HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – A study conducted by engineering consultant firm Mott Connell for the government shows that it is viable to interconnect the systems of CLP Holdings (2.HK) and Hongkong Electric (6.HK) for bilateral trading, the South China Morning Post reported, citing some papers from the Legislative Council. Bilateral trading can be achieved by...

The ADB is funding a study through a US$850,000 technical assistance grant to help countries of the Greater Mekong region prepare a regional power trade operating agreement. The countries include Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and China’s Yunnan province. The study will review present agreements and arrangements on power trade in the Mekong area and...

China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd (CAO) said it received RMB39.6 million as part of its accrued retained earnings from its 33%-owned associated company, Shanghai Pudong International Airport Aviation Fuel Supply Company (Pudong). The payment is based on Pudong’s 2002 earnings. (US$1=8.27 yuan). CAO has used the distribution to partially offset the purchase price of...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – PT Medco Energi Internasional is considering acquiring up to 20 oil blocks from local and foreign oil and gas companies valued at a total of around US$250 million, Bisnis Indonesia reported, citing the company’s finance director Sugiharto. He said the company is evaluating between 10 to 20 oil blocks to help it...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s electricity consumption is expected to reach 1.78 trillion kWh this year, up 8.8% from a year earlier, boosted by the rapidly-growing economy, China Electricity Council’s (CEC) standing vice-director Liu Hong said. He made the remarks at a CEC news conference last week. He said China’s average national electricity consumption growth was...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – The government will question Australian mining giant Rio Tinto PLC and British oil and gas company BP PLC over the surprise sale of coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), suspecting both companies had acted in ill faith against the government, a minister said. State Minister for State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi...

BEIJING (XFN) – China Petroleum & Chemical Group (Sinopec Group) will invest 11 billion yuan to build an oil refinery with an annual production capacity of eight million tons in Beihai city in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi, the Ministry of Commerce said. (US$1=8.27 yuan). The ministry said on its website the construction of...

The Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia), supported by an ADB regional technical assistance, last week launched a Dialogue for Cleaner Fuels in Asia with 12 major regional and national oil companies. The dialogue will identify important issues surrounding cleaner transport fuels and implications for the refining industry in Asia for producing cleaner fuels...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is expanding its oil interests in Africa with the purchase of several refining businesses in Algeria for US$350 million, the China Business Weekly reported, without citing sources. PetroChina Exploration and Development Co, a unit of CNPC, signed a contract last week with Algerian firm Hydrogen Carbide to...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Japan is likely to narrowly avert an acute energy crisis this summer with Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) switching back on the fourth of its nuclear reactors shut down in for safety inspections, officials said. The 1.1-million kilowatt No. 4 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, some 250 kilometers north of Tokyo, was...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Dialog Group Bhd said it has agreed to sell and promote Total Waste Management Alliance plc’s waste management equipment and services in Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei and China. This includes hydrocarbon contaminated waste processing and handling of equipment. In a statement, Dialog said Total Waste Management’s equipment and services...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Manila Electric Co president Jesus Francisco said the company has signed a compromise deal with state-owned National Power Corp on their 10-year sales contract. Under the terms of the compromise deal, Meralco will pay Napocor 20 billion pesos to settle their dispute over power supply. (US$1=53 pesos). In an interview with AFX...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Thousands of privately-owned oil wells with an estimated total investment of 10 billion yuan have been confiscated by local authorities in the northern Chinese province of Shaanxi, leading to widespread protests and clashes with armed police, the Financial Times reported, citing local officials. (US$1=8.27 yuan). The dispute clearly pits the fortunes of...

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released an interim report on global warming, calling for a new framework that covers the majority of ozone-depleting greenhouse gas emissions, reported the Japan Times. The new framework is expected to be launched after the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Because the US, which accounts...

Sinopec Corp said the proposed construction of a major refined oil products pipelines in the China’s southwestern region is progressing well. The company described the 1,691-km pipeline as a major project under its tenth-five year plan. The project was approved by State Planning Commission in August 2001, while its feasibility study was approved by State...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Mirant Philippines Inc said its US parent’s bid to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection will not heave any bearing on the company’s operations. “It’s business as usual. There will be no negative impact on Mirant Philippines,” Mirant Philippines vice president for external affairs Paul Flake said in a statement. He said the...

DUBAI (AFX-ASIA) – Royal Dutch/Shell will only vie for contracts to develop Iraq’s upstream oil business once a “legitimate authority” is in place, group chairman Sir Philip Watts said. “Shell will only participate in upstream developments in Iraq when there are awards by the legitimate authority in place, in the interests of the Iraqi people,”...

Australia’s Santos Limited and its joint venture partners are set to secure a slice of the developing East Java gas market following the signing of a new long term agreement to sell over 90 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas. Santos is represented by wholly owned subsidiary Santos (Sampang) Pty Ltd). The Gas Sales Agreement...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – ExxonMobil said it rejects a newspaper report that it plans to quit fuel retailing in Australia. The Australian Financial Review reported that ExxonMobil is looking at a sale of its 550 service stations and has a team of lawyers finalising a major environmental audit of its entire retail network. In a statement,...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Petronas Dagangan Bhd’s net profit for the ear to March 2004 could come in higher year-on-year due to its ongoing efforts to cut costs and enhance productivity, company chairman Mohd Hassan Marican said. “We can’t look at the crystal ball (on earnings outlook) as there are many factors beyond our control,...

J. Ray McDermott, S.A,said it has recently been awarded a subcontract for work on Qatar Petroleum’s PS-2 and the PS-3 complex in the Maydan Mahzam and Bul Hanine fields located in the Arabian Gulf. The subcontract, valued at approximately US$26.6 million, was signed with Larsen & Toubro (“L&T”) Ltd. India. J. Ray McDermott is a...

ALMATY (AFX) – Kazakhstan’s energy minister unveiled plans to sell drilling rights in 23 sections of Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea territory, which he said should push Kazakh output to 170 million tonnes of oil products annually by 2015. Achieving such production levels would require total investments of between US$28 billion (24 billion eur) and US$30 billion...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – The local consumption of natural gas is expected to increase by at least 10 pct annually on the back of recently reduced tariffs, Bernama news agency quoted Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie as saying. “With the recently announced tariff revision, natural gas consumption in the industrial, commercial and domestic...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – KNM Group Bhd plans to expand further its China, North America, Africa and Middle East operations over the next two years to boost exports, managing director Lee Swee Eng said. KNM, which is seeking to list on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Second Board, is an investment holding company with interests...

Australia’s Santos Limited said it has acquired interests in three exploration licence areas in the offshore waters of Western Australia and will invest approximately A$4 million in new exploration. (US$1=A$1.5). Santos has acquired offshore exploration permit WA-274-P in the Browse Basin, Western Australia from a subsidiary of Genting Berhad. As operator, Santos has also recently...