Energy

U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week, while refineries hiked output to their capacity usage since March, the Energy Information Administration said on Friday.

Schlumberger NV on Friday joined rivals in predicting a steady recovery in the oil industry this year after the world's top oilfield services provider's fourth-quarter results beat estimates, aided partly by growing demand for drilling.

The Keystone XL pipeline project may be dead, but the United States is still poised to pull in record imports of Canadian oil in coming years through other pipelines that are in the midst of expanding.

U.S. refiner percent utilization rose last week to the highest since March, Energy Information Administration data showed on Friday.

European Union countries could call on Monday for a global phasing out of polluting coal power and an end to fossil fuel subsidies as the bloc makes climate change a central part of its foreign policy, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

Exxon Mobil has lifted a force majeure on Nigeria's Qua Iboe crude oil export terminal, a spokesman said on Friday.

Russian pipe-laying and other vessels are heading to Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction sites in the Baltic Sea, ship tracking data showed on Friday, amid U.S. pressure to scrap the project that aims to pump more Russian gas to Europe.

World aluminium output rose by 2.5% to a record 65.3 million tonnes last year, with producers lifting run-rates as the aluminium price rebounded from its March lows.

Shareholders of the Chilean miner SQM voted on Friday to OK a plan to raise $1.1 billion through the sale of common stock to help underwrite an ambitious expansion of its lithium, nitrate and iodine operations, a company spokesperson said.