Saudi unlikely to lift oil output quickly

    SAUDI ARABIA is unlikely to boost oil production quickly to ease the rise of crude prices, because it needs high prices for its own increased spending, analysts at an international banking think tank said Tuesday.

    After producing 8.6 million barrels a day in 2010, the world’s leading oil supplier will only kick up production to about 8.9 million barrels this year, said analysts at the Washington-based Institute of International Finance.

    Hostile bid for NYSE Euronext

    NASDAQ OMX and IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) on Monday declared a hostile takeover bid for NYSE Euronext, which has twice rejected their offers in favor of a tie-up with Germany’s Deutsche Boerse.

    NASDAQ and ICE said in a joint statement that each of their respective boards of directors had approved a cash-and-stock offer to buy all of the outstanding shares of NYSE Euronext for about US$11 billion. The two companies said they would take the offer directly to the shareholders of NYSE Euronext, after the New York Stock Exchange-led company turned down earlier offers at the level of the board of directors.

    Dubai eyes 100m air passengers by 2020

    DUBAI Airports said Tuesday it expected to more-than-double its passenger traffic to 98.5 million in a decade, but travellers will have to wait for another year to go through its second airport.

    Dubai International, the Middle East’s busiest airport, should become the world busiest airport for international passenger traffic in 2015, when passenger handling exceeds 75 million, the company said.