China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO), the country’s biggest shipping company, said it plans to expand its crude oil fleet to nearly 4 million deadweight tons (dwt) in three years from 1.94 million dwt now. The China Daily reported that COSCO’s expansion is aimed at establishing a long-term strategic partnership with Sinopec, China’s leading producer...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China will work to open its natural gas sector to foreign investors in the long term to help meet growing demand and huge development costs, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said. Bai Rongchun, director of the NDRC’s energy bureau, said that China would need to spend some...

OSLO (AFX) – The government is likely to intervene soon in the oil sector dispute, now that it has escalated to the point where it threatens to cause a shutdown of Norway’s entire offshore output, officials and analysts said. On the seventh day of the strike, employers’ association OLF called a lockout of 2,400 employees...

Several companies will raise liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices by another 20% next month on higher local taxes and increased costs on the international market. E1 Corp., formerly LG-Caltex Gas Co and SK Gas Co will lead gas suppliers in raising LPG prices after Saudi Arabia’s oil company Aramco raised its LPG formula cost this...

Trenergy (Malaysia) Bhd is looking into building a RM1.14 billion floating offshore facility if it is awarded contracts to service oil companies exploring in deep waters off Sabah and Sarawak states. (US$1=RM3.8). Group managing director Azlan Shairi Asidin told The Edge that the company was interested in building a floating, production, storage and offloading operation...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – CNOOC Ltd (883.HK) chairman and CEO Fu Chengyu said the average brent crude price is expected to reach over US$30 per barrel in 2004, as the decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase oil production would not result in a significant drop in oil prices. CFO Mark...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said it still sees opportunities for investment in the Middle East despite political instability and terrorist threats but the region needs to create a more open business climate. With two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves and half its gas reserves, the Middle East will remain a key...

Business leaders from Korea and China said the two countries should consider joint oil and gas purchases to increase their negotiating position with oil-producing countries. The call was made at the end of a recent meeting in Seoul between the Federation of Korean Industries and the China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors’ Association. “We...

The Australian government has unveiled sweeping reforms to fuel taxation giving lucrative breaks to thousands of businesses in energy-intensive industries such as transport and manufacturing. The Australian newspaper said the fuel excise reforms will cost up to A$1billion over four years, delivering a taxpayer-funded windfall to businesses such as small quarries and cement and concrete...

Indonesia’s state oil and gas company Pertamina has invited Malaysia’s Petronas and Iran’s NIOC to help develop a 150,000 b/d oil refinery in Tuban, East Java at a cost of US$1 billion. Pertamina downstream director Harry Purnomo recently discussed the idea with Petronas executives in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Iran’s ambassador to Indonesia,...

Malaysian-listed oil and gas services specialist Scomi Group Berhad will step up its international expansion plans through newly acquired Singapore-based Oiltools International Limited. According to Bernama, Scomi’s proposal to buy 70.9% of Oiltools for nearly RM300 million was approved by its shareholders at its recent Extraordinary General Meeting. The Malaysian company has an option to...

The Indian government is exploring the possibility of providing its oil refining expertise in exchange for stakes in Libya’s oil fields. Petroleum secretary M S Srinivasan recently led a team of Indian oil officials including IndianOil Corp’s N.K. Nayyar, Gail’s B.S. Negi and Hindustan Petroleum’s D.S. Mathur to Libya. Tripoli, fresh from re-entry into the...

Intertanko and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) have issued a joint position paper stating that a recently ratified maritime annex will enter into force next May, as well as providing the reasons for the international shipping community’s difficulty in accepting the EU’s draft directive on sulphur content in marine fuel. Intertanko represents the majority...

Australian upstream company Amity Oil Limited has acquired two parcels of land within the oil and gas proven Anadarko Basin in Ellis County, Oklahoma state in the US. The company said it is planning to spud the first of an initial two wells programme by early August. “Four adjacent sections of land are currently being...

BISHKEK (AFX) – A subsidiary of China’s Sinopec oil and petrochemical giant has begun exploratory drilling in China’s western neighbour Kyrgyzstan, an official with the Kyrgyz state’s Kyrgyzneftegaz oil company said. The Sinopec subsidiary Shenli has begun searching for oil and natural gas in this Central Asian republic’s southern Alai Valley after it won exclusive...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Oil prices need to average at least US$30 a barrel to stimulate the required investment of an estimated US$2 trillion to satisfy growing demand over the next decade, industry analysts said at a regional conference here last week. Jeffrey Currie, commodities research chief with Goldman Sachs Inc, said the oil market...

Indonesia’s Parliament said it would not approve plans by state oil and gas firm Pertamina to sell two oil tankers, saying the tankers had long-term benefits for the company. According to Jakarta Post, Irwan Prayitno, a member of House of Representatives Commission VIII for energy and mining, said that based on information gathered during a...

Malaysian engineering firm Nam Fatt Corporation Bhd said it and an Italian company have jointly won a RM300 million contract to undertake onshore facilities for the Melut Basin oil development project in Sudan. (US$1=RM3.8). Nam Fatt president and CEO Jimmy Ng Keng Joo told The Edge newspaper that Nam Fatt’s subsidiary NF Energy Sdn Bhd...

India’s Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) is looking to supply gas to state Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for its proposed 2,000 MW gas based power plant at Dahej in Gujarat state. According to the Financial Express newspaper, the project is at an early stage of planning as ONGC is working out the cost of...

The UAE and Oman have signed an agreement to link the two countries on a common electricity grid. At a recent ceremony, Humaid bin Nasir Al Owais, UAE Minister of Electricity and Water, signed the agreement with Oman’s Minister of Housing, Electricity and Water, Khamis bin Mubarak Al Alawi. The two had signed a memorandum...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Asia’s reliance on Middle Eastern oil will deepen despite efforts to diversify sources, but China’s plans to set up a stockpile will help boost energy security in the region, a Japanese oil expert said last week. Asia currently imports some 62% of its oil needs, mainly from the Middle East, but...

Thailand’s Energy Ministry has proposed to build a 300,000 barrels/day refinery worth about $2.5 billion to boost its ambitious plans of making the country’s southern region into Asia’s leading regional energy hub. Pornchai Rujiprapha, the ministry’s deputy permanent secretary, told the Bangkok Post that the new privately owned refinery would be the country’s largest when...

LONDON (AFX) Ð The loss of Iraq’s oil exports from sabotage of its export pipelines has brought to a head wider concerns about security throughout the Gulf, sharpening Saudi Arabia’s role as the world’s key supplier from an important to a critical one, traders and analysts said. A series of assassinations in Iraq and violence...

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – CLSA Asia Pacific Markets said it has raised its 2004 net profit estimate for jet aviation fuel procurer China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Ltd (CAO) by 5% to S$75.1 million after the company announced another record procurement volume for the third quarter. (US$1=S$1.7). The company said its jet fuel procurement for the third...

Major oil players Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Caltex (Philippines) last week raised the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by P1.70 a kilogram or P18.70 for an 11-kilo cylinder. (US$1=55 pesos). The Petron Corp., and Total (Philippines) Corp. have yet to announce if they would hike LPG prices as international oil prices remain just...