* Stock holdings include PetroChina, PTT, Lukoil, Keppel
* Likes frontier markets, in particular Africa
* Does not expect hard lending for China
SINGAPORE, March 20 (Reuters) – Franklin Templeton funds that focus on developing economies are heavily invested in energy stocks as the firm believes oil prices have room to increase further, the head of its emerging markets group Mark Mobius said on Tuesday.
“If you look at inflation and the oil price over the long term, you’ll find that the oil prices have not kept up with inflation, so there’s some catch-up …

Oil dropped from the highest price in almost three weeks in New York on signs U.S. crude supply is rising and speculation that Saudi Arabia may boost output.
Futures slipped as much as 0.9 percent, their first decline in three days. A government report tomorrow may show that U.S. stockpiles rose to the highest level in six months last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Saudi Arabia’s cabinet will work with crude consumers and producers to restore “fair” prices, according to the state news agency. Oil has climbed this year …

The country’s largest nonstate oil producer LUKoil plans to start a diamond-mining project next year after investing about $1 billion in a possible challenge to Alrosa’s monopoly, said two people familiar with the matter.
LUKoil would emulate BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company and one of the few to produce both diamonds and oil. The Moscow-based oil company may mine as much as 4 million carats of rough diamonds a year at the Grib pipe in Russia’s northern Arkhangelsk region, once co-owned by De Beers, supplier of about a third …

DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA–Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, is rethinking its global communications strategy as it undertakes an ambitious corporate transformation.
The company is understood to be actively seeking public relations agency support across a wide range of areas, including media relations, internal communications, and event management.
The review covers Saudi Aramco’s operations in the Gulf, North America and Asia, indicating a substantial PR budget. The company currently works with several agencies across these markets, including Hill + Knowlton Strategies and Fleishman-Hillard.
The state-owned entity manages the world’s largest proven crude oil …

* Saudi oil exports rose 143,000 bpd in January
* IMF says global economy has stabilised
* China manufacturing data in focus this week (Updates prices)
SINGAPORE – Brent crude was steady below $126 a barrel on Monday, holding onto most of the previous session’s gains made on continued concerns over potential supply disruptions from Iran, with the risk of major supply squeeze still being factored in.
Higher output from top exporter Saudi Arabia and plans by Iraq to expand its export routes have, however, tempered fears of a loss of Iranian barrels as …