CRUDE OIL

Sasol Ltd. is planning to add a multibillion ethane cracker and ethylene-derivative project to its Lake Charles facility in Louisiana, in part to leverage on the rapid development of shale gas in North America.

Morgan Stanley said it prefers exposure to gold, silver and livestock in the coming year, as such commodities perform well in a global economic slowdown.

Stock index futures were lower on Wednesday as worries about the euro zone crisis and weak data from China weighed on investor sentiment, putting the S&P 500 on track for a sixth day of losses.

The European Union proposes legislation to label crude oil derived from Canada's vast reserves of tar sands, as well as from other sources of unconventional oil, as highly carbon intensive.

The U.S.-imposed delay of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL oil pipeline shows Canada's energy industry cannot relax efforts to improve its environmental record, a former top minister in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government said on Monday.

U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Tuesday as persistent concerns over Europe kept investors on edge after four days of market losses.

South Sudan's oil ministry said that foreign oil companies and potential buyers of its crude were on notice that no other nation or entity had been authorised to sell its oil.

World stocks hit a one-week low on Thursday and Bunds rose as Spain paid more than at any time since 1997 to sell ten-year debt, sparking fears it may join other euro zone peripheral states in being unable to finance itself.

Crude oil prices slightly eased in Asian trading Thursday, after surging to a five-month high of $102.59 a barrel in Wednesday's North American session.

Several factors are at work in oil's latest push back above the psychologically-significant $100 per barrel level -- a price that U.S. motorists wince at.

Weekly U.S. crude inventories continued to slip, falling 1.1 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 11.

Canadian stocks looked set to open lower on Wednesday along with commodities on investor fear of contagion from the weakest debt-ridden euro zone economies such as Greece into bigger ones such as Italy, Spain and even France.

TransCanada agreed on Monday to reroute its Keystone XL oil pipeline around the Nebraska Sandhills in response to environmental concerns. The concession, which came on the heels of President Obama's decision to order a State Department re-review of the pipeline project, was a strategic move that divided the coalition of locals and environmentalists opposed the pipeline.

Crude oil prices declined to below $98 a barrel in Asian trade on Tuesday as renewed concerns over the euro zone debt crisis weighed on the markets sentiment.

Despite what could be the end of the Keystone XL Pipeline, company officials maintain their optimism.

Reportedly, oil production in Libya plunged to as low as 10,000 bpd in August during the bloodiest episodes of the civil war.

State-run retailers may cut gasoline prices from Nov. 16, an industry source said. It will be the first cut in nearly three years and the first in the 18 months since the government liberalized it.

The decision to lay off 1,066 people who worked for MF Global -- effective immediately and without severance -- will give people pause. But it is only the beginning of the nastiness in the MF Global saga

Record-high exports in September drove the U.S. trade deficit down to its smallest gap since December, extending a decline for the third straight month and down from a peak of $51.6 billion in June. Meanwhile, imports from China dropped slightly.

The euro rose from a one-month low versus the dollar on Thursday and top-rated government debt fell while world stocks held above a three-week trough on hopes that new governments being formed in Italy and Greece could help fend off a euro zone break up.

World stocks hit a three-week low and the euro tumbled across the board while top-rated government bonds rallied on Thursday as fears of a break-up of the euro zone gathered pace ahead of a key debt sale in Italy.