TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) has reached a basic agreement with Internet Initiative Japan Inc (IIJ) to integrate their data communications operations as early as the year-end, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun daily reported. The grouping includes IIJ and TEPCO affiliate Tokyo Telecommunication Network Co (TTNet), regional telcom carrier PoweredCom Inc, which is...

Caltex Australia Limited has appointed Elizabeth Bryan to the board following the retirement of Malcolm Irving on May 2. Ms Bryan currently serves as a director of Ridley Corporation Limited, Western Metals Limited and Unisuper Limited. She brings a strong financial background to her role as a director of Caltex Australia Limited. Separately, Philippine Geothermal,...

SYDNEY (AFX) – Woodside Petroleum Ltd said total sales of gas and liquids for the six months to June totalled A$963.5 million, down from A$1.159 billion in the previous corresponding period. (US$1=A$1.77). In a statement, Woodside said first half gas sales revenue fell 7.5% to A$303.3 m, while sales revenue from liquids fell 20.6% to...

Chevron Nigeria Limited and the leaders of Ugborodo communities last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlines their joint obligations towards the sustenance of a mutually beneficial partnership. The agreement also ended a 10-day long occupation of the NNPC/Chevron owned Escravos TankFarm by over 200 community women. NNPC is the state oil company...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Importing natural gas from Russia to feed PetroChina’s planned west-east pipeline will be a “last choice”, Shi Xingquan, vice president of the company told the China Daily. Reserves discovered so far in the Tarim Basin, the main source of natural gas for the pipeline, will not be enough to supply the project...

Sweden’s W’rtsil’ Corporation has made a public offer to the minority shareholders of W’rtsil’ India Ltd on April 16 to acquire 1,834,258 shares, or 15.2% of the share capital. The offer period expired on June 25. The company said: “During the offer period 425,492 shares were acquired, corresponding to 3.5% of the total shares. The...

US-based consultant ESAI said it believes there are a few key developments that will disproportionately influence crude prices over the next six months. “One such development will be OPEC’s production decisions. ESAI, in the latest Atlantic Basin Stockwatch, analyses the threat posed by Russian exports to OPEC’s market share,” it said in statement. There has...

Conoco Canada Resources Limited and Gulf Indonesia Resources Limited announced yesterday that the initial offering period of Conoco Canada’s tender offer for all the outstanding shares of Gulf Indonesia it does not own expired July 19 at 6 pm New York time. Conoco Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Conoco Inc, has accepted for payment...

Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has assigned its Aa1 long term rating to Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.’s (Tokyo Gas) 20 billion yen bonds due 2012. (US$1=116 yen). The rating recognises Tokyo Gas’ prominent franchise; effective control of gas supply and distribution network in the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area; as well as its stable earnings from...

Following announcement of the acquisition of CitiPower by Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) and Hong Kong Electric (HKE) from American Electric Power (AEP), Origin Energy said it has agreed to purchase the electricity retail business of CitiPower for A$137 million. (US$1=A$1.76). The transaction is to be concurrent with the purchase by CKI and HKE of the...

Australia’s Minister for the Environment and Heritage David Kemp has congratulated Victoria state’s “Cities for Climate Protection Australia” programme in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The minister recently hosted a ceremony to celebrate the achievements of local government in delivering greenhouse gas abatement. Australian local governments are among the most proactive in the world for reducing...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – The government has asked the US and the International Monetary Fund to help resolve the dispute between state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and its former partner, US-based Karaha Bodas Co, the Kompas daily reported. It said Indonesian Energy and Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro made the diplomatic request to the IMF and...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – Crude oil stocks fell 2 million barrels, or 0.6%, to 315 m in the week ended July 12 from the previous week, the Department of Energy (DoE) said. The DoE data compares with an estimate released earlier by the American Petroleum Institute, a private trade association, that crude oil stocks fell 4...

The A$300 million South East Australia gas pipeline project has announced that a leading Australian manufacturer will supply line pipe to the 680km pipeline. Project Turnkey Contractor, Spie Capag – Lucas Joint Venture was appointed in May 2002. According to a statement from the consortium, OneSteel will supply the majority of the line pipe required...

TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) – Taiwan Ratings Corp, a partner of Standard & Poor’s, said it has assigned a ‘twAAA’ rating to the upcoming NT$15 billion unsecured corporate bond issue by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower). (US$1=NT$33). It also affirmed its ‘twAAA’ corporate credit rating and ‘twA-1’ short-term debt rating on Taipower. The outlook on the ratings is...

Air BP has gone live on the JET-A.com’s Fuel Ticketing module at Washington Dulles International Airport. As Into-Plane Agent (IPA) at the airport, Air BP now can feed fuel ticket data that it generates into the JET-A.com system. This data is then made available to the respective airlines that are users of the module, said...

Caltex Australia has said the most recent allegations by an anonymous whistleblower about the ACCC’s investigation of major oil companies are completely lacking in credibility. The allegations are in a letter reported in last week’s Daily Telegraph and relate to raids by the ACCC on three major oil companies, including Caltex, last April. The letter...

LONDON (AFX) – Soco International PLC said it is to abandon the Ngua O well in Block 16-1 of its Vietnam programme after drilling indicated substantial oil shows but showed the reservoir characteristics were not sufficiently developed to warrant testing. Ed Story, president and chief executive of Soco, said: “The next stage is to decide...

American Electric Power has signed an agreement to sell CitiPower, AEP’s retail electricity and gas supply and electricity distribution subsidiary in Australia, to Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd (CKI) and Hong Kong Electric (HKE). Concurrent with the sale, Origin Energy Ltd will purchase the electricity retail business of CitiPower from CKI and HKE. “The divestiture...

Shell (China) Limited and Shell China Holdings BV have signed a draft joint venture contract with the China Petroleum and Chemicals Corporation (Sinopec Corp.) to establish an oil products marketing joint venture in Jiangsu Province. Ken Wong, Shell Oil Products director, said: “The completion of the draft joint venture contract is a major step towards...

The US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, in an order entered on July 15, has called for a period of discovery to determine if Pertamina, Indonesia’s state-owned oil and gas company, is conspiring with PLN, Indonesia’s state-owned electric utility, to persist with illegitimate court proceedings in Jakarta aimed at annulling a 2000...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – PetroChina Co Ltd said it produced 384.2 million barrels of crude oil during the six months to June, up 0.9 pct from a year earlier. In a statement on its website, the company said it sold 307.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas during the first half, up 10.4% from a year...

DOHA, Qatar (AFX) – Qatar Petroleum has signed an agreement with Japan’s Mitsui and Co Ltd to sell it its share of methanol production from its unit Qatar Fuel Additives Co, reported official news agency QNA. Energy Minister Abdallah Ben Hamad al-Attiya signed the agreement with Hiroshi Nagata, president of Mitsui Chemical, QNA said. Under...

PARIS (AFX) – The International Energy Agency said it expects global demand for oil to increase by 1.4% or 1.1 million barrels per day in 2003 from the year earlier as a result of a gradual recovery in the economy. In its monthly report, the agency said, however, that it is cutting its forecast for...

Philippines’ Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez, Jr. has called on local power companies to reduce electricity tariffs. “The government is fully aware of the effects of high electricity rate that has burdened the consumers. Even President Arroyo has said that it will be like squeezing blood from stone. But she also said ‘we got to...