Billions of dollars for oil projects scrapped, India’s surprise rate cut and the hotel WiFi racket

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times:

Oil companies have scrapped or suspended billions of dollars of spending on oil projects after the brutal drop in oil prices.

Royal Dutch Shell abandoned plans for one of the world’s biggest petrochemical plants, a $6.5bn project with Qatar Petroleum, and Premier Oil said it would delay a decision on whether to proceed with a $2bn project off the Falkland Islands. Meanwhile Norway’s Statoil said it had handed back three exploration licences in the west coast of Greenland – one of the highest cost frontiers in the industry.

In the news:

Surprise RBI rate cut

The Reserve Bank of India cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points at an impromptu meeting in a bid to boost economic growth and grapple with collapsing inflation – evidence of Asian policy makers leaning more firmly towards looser monetary policy. (FT)

The real Dread Pirate Roberts

Ross Ulbricht’s lawyer said that while Ulbricht did create the Silk Road, he had relinquished control to the real operators and became “the fall guy” when they learned that authorities were closing in. Ulbricht’s former housemates said that they saw no evidence of his involvement in the Silk Road while he was living with them, likening themselves to Walt Jr in Breaking Bad, the character oblivious of his father’s meth production. (FT, Forbes)

Advertisers want your car’s data

BMW said carmakers are under pressure from advertisers and tech companies to pass on data from connected cars so that they can tell “from the navigation system, they’re about to pass a McDonald’s, the car’s been running for three hours and the child’s probably hungry.” (FT)

Baby banks and US power

JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said a Baby JPMorgan would not be able to compete with emerging Chinese megabanks and would diminish US financial power. The idea of breaking up JPMorgan has gained momentum since the Federal Reserve announced that it would require it to operate with more capital than any other bank because of its size and complexity. (FT)

Deutsche considers retail therapy

Germany’s biggest lender is looking at spinning off its retail banking operations. Regulators have been pushing the bank to lower its debt levels andstop using deposits collected from consumers to fund its investment bank. (FT)

It’s a big day for:

Intel which reports fourth-quarter earnings today. The chipmaker has been plagued by slow market growth which it has tried to offset by pushing into fields such as wearables and striking deals to boost its market share with Chinese manufacturers. (FT)

David Cameron who travels to the US on his final overseas trip before the UK general election. He will try to get Barack Obama’s support in pushing for improved co-operation between intelligence agencies and tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter. (FT)

Global growth and gloom – Christine Lagarde will discuss the state of the global economy ahead of the IMF’s growth forecasts, which will be released next week. (CFR live from 1600 GMT)

Food for thought:

Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson reached the summit of the 3,000-foot rock known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park yesterday. (NYT$)

They made the first free ascent of a notoriously difficult section called the Dawn Wall, completing what many consider the most challenging rock climb in the world. (National Geographic)

The hotel WiFi racket

Hotels spend advertising money promising guests a warm welcome only to gouge some extra out of them when they arrive and WiFi is one of the most noticeable methods of doing this. Michael Skapinker asks, who treats their guests that way? (FT)

Giving Stephen Hawking a voice

Hawking had achieved the feat of writing books and speaking using only one muscle. But talking became harder so in 2011 he enlisted Intel’s help. That brought fresh complications: “He never had the opportunity to use an iPhone. We were trying to teach the world’s most famous and smartest 72-year-old grandfather to learn this new way of interacting with technology.” (Wired)

South Korea’s returning adoptees

At least 200,000 Korean children have been adopted in the past 60 years and the vast majority live in the US. Now a generation of them are returning to lobby against international adoption. (NYT$)

Poland is known as an exporter of labour but its population is flatlining and the economy could falter unless it rethinks its immigration policy. (FT)

Video of the day:

Chevrolet Bolt from the blue

The muscle cars at the Detroit Auto Show have been elbowed out by a $30,000 plug-in electric vehicle aimed at middle America. The Chevrolet Bolt seeks to address one of the main concerns of would-be electric car drivers – range anxiety , the fear of being stranded without power. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with The Financial Times. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Amie Tsang is a Journalist at The Financial Times.

Image: A worker walks down the stairs of an oil tank at Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Adana February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas.