BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – Kim Eng Securities said it still rates PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) shares a ‘buy’ on valuation grounds, which it feels is undervalued by the market. Kim Eng Securities noted that the stock is currently trading on a ‘cheap’ price earning ratio of 6.9 times and EV/EBITDA of 5.1 times. Furthermore, PTTEP...

Vietnam could approve an increase in its electricity tariffs after months of deliberation. State Vietnam Electricity Corporation (EVN) has submitted a proposal for the increase and expects the Cabinet to approve it before year’s end. The plan calls the electricity tariff to be raised to US 7 cents/kWh from the current 5 cents/kWh by 2005....

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Affin-UOB Research said it is maintaining its “accumulate” recommendation on Petra Perdana Bhd, with a fair value of RM4.20 based on a target price-to-earnings ratio of 10.5 times for 2003 earnings. (US$1=RM3.8). In a research note, Affin-UOB said the progress of the Esso contract has been encouraging and improvement in the...

Steve Ollerearnshaw will succeed Chris Haynes as chief executive officer of Australia’s North West Shelf Venture from November 4. Mr Haynes, who joined Woodside in July 1999, has accepted the position as Shell’s country chairman in Syria and CEO of the Al Furat Petroleum Company. Mr Ollerearnshaw is currently managing director of Petroleum Development Oman....

India’s state Bharat Petroleum Coropation Ltd (BPCL) has signed a term deal to import 10,000 barrels/day of crude from Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas. The first shipment is expected to arrive next month as Bharat expects the deal to be approved by the bureaucrats in New Delhi. Ashok Sinha, Bharat’s finance director, said the contract...

Malaysia’s economy and the political fortunes of its long-serving Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamed, have made a strong recovery a year after the terrorist attacks on the US. The Malaysian economy could grow by as much as four percent this year, 10 times faster than last year, and that is before counting the impact of sharply...

Australia’s earnings from mineral and energy resources fell by 2% to A$54.7 billion for the financial year to June 30 2002. (US$1=A$1.8). The slightly weaker performance was due largely to the lower export earnings for crude oil, gas, metals and refined petroleum products, which offset higher coal and iron ore earnings, said the Australian Bureau...

China’s CNOOC Limited confirmed last week that it had discovered gas in one of its wildcat wells, PY34-1-1, in the PY34-1 area of the South China Sea. The well was tested to produce 13 million cubic feet of gas per day. PY34-1-1, located in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of Eastern South China Sea, is...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expects to disburse a US$180 million loan tranche to Indonesia by November following long-awaited parliamentary approval for the new power bill, ADB Indonesia director Jan van Heeswijk said. “The approval of the bill is a major condition of our US$380 million power restructuring program loan,” he told...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Indonesia and China are in high-level strategic talks for China to commit over the long-term to 25-year contracts to buy 9 to15 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Indonesia’s Tangguh project, according to documents from the Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. Talks for such a large commitment...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – The Lower House of Parliament (DPR) has approved the passage of the new electricity bill, which aims to liberalise the power sector, officials said. Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said once the new bill is implemented, the state-run electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) will no longer have a...

UK’s energy service provider Abbot Group said that its 49% owned associate company KCA Iran Kish Drilling Company PJSC (KCA Iran) has been awarded a contract by Norsk Hydro’s subsidiary Hydro Zagros Oil and Gas a.s. for a new drilling programme in Iran. The contract, valued at more than US$25 million, is for an initial...

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has suspended the bunkering licences of Grandeur Trading and Services Pte Ltd, making it the fourth bunker fuels company to be affected since the start of a crackdown on trade in contaminated fuels. Grandeur has not been allowed to operate as a bunker supplier and a bunker...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Petroliam Nasional Bhd has been invited to invest in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector, and there are also opportunities for possible tie-ups with Kazakhstan national oil company Kazmunaygas, the Bernama news agency reported, quoting Kazakhstan ambassador to Malaysia Ikram Adyrbekov as saying. “I know there have been some contacts and I...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – K&N Kenanga Research said it is maintaining its ‘buy’ recommendation on Crest Petroleum Bhd after revising the company’s earnings estimates for 2002-2004. In a research note, K&N said it has revised upwards its forecasts for Crest’s net profit by 35% to RM29.4 million in 2002 and 19% to RM32.3 million in...

Thailand has become the first Southeast Asian country to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The government’s decision to ratify the protocol was announced last month just before a Thia delegation left for the World Summit on Sustainable Development held last month in Johannesburg, South...

By Uri Avnery * Slowly, President George Bush’s war plan against Iraq is emerging from the thick fog. At first it looked like a collection of hazy slogans, but gradually it is becoming clear that it has definite Ð if hidden Ð aims. The plan is unconnected to the famous “war on terrorism”, to the...

Leading international testing and inspection company, Intertek Testing Services (ITS) Caleb Brett, will soon provide sophisticated independent testing and inspection services to petroleum and petrochemical companies on the premises of Oiltanking Singapore Pte Ltd on Jurong Island, Singapore’s dedicated energy complex. The company will move its operations onto the island from the mainland. “The new...

Caltex, a ChevronTexaco Company, raised the pump prices of its diesel and all three gasoline grades by between Singapore 1 to 4 cents/litre from last Friday. (US$1=S$1.75). The company said it did it in response to “global conditions.” Caltex’s retail manager John Walsh said: “Global product prices have been rapidly rising, and as reported in...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Petronas Dagangan Bhd has launched a palletisation system at its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottling plant in Port Klang to enhance the supply of cooking gas, Bernama news agency quoted general manager of LPG business division Amyn Mohamed Hussain as saying. Mr Amyn said the system enables automatic handling of gas...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Tenggara Oil Bhd said its subsidiary Tenggara Lubricant Sdn Bhd secured a lubricant filling contract from Caltex Oil Malaysia Limited for filling and packaging lubricant services to Caltex. The contract is for five years and Caltex has the option to renew the contract for a further two years on the same...

Indonesia’s state oil and gas company Pertamina expects to save US$4 million a year as a result of its one-year term deal to purchase 10 million barrels of crude oil directly from Algeria’s state Sonatrach. Pertamina CEO Baihaki Hakim said the deal would help reduce the cost of crude imports as prices on the spot...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said PT Medco Energi Internasional’s six months to June results are within its expectations and do not affect the company’s ratings. S&P has assigned a B+ corporate credit rating to Medco Energi with a stable outlook. For the first six months, Medco’s sales and net profit rose...

Caltex Australia has introduced terminal gate (TGP) pricing for spot purchases of gasoline and diesel at its country seaboard terminals in Western Australia in an effort to further advance price transparency. The TGP is a spot price ex-terminal for a full tanker load (not less than 35,000 litres), paid for in cash. It is a...

Hongkong-based Wallem Shipmanagement has received ISO 14001 accreditation for its varied managed fleet including oil tankers. Managing director Gerry Buchanan said the company has been working towards this accreditation for the past year, indicating its commitment to promoting sound pro-environment practices. The certification covers re-cycling programmes, which were introduced some years ago and have now...