IN BRIEF

Exxon, Total bid for gas drilling in the Black Sea

SOFIA: US oil giant ExxonMobil, France's Total and British Melrose Resources have filed bids for deep-water gas drilling in the Black Sea, Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev said yesterday. The three companies filed preliminary bids and must now submit binding offers by July 4, Dobrev told an energy forum in Sofia. The ministry will then choose a winner by the end of July, he said. The tender is for the Khan Asparuh 1-21 block, which spans 15,000 square kilometres (5,791 square miles) off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast near the border with Romania.

Lukoil, Enel

agree to cooperation

ST PETERSBURG:Russia's number two oil producer Lukoil and Italian power giant Enel agreed yesterday to cooperate in natural gas exploration and marketing worldwide. The privately-owned Russian company said the framework agreement provides for possible joint development of gas fields "on the territory of Russia and abroad, particularly the offshore fields of the Caspian Sea and North Africa." The two could also conduct market research in Europe to help determine future demand for liquefied natural gas.

Dutch unemployment rate at 6.2% in May

THE HAGUE: The Dutch unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in May, the same level as in April, seasonally corrected data released yesterday by the national statistics office CBS showed. In May, the number of unemployed in the Netherlands stood at 489,000 in a country with a total population of a little more than 16.5 million people. "Even though the number of jobless remained stable in May, there is still an upward trend," the office said, adding that the number of jobless had increased by 9,000 people a month on average over the past three months.

Spain says no need for full-scale bailout

MADRID: Spain said Wednesday it had no need of a full-blown bailout even though its borrowing costs were hovering near euro-era records and a vast rescue loomed for its stricken banks. Fears mounted among investors that punitive borrowing rates could eventually topple the eurozone's fourth-largest economy, forcing an international rescue that would dwarf those mounted for Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Spain's eurozone partners agreed on June 9 to lend up to 100 billion euros ($127 billion) to save banks laden with bad loans extended during a real estate bubble that imploded in 2008. Agencies