Japan’s Mitsui & Co said it intends to co-operate with police who recently arrested three of its employees for allegedly rigging the bidding of a power generation facility in Russia. In a statement, it said: “Three Mitsui & Co. employees were arrested by Japanese authorities on July 3, 2002, for the suspicion of interfering in...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Nippon Oil Corp will sign this month a long-term heavy oil export contract with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec), the Nihon Keizai newspaper cited sources close to the deal as saying. Nippon Oil intends to strengthen its ties with large Chinese oil firms, expecting deregulation in the Chinese oil market. In...

OPEC’s eleven members, including Iraq, pumped an average 24.84-million barrels/day in June, down 80,000 b/d from May’s 24.92-mil b/d, said a recent Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials. But the survey showed that, excluding Iraq, the ten members bound by output quotas under a 21.7-mil b/d ceiling boosted their combined output by 90,000...

Speech By Mr Heng Chiang Gnee, Chairman of Sembawang Shipyard for EA FPSO Sea Eagle Sailaway Ceremony on July 11th 2002 Good Morning Your Excellency, The High Commissioner of The Federal Republic of Nigeria to Singapore, Ambassador Alex Anigbo Honourable guests, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the management and staff of...

The Shaw Group Inc. said it has signed a contract to form a 50/50 joint venture with Yangzi Petrochemical Corporation (YPC), a subsidiary of Sinopec Corporation, to establish a new pipe fabrication facility in Nanjing city. Construction is expected to be complete and the facility operational by the end of 2002. Located some 300 km...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – BP Indonesia said it will abandon plans to invest US$400 million developing the Terang Sirasun gas field off East Java if the government does not agree to extend its production sharing contract (PSC) by 20 years. The original PSC with state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina expires in November 2010. “We are...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Wah Sang Gas Holdings Ltd chairman & CEO Charlie Shum said the company expects to continue to deliver strong earnings growth over the coming 5-10 years on the back of the huge potential of China’s gas industry. “In the coming 5-10 years, we are confident of seeing continuous strong growth,” Mr...

Canada’s Ensign Resource Service Group Inc. said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ensign (Australia) Holdings Pty Limited has taken over Australian Oil & Gas Corporation Limited after acquiring more than of 50% of AOG shares on a fully diluted basis. Under Ensign’s offers, AOG’s shareholders will realise A$2.70 cash (US$1=A$1.77) for each AOG share and AU$1.50 cash...

Australia’s Origin Energy Resources Limited said it has made a new gas discovery in its onshore Hovea 2 field. The company, which operates the field, will analyse the gas flow before judging if the find is of sufficient commercial value. In a statement, it said: “An open hole drill stem test of the High Cliff...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) Ð Shanghai’s state-run gas distribution company, Shanghai Gas Networks Co, is in talks with foreign companies, including Royal Dutch/Shell Group and BP Plc to help fund a 3 billion yuan investment to build a trunk network in the city, an unnamed company official told the Shanghai Daily. Exxon Mobil Corp has not yet...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expected to increase oil production by 1 million barrels per day (mb/d) in the fourth quarter in a bid to retrieve market share from rival producers, BP Plc said. “OPEC will have to add 1.0 mb/d in the fourth quarter of this year and...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Rio Tinto Indonesia president director Lex Graefe said the East Kalimantan government shows no signs of backing down in its dispute with Rio Tinto Plc and BP Plc, despite withdrawing legal action against the central government. “So far they haven’t indicated they will back down,” Mr Graefe told AFX-Asia in a telephone...

A crew member has been reported missing from a tanker vessel carrying 1,200 tonnes of gasoline which sank after it caught fire off Singapore waters early last Saturday. The fire started on Friday onboard the Panama-flagged Onis Pratiwi, which had 12 crew, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said in a statement. “The fire...

Higher oil prices helped push Singapore Petroleum Company’s (SPC) net profit for the first half of this year to S$40.5 (US$23) million from just $9.2 million last year. In a statement to the Singapore Exchange, it said that overall sales fell 10.5% to S$1.13 billion from S$1.26 billion for the same period last year. Earnings...

Australia’s BHP Billiton said that it will commit US$25 million to develop the Boris oil and gas field in the Central Gulf of Mexico. The field was discovered in Green Canyon Block 282, close to the producing Typhoon Field last October. BHP Billiton holds a 50% interest in Boris and is the designated operator for...

US-based energy consultants ESAI said Singapore naphtha prices are headed for a decline. In its latest Pacific Basin Stockwatch, ESAI said it expected Singapore naphtha prices to dip below Dubai during the third quarter. Naphtha prices are currently at or just below Dubai. ESAI said its data shows the July/August 2001 regional naphtha deficit was...

South Australia state has approved an increase in maximum prices for natural gas in South Australia. The state’s Oil Ministry has approved the increase affecting residential and small business customers from 11 July 2002. The July increase of six percent or residential and small business customers represents a partial recovery of costs to supply natural...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Petrochemical Corporation of Asia Pacific (Petrocorp), a major producer of polypropylene, is looking for new investors to inject US$100 million in fresh capital into the company, which will be used to pay off its loans, company chief operating officer Henry Leung said. Mr Leung said Petrocorp, which is 9% owned by the...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – President Gloria Arroyo said she has ordered government agencies to prepare for possible legal action and renegotiation of as many as 27 contracts with independent power producers as part of efforts to cut electricity rates. This follows a study of 35 contracts with independent power producers by a special task force looking...

Two business units of Singapore’s SembCorp Industries, SMOE and Sembawang Shipyard, have jointly completed the fabrication and integration of the topside facilities for a Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd. The S$50 (US$29) million contract was awarded to SMOE and Sembawang Shipyard by Halliburton West...

US telecommunications specialist Motorola has opened its Energy Systems Group (ESG) in Shanghai. The center initially provides design services and supply chain management for the Asia Pacific region with additional business operations, quality and product safety centers of excellence to follow. Motorola ESG provides complete energy system solutions for portable electronics including cellular phones, personal...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – PT Medco Energi Internasional unit PT Apexindo Pratama Duta said its initial public offering (IPO) has closed fully subscribed, with foreign buyers accounting for less than 10% of total subscriptions. “We were unlucky because of the market situation, but still we have subscribed slightly over our expectations,” chief financial officer Agus Lomboan...

China’s CNOOC Limited said it has earlier successfully started commercial production from the Wenchang offshore project in the South China Sea. The Wenchang project, consisting of wenchang 13-1 and 13-2 fields, is located in the western Pearl River Mouth Basin, about 400 kilometers southwest of Hong Kong and 140 kilometers east of Hainan Island. The...

NUSA DUA, BALI, Indonesia (AFX-ASIA) – BP Plc has urged the Indonesian government to grant the necessary approvals for the development of the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) field on a fast-track basis by the year-end, as the energy firm awaits the outcome of the bidding for a US$9 billion contract to supply gas to...

India’s private oil firms want the government to reject state IOC’s proposal for a key pipeline to only carry crude oil. The Kandla-Panipat section of the Kandla-Bhatinda pipeline linking oil import terminals in the west coast with the refineries in the north currently carry both crude and oil products. The firms are lobbying the government...