The Australian dollar rose 0.7% to $0.6432, the New Zealand dollar firmed 0.6% to $0.6131 and the pound added 0.4% to $1.2562 - their strongest since mid-March.

France's finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the economy was now expected to contract 8% this year instead of the 6% flagged as recently as Thursday.

The dollar rose 0.63% against the Norwegian crown NOK=D3 to 10.23

Against the euro EUR=EBS, the dollar last stood at $1.0941, on course for 1.3% weekly decline.

EDF would lower its 2020 nuclear power production target of 375-390 TWh, but did not say by how much.

"At the same time, the industry has announced and initiated a number of measures, and we can already see that this is affecting activity on the Norwegian shelf. Substantial cost cuts have been announced, reducing both exploration activity, investments and operating costs moving forward," says Director General Ingrid Sølvberg.

In Germany, renewable energies accounted for nearly 52% of the power mix in the first three months of 2020. In Spain, renewables contributed by nearly 45% of the total power generation in mainland Spain in the first quarter of 2020.

A consortium led by circular carbon energy company Liquid Wind will produce liquid, carbon neutral fuel from captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen at a new facility in Sweden.

Oil slid to $25 a barrel on Wednesday, within sight of its lowest in 18 years,

In the first quarter of 2020, the Government Pension Fund Global returned -14.6 percent, equivalent to -1,171 billion kroner.

Sovereign wealth funds from oil-producing countries mainly in the Middle East and Africa are on course to dump up to $225 billion in equities,

gas prices in Europe and Asia have collapsed to record lows, while the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark tumbled to its lowest since 1995.

As for last year's production volumes, we produced 500.1 billion cubic meters of gas and exported 199.3 billion cubic meters. The latter figure is slightly lower than in 2018, which was marked by a record 201.8 billion cubic meters. We also preserved our share in the European market at 35.6 per cent.

OMV, which currently owns a 36 percent stake in Borealis, will acquire an additional 39 percent from Mubadala. The transaction value amounts to $4.68 billion and represents the biggest acquisition in OMV’s history and the largest transaction ever for Mubadala.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 4.2%, with energy .SXEP, autos .SXAP, insurers .SXIP and financials .SXFP jumping between 5.4% and 6.7%.