Norway, Germany, France and the United Kingdom (UK) have already announced an end date for the sale of gasoline and diesel cars. Norway has set its deadline as 2025 earliest, Germany and India in 2030 while France and the UK are planning to end the sale of gasoline and diesel cars in 2040. Meanwhile, other countries are also mulling doing the same thing.

Southeast Asia has been touted as one of the world’s fastest growing regions. Bloomberg reported last year that Southeast Asia has a population of 620 million people and an economy worth US$2.6 trillion. This regional economy is expected to keep growing and the World Economic Forum predicted in 2017 that it will have the world’s fifth largest economy by 2020.

Oil held gains near the highest close in more than two weeks after government data showed crude stockpiles in the world’s largest economy slid more than forecast to a two-year low.Front-month futures were little changed in New York after prices climbed 1.6 percent over the previous two days. Government data Wednesday showed US inventories fell 6.5 million barrels last week – more than double the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey – to the lowest level since 2015.

Oil retreated the most in more than two weeks amid worries that OPEC’s deal to extend production cutbacks may take US shale activity to a whole new level.Futures closed 1.5 percent lower in New York. OPEC and partners including Russia last week agreed to keep cutting output through the end of next year.

Oil dropped below 58 dollars a barrel as investors weighed an increase in US oil drilling rigs against OPEC’s promise to extend output cuts through the end of next year.Futures fell as much as 0.9 percent in New York after adding 1.7 percent Friday. OPEC and its allies including Russia last week agreed to keep their supply cuts in place and beefed up the extension with the inclusion of Nigeria and Libya. Executives from three of the biggest independent U.S.

OPEC and its allies outside the group agreed to maintain oil production cuts until the end of 2018, extending their campaign to wrest back control of the global market from America’s shale industry.After a day of talks in Vienna, the decision showed the strength of the unprecedented alliance between the world’s top two oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, and confounded Wall Street analysts who’d predicted Moscow would be reluctant to keep going.

Oil explorers took advantage of a market rally to lock in prices for almost 1 million barrels a day’s worth of future output, signaling the shale boom’s staying power as OPEC ponders the extension of its supply curbs.New hedging contracts in the third quarter covered 897,000 barrels a day of annualized production, a 147 percent increase over the second quarter, according to an analysis of 33 companies released Tuesday by industry researcher Wood MacKenzie Ltd.

Oil prices tumbled more than one percent on Wednesday in Asia, extending the previous day's sharp falls after the International Energy Agency warned of weakening demand.A recent rally had sent the commodity to two-year highs, fuelled by hopes producers will extend output cuts well into 2018 as well as escalating tensions between crude giants Saudi Arabia and Iran.But the Paris-based IAE said in a monthly report that it had revised down its forecasts for this year and next, adding that ma