Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is set to sell international bonds to help finance its investment plans, adding to a recent wave of Saudi issuance from entities including local banks and the sovereign. The Public Investment Fund is offering 10-year dollar bonds at initial price talk of around 120 basis points over US Treasuries. The institution previously sold $4 billion of debt in January, and signed a $7 billion Islamic loan with 20 banks around the same time.  It also recently introduced a commercial paper program and has been raising cash by selling stakes in portfolio firms. The PIF is also looking to list some of its companies as it seeks to drive spending in the kingdom amid low oil prices that are complicating efforts to diversify the economy. The PIF is the main entity tasked with executing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 agenda to shift away from oil and into a more diverse range of industries. The International Monetary Fund said in August that the PIF is expected to continue spending at least $40 billion a year on domestic investment, which “is going to help keep growth positive and robust compared to what’s happening elsewhere.” Monday’s offering follows $20 billion in sales of dollar- and euro-denominated debt from the Saudi government this year — the most among emerging markets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The latest move also adds to a pick-up in syndicated loan activity and a fresh wave of local bank issuance. Countries and companies in the developing world have been rushing to sell bonds at the fastest clip in at least a decade, taking advantage of high appetite for emerging-market assets to issue debt amid what investors say could be sharper swings ahead in global debt markets. Saudi Arabia so far has borrowed the most among all emerging-market countries. Financing needs for the

Oil steadied as traders weighed an OPEC+ decision to raise production at a modest against Saudi Aramco’s reduction in selling prices of its crude to Asia. West Texas Intermediate crude edged up 0.6% to settle above $62 a barrel after losing more than 3% last week, when it became apparent that an output hike was on the way. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners decided to add 137,000 barrels a day in October, a smaller increment than they’d scheduled for the previous two months, leading investors to roll back bearish positioning.  But crude pared earlier gains after Saudi Arabia on Monday cut pricing of its flagship grade for its main market in Asia next month, in a sign that the de facto cartel leader sees demand worsening. “The market priced in the hike last week and is now focused on whether we start to see inventory builds and what reduced spare capacity could mean going forward,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group. “This looks like more of a relief rally — one that may stave off the bearish narrative briefly, but probably only for a day or two.” The OPEC+ hike marks the reversal of cuts that were set to remain in place until the end of 2026 — following the rapid return of a previous tranche of idled barrels over recent months — as the alliance seeks to reclaim market share. Still, the actual volume is widely expected to be lower than announced, as some members of the group face pressure to forgo their share of increases to compensate for previous hikes, while others lack spare capacity.  Early last month, the International Energy Agency predicted the surplus would reach a record next year, which Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecasts

Listen to the article 9 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Two months after the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which trimmed the lifespan of most of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits, the industry is still trying to understand the implications of the legislation’s new foreign entity of concern rules and hoping for clarity from upcoming Treasury Department guidance. “I discuss this almost every day, it seems like,” said Vinson & Elkins tax partner Jenny Speck. “Having clear, administrable rules is the first step, because we already have a statute that creates ambiguity. We’re hearing that this is priority guidance — it should be at the top of their list in terms of what they’re working on.” The FEOC provisions in OBBBA were expanded from the IRA’s original rule restricting foreign entities of concern – entities with ties to China, Russia, North Korea or Iran – from claiming clean vehicle tax credits. The new FEOC rules apply to the 45X advanced manufacturing credit, the 45Y production credit, and the 48E investment credit.  “We look at wind, solar and 45X as the three that are going to have probably the most rigorous diligence,” Speck said. Ties to foreign entities of concern “can be such things as 25% or more ownership by a single Chinese shareholder or 40% by two or more such shareholders or at least 15% of total debt held by Chinese lenders, only counting debt holders at original issuance,” law firm Norton Rose Fulbright said in a July article. “Licensing arrangements with Chinese interests can also turn a supplier into a prohibited foreign entity … It is not clear how U.S. developers will be able to spot such arrangements.” Advait Arun, senior associate for energy finance

China appears to be setting up a system to import regular cargoes of liquefied natural gas from a Russian project sanctioned by the US, a move that will test the Trump administration’s willingness to penalize Beijing in its efforts to curb Moscow’s energy revenue. Having taken the first-ever overseas export from the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia in late August, China is now taking more blacklisted Russian LNG and has designated the Beihai terminal in southern China to accept shipments, according to people with knowledge of the matter. By choosing a single port with limited international exposure, Beijing should be able insulate its wider gas sector from retaliation. Purchases are also being done via a little-known company to obscure the actual end-user, the people said, asking not to be named as the matter is sensitive. Meanwhile, Chinese importers, including state-owned Cnooc, are diverting regular deliveries away from Beihai to avoid being connected with the trade and falling afoul of the US, the world’s largest LNG exporter, the people said. Several overseas traders are avoiding the port for the same reason, they added. China’s first cargo from Arctic LNG 2 came ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart, and so was largely seen as a symbolic gesture. By continuing to accept deliveries, Beijing is sending a stronger signal and also threatening to get caught up in Washington’s efforts to pressure Moscow over the war in Ukraine. While the Trump administration has singled out India for its oil trade with Moscow, Beijing so far has escaped similar criticism or economic penalties. A third shipment of fuel from Arctic LNG 2 project is set to land in southern China as soon as Monday, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. At least four more vessels are also en route, the

Dive Brief: Hiring fell last month and unemployment rose to 4.3%, the Labor Department said Friday in a report that primed the Federal Reserve for a reduction in the main interest rate at its next scheduled policy meeting on Sept. 16-17. Employers added a less-than-forecast 22,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department said, while noting in a revision that payrolls in June shrunk by 13,000 jobs in the first such decline since December 2020. “This report green lights a September Federal Open Market Committee easing and implies further action will be required to stabilize the labor market before year end,” Pantheon Macroeconomics Chief U.S. Economist Samuel Tombs said in a client note. The data “make us more confident that the FOMC will ease” the benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage point by December and by 0.75 percentage point next year, he said. Dive Insight: The newest data showing labor market weakness puts at loggerheads both sides of the Fed’s dual mandate to maintain stable prices and ensure maximum employment. The U.S. has expanded payrolls by just 598,000 in 2025, the slowest increase of any year since the pandemic. Meanwhile, inflation, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index minus food and energy prices, edged up in July to 2.9%, well above the Fed’s 2% inflation target. Labor market weakness has prompted several Fed officials during the past several weeks to focus less on reducing price pressures and favor aiding the labor market with looser monetary policy. Two Fed governors dissented from a July 30 FOMC vote to leave the federal funds rate unchanged, saying weak hiring warranted a reduction in borrowing costs. The central bank for five consecutive policy meetings this year has held the federal funds rate at a range between 4.25% and 4.5%. Last month Fed Chair Jerome Powell,

Alex Thornton is executive director of LF Energy. Late last fall, my neighbors and I received a notice from our utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, informing us of proposed rate increases from an eye watering $761.3 million Billing Modernization Initiative. Digging further into their filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E highlights the need to update a profoundly outdated system, featuring a potpourri of vendor and custom in-house software from the 1990s and 2000s, much of it written in a programming language (COBOL) that peaked in popularity last century and for which there are vanishingly few engineers with expertise in it. Additionally, the filing highlights that the billing system has been unable to keep pace with regulatory needs, forcing delays and complex workarounds. In brief, PG&E’s key digital systems are unable to satisfy business needs and therefore need an expensive overhaul, raising customer rates. As a result, my monthly electric bill is going up. I pick on PG&E because I’m their customer and they offer a good example, not because they are an industry exception. Most utilities and regulators struggle with these very same digital modernization challenges. Billing is a core function for any business. If utilities can’t maintain their core systems, then how can they be expected to roll out and operate more advanced digital functionality such as dynamic rates, distributed energy resource orchestration, virtual power plants, demand response programs, electric vehicle charging optimization and AI, all while defending against ever-increasing cyber security attacks and maintaining affordability? Short answer: they can’t, not without a serious culture change to become technology companies that embrace best practices for digital innovation. As part of their CPUC filing, PG&E notes that Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric launched similar billing system upgrades in 2016 and 2017, respectively. This key point