DAILY BRIEFING: Total pulls out of Iran, Apple bans thousands of apps in China

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Apps banned 

US tech giant Apple has banned thousands of gambling-related apps from its app marketplace in China following pressure from the government.

The US giant had been criticised by state-run news outlets for not doing enough to remove banned content. It said 25,000 apps had been removed, including illegal gambling apps masquerading as lottery apps.

App removal: Apple says that 25,000 apps had been removed from the China app marketplace

Iran exit 

French oil firm Total has officially pulled out of Iran after cancelling its £4bn, 20-year agreement to develop the country’s South Pars offshore natural gas field, following renewed US sanctions.

Further sanctions took effect in August after Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal between the two countries in May.

Oil deal  

The American oil business Conoco Phillips has reached an agreement with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA to recover nearly £1.5bn it was awarded as part of a decade-old expropriation dispute.

PDVSA has agreed to make the first £390m payment within 90 days and the rest over a period of some four years.

Conoco will suspend legal actions to seize PDVSA’s facilities in the Dutch Antilles.

Pharma flop 

The sale of Kinapse, a British firm that provides compliance and clinical testing services for big pharmaceutical companies, to US firm Syneos Health looks to have been a flop for private equity firm Hg Capital, which appeared to sell Kinapse for less than it originally paid in 2016. Hg Capital declined to comment.

beauty boost Make-up and skincare company Estee Lauder said sales rose nearly 12pc in the fourth quarter to £2.6bn amid strong demand in its travel business which includes airports.

Gas hire 

Oil services provider Wood Group has been appointed by Shell to further help maintain and run its gas-to-power project in Malampaya, Philippines.

bean counter Michael Speakman, 54, has been hired as finance chief at geotechnical engineer Keller Group.

China gold 

Russian miner Polymetal International has shipped around 2,000 tonnes of gold to China – its first shipment of concentrate to China.