MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Petron Corp expects to raise its pump prices by another 0.30-0.50 pesos per litre by end-April to recover higher crude costs, spokeswoman Virginia Ruivivar said. (US$1 = 50 peso). Ruivivar said Petron also plans to implement a 0.30-0.50 peso price increase by the end of this week. “If we increase the end...

FAME, the US-based provider of software and data used by energy companies, has promoted Dale Richards, a head of one of its divisions, to CEO. He succeeds Gerald Mintz, who has left after three years with the company. Mr. Richards said the company has “extraordinary capabilities” which includes “its software, data management and delivery, consulting...

LONDON (AFX) – OPEC secretary general Ali Rodriguez said the cartel will not be intervening to bring oil prices down, as the recent price surge is a result of political tensions in the Middle East, not an imbalance in supply and demand. Prices have been hovering above US$27 a barrel for the last couple of...

WASHINGTON (AFX-ASIA) – Pertamina has been declared in contempt by a US district court in Houston for trying to avoid a 261 mln dollar judgment, the plaintiff said. The damages had been awarded by Swiss-based arbitrators in December 2000 to Karaha Bodas, a Cayman Islands power firm controlled by Florida Light and Power and New...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s decision to raise petrol and diesel prices last week is intended to bring domestic prices more in line with international prices, the China Daily reported, citing an unidentified PetroChina official. Yesterday the SDPC announced an increase in the domestic ex-factory price of petrol by 260 yuan a ton to 2,580, and...

SYDNEY (AFX) – Woodside Petroleum Ltd remains an attractive acquisition target for Shell, whose bid to gain control of Woodside was rejected by the Australian government in April 2001, analysts with Salomon Smith Barney said in a research note. “The sharemarket may be adopting the view that the Shell bid for Enterprise Oil implies Woodside...

Despite their current low level, gasoline exports appear ready to explode, said US energy consultant ESAI in the latest edition of its report, Chinawatch. “January saw gasoline exports reach their lowest level in over a month, but in February exports nearly doubled,” said Rick Mueller, analyst at ESAI, “We expect gasoline exports to rise still...

The Shanghai Secco Petrochemical Company Ltd (SECCO) has broken ground on a 900,000 tonne/year ethylene cracker plant last week. The construction at the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park was launched by Huang Ju, member of the Politbureau, Central Committee of Communist Party of China and Party Secretary of Shanghai Municipality. The key participants at the event...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) is likely to report an improvement in its refining and marketing divisions in the second half of this year, while stronger oil prices and a continued focus on cost control are likely provide support to the company’s earnings going forward, Worldsec analyst Michael Lee said....

Over the last four years, the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies has developed new stand-alone businesses in Shell Capital, Shell Internet Works and Shell Consumer. “These have been part of the continuing strategy to identify and test new opportunities for value growth. All of the businesses have achieved successes in developing their own skills and...

TEHRAN (AFX) – Iran, OPEC’s second-largest producer, is backing away from applying the “oil weapon” to put pressure on the US and end the Israeli offensive against the Palestinians, analysts said. They added that Iran is unlikely to join such an action, although it has left the door open regarding Iraq’s call to withhold oil...

US company Largo Vista Group Ltd said it has entered into an agreement with Indonesia’s Pertamina Energy Services Pte Ltd., to supply oil products in Vietnam with Pertamina ensuring the supply. Pertamina Energy, better known as Petral, is owned entirely by Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina. Largo Vista will also meet the crude...

by Lyndal McFarland —- HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – China Petroleum Chemical Corp (Sinopec) shares closed higher in a weaker market despite reporting a 2001 net profit of 16.03 bln hkd, down from 19.58 bln a year earlier but at the top end of market forecasts, dealers said. (US$1=HK$7.87). Analysts surveyed by AFX had forecast the...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Petronas Dagangan Bhd shares were lower on concerns rising oil prices may raise the company’s costs and squeeze its margins, dealers said. Oil prices have risen in recent days as some Arab nations have called for unity in using oil as a weapon against the US over Israel in the liberation...

Shell Hongkong has launched Shell Mobile – a new mobile phone service that also offers a specialist wireless service package to motorists. Shell Mobile can pinpoint a customer’s location then provide directions and traffic information either via voice or text message, regardless of handset model. The service is available in English and Chinese. Subscribers to...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Japan Energy Co Ltd and Nippon Mining and Metals Co Ltd said that the firms have agreed to set up a holding firm at the end of September. The companies said that under the agreement, the new holding firm will allocate 0.50 shares for every Japan Energy share, and 1.27 shares for...

Saudi Arabia’s SABIC, the largest petrochemicals producer in the Middle East, will buy DSM’s petrochemicals business for Eur 2.25 billion (US$2.03 billion). The transaction involves the transfer of all shares of the companies that together form DSM Petrochemicals (DPC), the associated DPC participations and sales activities, and the related technology positions, patents and trade names....

State China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation or Sinopec has reported an 18.2% drop in operating profit to RMB 16.03 billion (US$1.94 billion) last year. Revenue was RMB 318.5 billion (US$38.47 billion), down by RMB 13 billion (US$1.57 billion) from the previous year. Earnings per share for 2001 were RMB 0.19 (US$0.023) compared to RMB 0.27...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – The Middle East will remain critical to US oil needs for the foreseeable future and even if the US boosts domestic output it will not be shielded from future petroleum price hikes which are set by the international markets, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution. The report — Energy...

Construction of the A$300 million (US$150 million) pipeline project to bring gas from Victoria to Adelaide in Australia is on track to start mid-year following the granting of a pipeline permit by the Victorian state government. The permit is the last major step in the regulatory process governing the go-ahead for the planned 680-kilometre pipeline...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – World oil prices are expected to remain around US$25/barrel during 2002 as global crude demand starts to recover from the economic slowdown of last year, according to the US Department of Energy’s 2002 energy outlook. World oil demand is projected to rise by 600,000 barrels a day during 2002 after consumption increased...

MUMBAI (AFX-ASIA) – Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd raised the price of petrol and diesel on April 1, the day that India deregulated its downstream oil industry. The government has removed controls from prices of these products from yesterday. “There was a revision on April 1. Gasoline is selling at 30.78 rupees a litre today and...

Unocal Thailand Limited, a subsidiary of the US energy company Unocal, has agreed with PTT Plc to extend the gas sales agreement (GSA) for the Erawan field by five-and-one-half years to 2012. The parties also agreed to discount the average sales price of gas from GSA 1, 2 and 3. The discount for GSA 1...

Canada’s Tracer Petroleum Corporation reported recently that it is in discussions with an industry partner regarding joining Tracer and Canneft Inc. in the development of the Adzhiyap gas development project in Turkmenistan. The project involves developing gas reserves in a 2,000-square km area in southwestern Turkmenistan bordering Iran to the south and the Caspian Sea...

BOMBAY (AFX-ASIA) – Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd will rebrand 1,000 existing petroleum product retail outlets as ‘Club HP’ by March 2004, marketing director N K Puri said. “Our aim is to provide high quality personalized vehicle and consumer care at these outlets and the launch has been synchronised with the dismantling of APM (administered pricing...