Bright orange flames flare upwards from a pencil-thin chimney at the Port Harcourt Refining Company, sending thick black smoke into the white clouds above Nigeria's southern oil hub.

On the ground, workers in boiler suits and hard hats inspect the tanks, valves and gauges around the metal pipes that stretch up, down and across the facility.

More than 20 countries are waiting to join the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), its designated president said Saturday as he allayed concerns it was aimed to challenge U.S. and Japanese influence in the region.

The number could bring the AIIB on a par with or even surpass membership in the Japan-led Asian Development Bank (ADB), which currently has 67 members, 19 of them outside of the Asia Pacific, according to its website.

The head of India's central bank on Friday warned Asia's third-largest economy against trying to grow too fast, pointing to the plight of recession-hit Brazil as a cautionary tale.

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan told a gathering of business leaders in Mumbai that the Asian giant must focus on "sustainable growth", built on a bedrock of low inflation.

Tokyo investors will be cautiously watching global stock markets for cues next week to gauge the impact of the U.S. central bank's decision not to raise rates, analysts said. 

Dealers will have three extra days to digest the news, which saw Tokyo shares defy a rally across Asia to end the final day of the week lower, as markets will be closed until Wednesday.

Oil prices were mixed in cautious Asian trade Friday after the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at zero but warned about weaknesses in the global economy.

News that the US central bank would keep borrowing costs at zero was broadly welcomed across Asia, with most stock markets up, as it eased concerns about a feared flight of capital from the region's struggling economies.

A veteran executive with oil giant Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, has been confirmed as the company's president, the Dhahran-based firm said Thursday.

Nasser had been interim president and CEO since May when his predecessor, Khalid al-Falih, became health minister.

Kuwait said Thursday that its government revenues had dropped by nearly half since April as oil-rich Gulf states suffer from the slump in crude prices.

Kuwait and its Gulf neighbors are having to deal with oil prices that have dropped by more than half in a year to below $50 a barrel, with many forecasting deficits after enjoying huge windfalls from high crude prices over many years. 

The traditional bazaar has long been the place to shop in Iran but despite years of sanctions a new generation has discovered a vastly different consumer experience: blatant, unapologetic Western-style consumerism.

Instead of meandering markets echoing with the sound of haggling, huge shopping malls boast multiple floors of retail space, enormous underground parking lots and children's play zones.

Oil turned higher in Asia Thursday in volatile trading as jittery investors awaited a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decision later in the day.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in October was up two cents to $47.17 in afternoon trade, reversing losses earlier in the day.

China's economic downturn and weak inflation pose a challenge to the U.S. Federal Reserve as it weighs raising interest rates for the first time in nine years on Thursday.

Analysts say the risks have risen for a slowdown in U.S. growth that might persuade the Fed to hold off from a rate hike for a few more months.