Energy Update

KUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE, Aug 4 (Reuters) - At least half a dozen suitors have bid for energy assets of Malaysia's debt-laden state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), despite it being at the centre of the country's ongoing political crisis, according to four people familiar with the matter.

TAMAR PLATFORM, East Mediterranean, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The Tamar natural gas platform, towering 300 feet above the Mediterranean, is a rare success story in Israel's fledgling energy sector - a state-of-the-art facility that has already saved billions of dollars in electricity costs.

* Margins hit six-month low in July * Return to profit after heavy losses TOKYO, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Oil refining margins at Japanese refiners are likely to rise from a six-month low in July, as the decline in oil prices is expected to slow amid a seasonal recovery in demand for products, industry sources and executives said. The nearly $10 dive in global oil prices last month sent spot product prices sharply lower while costs for refiners were little changed, squeezing margins. But t

PARIS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - French police have released the chief of staff to Gabon's President Ali Bongo who was detained for questioning in a corruption probe after the foreign ministry said he had diplomatic immunity, a judicial source said on Tuesday.