Business briefs: Panel urges U.S. to start tapping Arctic oil fields

WASHINGTON – The U.S. should immediately begin a push to exploit its enormous trove of oil in the Arctic waters off of Alaska, or risk a renewed reliance on imported oil in the future, an Energy Department advisory council says in a study submitted Friday.

The U.S. has drastically cut imports and transformed itself into the world’s biggest producer of oil and natural gas by tapping huge reserves in shale rock formations. But the government predicts that the shale boom won’t last much beyond the next decade.

In order for the U.S. to keep domestic production high and imports low, oil companies should start probing the Arctic now because it takes decades of preparation and drilling to bring oil to market, according to a draft of the study’s executive summary.

“There will come a time when all the resources that are supplying the world’s economies today are going to go in decline,” said Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil and chairman of the study’s committee, in an interview with the Associated Press. “This will be what’s needed next. If we start today it’ll take 20, 30, 40 years for those to come on.”

Yellen: Economic gains could prompt rate hike

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Friday that continued improvement in the U.S. economy means an increase in the Fed’s key interest rate could come later this year.

The Fed has kept its benchmark rate at a record low near zero for more than six years. Yellen said in a speech in San Francisco that the time to start raising the rate could occur “sometime this year,” though she said the time hasn’t yet arrived.

In her speech, Yellen said the Fed’s first move would depend on how the economy performs. She said that when the Fed does start raising rates, policymakers expect the increases to be “rather gradual” for the next few years.

Airbnb signs deal for Rio Olympics role

RIO DE JANEIRO – Rio de Janeiro’s hotel bed shortage was eased on Friday, as online home share startup Airbnb inked a deal to be the official “alternative accommodations” sponsor of the 2016 Olympic games.

The deal, which saw Airbnb pay an undisclosed amount to local Olympic organizers, means official Olympic sites will feature a link to Airbnb’s site and encourage spectators traveling to Rio for the games to use the service to rent space in private homes and apartments.

This marked the first time the Olympics has had an alternative accommodations sponsor, said officials with the local organizing committee.

Rio’s notoriously poor hotel infrastructure has been long been considered a critical issue. When the city won the Olympic bid in 2009, it had just half the 40,000 beds required for the games. Since then, new infrastructure has been built, and the city now has the 42,000 spots needed to house members of the “Olympic family,” including athletes and their entourages, the media and sponsors.