HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – The Royal-Dutch/Shell Group and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) will jointly begin construction of a petrochemical project in Huizhou city in China’s Guangdong Province in September, Xinhua news agency reported in a despatch from Huizhou, citing unnamed sources. It said the US4.35-billion project, the largest Sino-foreign joint project in China...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Huaneng Power International Inc said increasing pressure on tariffs for some of its power plants, higher coal prices and uncertainty over the effects of the mainland’s power sector reform may pose difficulties to the company in the second half and affect profitability in the near term. In a statement releasing its...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – PT Apexindo Pratama Duta said it has secured new offshore drilling contracts worth US$141.5 million from TotalFinaElf E&P Indonesia. The first contract is worth 93.8 mln usd over the next eight years, with a firm operational period of five years for drilling in the Mahakam Delta, off East Kalimantan. The second is...

State Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) of India has said it would provide financial assistance to the families of those killed or injured by armed gangs and insurgents in gas-rich north-eastern state of Tripura on July 26th. Two ONGC directors, R. L. Goud and Raman Srivastab made the promise during a recent meeting...

TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) – Chinese Petroleum Corp’s board of directors has approved the acquisition of the AC/P32 oil well in northwest Australia, with contracts due to be signed shortly, the Commercial Times reported officials with the state oil company as saying. Chinese Petroleum is ready to apply for a government subsidy for the prospective acquisition, which...

Infineum and ExxonMobil Chemical have signed a gear oil additives agreement that will leverage both Infineum’s expertise in lubricant additive technology and extensive product portfolio with ExxonMobil Chemical’s strengths in manufacturing, R&D and extensive experience in gear oil additive technology. UK-based Infineum will act as the exclusive marketer of ExxonMobil Chemical’s Mobilad G series gear...

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has signed an agreement to manage and store fuel oil for the Water & Power Development Authority (Wapda), which uses between 1.2 to 1.5 million tonnes of the product each year. Under the agreement signed last month, PSO will import and store the product in its tanks before distributing them to...

A golden opportunity has arisen for the Northern Territory (NT) with Australia winning a deal to supply China with gas from the Northwest Shelf, NT’s Chief Minister Clare Martin said last week. “The Northwest Shelf will be the sole supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China with Australia beating two other countries that were...

Liquefied petroleum gas-powered (LPG) vehicles will be included under Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd’s three-year contract to supply passenger and light commercial vehicles to Australia’s upstream oil company Origin Energy. Origin’s current national fleet of 700 vehicles will cost roughly A$25 million (US$1=A$1.8) to replace over the life of the three-year contract. Mitsubishi may be called...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s said it has removed Creditwatch ratings with negative implications on YTL Power International Bhd as the rating agency now believes that its purchase of Wessex Water Ltd of the UK will not affect its credit profile significantly. The outlook is stable, reflecting the company’s operating stability, solid cash...

The value of Singapore’s external trade expanded by 2.6% in June 2002, reversing the marginal 1.5% decline in the previous month, said trade agency IE Singapore. However, the volume and value of oil exports continued to decline. Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell by a marginal 0.4% cent on a 3-month moving average (3MMA) year-on-year...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – State run oil and gas company Pertamina will transfer at least 163 oil and gas contracts which was signed by Pertamina and private contractors to a new entity, the Implementing Body (Balak), which was officially launched last week, reports said. Bisnis Indonesia quoted Pertamina’s president Baihaki Hakim as saying that the transfer...

BOMBAY (AFX-ASIA) – Reliance group along with BP PLC and Iran’s National Iranian Oil Co have completed a US$10 million feasibility study for setting up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in southern Iran, a Reliance official told AFP. “The study was initiated early last year and a decision to work out the modalities of...

CNOOC Ltd has named Zhou Shouwei as president, succeeding Fu Chengyu, who has been appointed chairman and chief executive of CNOOC Services Ltd., a subsidiary of CNOOC Ltd. An upstream professional, Mr Zhou was appointed executive director and executive vice president of CNOOC Ltd in September 1999....

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM) president Edgardo del Fonso said the company is seeking revisions to the underwriting proposals submitted by investment banks interested in the planned US$600-million bond offering of the National Power Corp. PSALM is the company created to absorb the state-owned Napocor assets that will soon...

HANOI (AFX) – State-owned PetroVietnam said it plans to conduct a geological survey with Russia’s Zarubezneft and Japan’s Idemitsu in the Cuu Long basin off Vietnam’s southern coast. The company said it was preparing to explore the 5,600 square kilometre Block 09-3 in the Cuu Long basin, 100 kilometres from the coastal city of Vung...

A vast blanket of pollution stretching across South Asia is damaging agriculture, modifying rainfall patterns including those of the mighty monsoon and putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk, a new study suggests. The findings, by scientists working with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), indicate that the spectacular economic growth seen in this...

“I am delighted to announce that today I have been advised by the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji that Australia’s Northwest Shelf Venture has been chosen by China to be the sole supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to its first LNG project in Guangdong province. The contract will be worth between A$20 – A$25 billion...

India expects to import 5.62 million tonnes of oil products worth Rs 62.74 billion (US$1.3 billion) this fiscal year to June 2003. This compares with the previous year’s 6.56 million tonnes of import at a cost Rs 69.06 billion as the country pushes ahead with greater self-sufficiency. Naphtha and natural gas liquid (NGL) will form...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Indonesia is expected to report a June trade surplus of US$2.18 to 2.4 billion against US$2.31 billion in May and US$2.02 billion a year ago, as export demand continues to recover in line with regional countries, economists said. Credit Suisse First Boston economist Sharad Bhandari forecasts a trade surplus of US$2.4 billion,...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Petronas Gas Bhd is running at 125% capacity in an effort to overcome the shortage of gas supply currently affecting the power sector, Bernama news agency said in a report, quoting company chairman Mohd Hassan Marican. Mr Mohd Hassan said the gas shortage situation is due to higher demand from the...

Singapore’s oil refiners and petrochemical companies expect margins and prices to remain under pressure in th second half of 2002, according to a recently released survey by state Economic Development Board. Overall, the country’s manufacturing sector expect the business outlook to remain weak as a result of the uncertain prospect of the US economic recovery....

NEW DELHI (AFX-ASIA) – Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ordered the cancellation of all allotments of petrol pumps and cooking gas agencies made over the past two years as the Indian parliament remained paralysed for the second day over the issue. “Since a controversy has arisen with regard to these allotments, the prime minister has...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – There is no power supply shortage in the country despite a fall in the volume of gas supply to the power sector, Bernama news agency quoted Energy, Telecommunications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie as saying. “There has been recently a slight reduction in gas supply when maintenance work was in progress...

Engineering company Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) has completed a fabrication, integration and onshore commissioning project for the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the “Sea Eagle”, for Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC). The vessel departed from Singapore on August 3 en route to Nigeria. It will then be moored to...