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At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.37% or $0.23 lower at $62.30 per barrel, ahead of the American Petroleum Institute weekly oil inventory data to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract climbed 1.84% or $1.13, to settle at $62.53 per barrel, amid reports of increasing geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Feb 16 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc is restarting an unspecified unit at its 100,000-barrel-per-day Scotford refinery near Edmonton, Alberta, it said in a message posted on a community information phone line. There could be flaring over the next 24 hours but there will be no material impact on production, the company said. (Reporting by Kevin Jose in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Pullin)

The continued slump in remortgage activity led to a 13 per cent decline in the number of loans in Q4 2014 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. A total of 73,100 remortgage loans were advanced in Q4 2014, down from 84,000 in the same period a year earlier. The value of remortgages in Q4 2014 fell 4 per cent year-on-year from £12.3bn to to £11.1bn.

LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - North Sea oil production will decline to around 500,000 barrels per day by 2035 as fields in the mature basin deplete, BP chief executive Bob Dudley said on Tuesday. "The North sea is a very mature oil and gas province and it will inevitably go through a decline. It peaked in 1999 at around 2.9 millions barrels per day and our projections are that it will be half a million barrels in 2035," Dudley said during the presentation of the BP Energy Outlook 2035. (Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Mark Potter)

WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - US crude oil rallied to end sharply higher on Tuesday, after dipping below USD51 a barrel earlier in the day, ahead of the weekly official inventory data from the US Energy Information Administration due Wednesday. The uptick comes on the back of some extensive production cuts by US producers with is expected to have a significant impact on oil supplies. Investors also weighed the uncertainty in Europe with the Greek bailout program going nowhere as the latest talks with EU foreign ministers on Monday failed to find any agreement, as the beleaguered country refused to seek any extension as sought by its creditors. Worries over the ineffective ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine also supported oil, with pro-Russian rebels and government forces continuing to battle it out in some of the most volatile regions, east of the country. The continued fighting has fueled fears of some further sanctions by the West on Russia for its failure to stop fighting as agreed. The deteriorating situation in Libya is also seen as contributing to a decline in global supplies. It appears that OPEC nations may be winning the price war with non-OPEC suppliers such as the US and Canada. OPEC is likely to withstand cheap oil while non-OPEC producers are beginning to abandon projects, lay of thousands of workers and slash earnings forecasts. While the global market is oversupplied right now, supplies may get tight later in the year if non-OPEC nations cut production. Light Sweet Crude Oil futures for March delivery, the most actively traded contract, jumped USD0.75 or 1.4% to settle at USD53.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday. Crude prices for March delivery scaled a high of USD54.15 a barrel intraday and a low of USD50.81. On friday, crude oil settled sharply higher on a weak dollar and rising optimism of demand growth as oil producers continued to scale down investments, as well as over news that pro-Russia rebels and Ukraine government agreed to a ceasefire.

UK house prices continued rising at a brisk pace in December according to government statisticians even as those in London continued to slow down. The Office for National Statistics's (ONS) House Price Index (HPI) advanced 9.8% year-on-year last December, off by a only a tenth of a percentage point from the prior month. Home prices accelerate outside of London Excluding London home prices accelerated to an 8.5% year-on-year rate after recording a rise of 8.1% in both October and November. In September of 2014 they advanced by 9.8%. The average UK mix-adjusted house price in December 2014 was £272,000. That was 11.5% more than the pre-economic downturn peak. Home prices in England were still the most buoyant in the country in December, rising by 10.2% in comparison to a year ago. In London, prices increased by 13.3% - an 11-month low. In November London prices advanced by 15.2%, after hitting a peak rate of increase of 20.1% in May of 2014. In the South East the cost of a home rose by 11.5% and in the East by another 11.4%. In Wales prices increased by 4%, and surpassed their pre-crisis peak to reach a record level, in Scotland by 5.5% and in Northern Ireland by another 4.9%. Excluding London and the South East UK house prices advanced by 7.4% over the last 12 months. In month-on-month terms house prices in Britain were up by 0.7%, after a rise of 0.2% in the month before. Solid but unspectacular growth lies ahead Dr. Howard Archer, chief UK+European economist at IHS Global Insight, cautioned that ONS's measures of prices tends to lag many others, as it is based on mortgage completions. Archer added: "We suspect that the weakness in housing market activity may be bottoming out and we see activity picking up to a limited extent in 2015 from current levels." IHS forecast house price inflation to reach "a solid but unspectacular 5% in 2015".

UK inflation has fallen to its lowest level since current records began in 1989, as plunging oil prices and a bitter supermarket price war push down the cost of living. The consumer price index (CPI) - which measures the cost of items in a typical family's shopping basket - rose just 0.3 per cent in January on an annual basis. This is down from the 0.5 per cent recorded in December, and remains well below the Bank of England’s two per cent target. Food prices and motor fuels, with the latter largely dependent on oil prices, were the main contributors according to the Office for National Statistics. The Bank of England warned last week that the inflation rate was "more likely than not" to slip into negative territory before spring, while governor Mark Carney has said interest rates could be cut further from historic lows of 0.5 per cent if low inflation becomes entrenched. Nonetheless, Carney stressed that the UK isn't risk of falling into a deflationary spiral, as lower prices will actually lift wage growth and consumer spending, and in turn buoy economic growth. The Bank also revised upwards its forecasts for growth in 2016 and 2017. The last time headline inflation fell into negative territory in Britain was March 1960, according to the closest comparable data from the Office for National Statistics.

BRIT SET FOR TAKEOVER Less than a year after it rejoined the stock market, Lloyd's of London insurer Brit has agreed to be taken private. Fairfax Financial Holding, the Canadian insurance group, said this morning it will pay 305p in cash per share, or £1.22bn in total. Brit floated at 240p per share in March 2014. Apollo and CVC, the private equity firms that sold down some of their stakes in the IPO, have given their support to the deal.

Oil and gas engineer John Wood Group grew sales and profits by double-digit rates last year and said it expected to remain resilient and deliver growth despite the lower oil price environment. Revenue from continuing operations spurted 14.3% to $6.57bn, with profits from continuing operations before tax and exceptional items rising 10.9% at $414.5m and adjusted diluted earnings per share up 1% to 99.6 cents.

Intercontinental Hotels Group managed to narrowly beat analysts' forecasts with a smaller-than-expected decline in annual profits, as it predicted a "continued strong performance" in 2015. The Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn operator said reported operating profit for 2014 totalled $651m, down 3% on the $668m reported the year before but slightly ahead of the consensus estimate of $646m.

Prime U.K. cities outperform as capital’s dwellers look west: Prime U.K. cities including Bath and Oxford enjoyed a surge in price growth last year as more Londoners tempted by the prospect of a bigger home, good schools and transport links moved out of the capital.

Land Securities buys Moorgate site for £16.5 million: Land Securities has bought the leasehold of a 1.9 acre site near Liverpool Street for £16.5 million, paving the way for a huge regeneration ahead of the launch of Crossrail.

CBI forecasts 2.7% growth for economy: The CBI has upgraded its forecast for economic growth this year amid low oil prices and falling inflation.

Back of the net! Becks lifts H&M as fashion giant enjoys 14% sales boost in January: Fashion chain H&M, which collaborates with footballer David Beckham on a clothing collection, continued to see its garments fly off the shelves over the past four weeks.

Balfour Beatty sells stake in windfarm transmission system: Balfour Beatty has sold 80% of the transmission system for a windfarm off the coast of Kent to an infrastructure investment fund.

U.K. growth to pick up as cheaper oil cheers consumers, CBI says: Low oil prices and inflation will help Britain record its fastest growth since the financial crisis, according to the CBI.

Landlords to blame for Britain’s rising house prices: U.K. asking prices jumped by more than £5,000 in February as landlords, often slow to sell, limited choice on the market for house hunters.

Hammerson’s pretax profits more than double as shoppers return: A consumer spending revival and rising property values more than doubled profits at the shopping centre owner and developer Hammerson.

Kuwait expects oil price rise as global surpluses dwindle: One of Saudi Arabia’s closest allies is forecasting that the rally in oil prices will continue this year as the global glut starts to ease.

At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.72% or $0.44 higher at $61.84 per barrel. Yesterday, the contract declined 0.2% or $0.12, to settle at $61.40 per barrel, after swinging between gains and losses amid light trading volumes. However, losses were capped following an explosion at Libya’s largest oil field, which could potentially halt all of its operations if further attacks occur.