the world over the past year increased by 2% and exceeded 4.3 thousand tons, mainly thanks to popularity among private and institutional investors, yet has fallen by the end of the year. Central banks, some of which had to maintain stability of national currency, cut demand for gold dramatically. Slump in gold jewelry in China and India resulted in overall drop in the industry...

Economic situation in the euro area has improved in the fourth quarter of 2016. GDP growth accelerated, unemployment fell to a record low for the past seven years, and higher fuel prices spurred inflation. The ECB, however, is not going to tighten monetary policy, one of the main beneficiaries of which was the German economy. The country's current account surplus, according to experts, has become...

OPEC may invite Equatorial Guinea, which previously had supported OPEC’s initiative to limit production, in its ranks. EG is not a major producer and exporter yet it is a significant player in the oil market, so the deal would look interesting to OPEC’s leaders. EG’s entrance into the cartel can be supported by Saudi Arabia or its traditional opponent Venezuela. Equatorial Guinea wants to join...