JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – The government has revoked 68 bylaws in the energy sector that mostly dealt with taxation imposed by regional governments on companies controlling local mineral and gas resources, the Jakarta Post reported, citing Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry secretary-general Djoko Darmono. He said the move was aimed at creating legal certainty for investors....

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Energy Secretary Vincent Perez said the government will be entering into bilateral agreements with three oil-producing countries as part of its Oil Contingency Plan to ensure uninterrupted oil supply locally in case a war breaks out in the Middle East. “We will start arranging bilateral agreements with specific countries,” he said, but...

Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) said it may sell off tanker division, American Eagle Tankers (AET), “following approaches from parties interested in purchasing it”. The company said in a statement that it was undertaking a strategic review of its investment in that division. NOL president and CEO Flemming Jacobs said: “We had a good response...

JET-A.com announced its shutdown in dramatic fashion at an International Air Transport Association meeting in Singapore on Oct 9. Instead of unrolling it latest module for jet fuel buying, selling and delivery, the company, owned by oil companies and 23 airline, said it was shutting down as the partners refused to put up another US$5...

With the winter heating season just beginning, oil industry observers and consumers alike are beginning to shift their attention to the US’s stockpile of critical heating fuels, including distillate fuel (used as both heating oil and diesel fuel) and propane. According to the Department of Energy, following last winter’s mild weather, inventories of both distillate...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – CNOOC Ltd will spend US$200-300 million in the five years before 2007 investing in Tangguh, which is expected to supply LNG to CNOOC in the middle of 2007. Last month, the company said it will pay about US$275 million for the 12.5% stake it will acquire in the Tangguh LNG project....

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp Ltd said its net profit rose to S$28.3 million in the six months to June from S$27.5 million a year earlier, on the back of improved sales. (US$1=S$1.8). It reported sales revenue of S$615.6 million compared with S$425 million a year ago. The company said profits failed...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina said it has raised the price of premium gasoline to 1,750 rupiah per litre from 1,690 rupiah with effect from this month. (US$1=9,200 rupiah). In a statement, Pertamina said the price of automotive diesel has risen to 1,440 rupiah per litre from 1,360 in September; kerosene...

US energy consultant ESAI says Japanese kerosene stocks are running “extremely low” in the run-up to winter. “While Japanese refiners have been trimming runs to help control the regional gasoil surplus, they have left themselves poorly prepared for the coming winter heating season,” ESAI said in the latest edition of its Pacific Basin Stockwatch. “This...

OPEC crude output surged by 520,000 barrels per day (b/d) to 25.91 million b/d in September, a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials showed last week. Platts is the energy information, research, consulting and marketing services unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies. Platts said: “A recovery in Iraqi volumes and exports, apparently as a...

Emissions Trading Asia 2002 will take place at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Sydney, Australia on November 18-20. Leading figures who will speak on the latest in policy developments include Howard Bamsey, chief executive of the Australian Greenhouse Office, Kim Yeadon, Minster of Energy for NSW Government, senior official from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China Yangtze Electric Power Corp, which is aiming to list next year to help fund the Three Gorges dam project, will have a dividend pay out ratio of at least 50 pct after its listing next year, the China Daily reported citing the company’s parent China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corp....

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Tokyo Gas Co Ltd is expected to post first half to September pretax profit of 22 billion yen, about double from a year earlier and sharply above the initial forecast of 9 billion yen, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources. (US$1=122 yen). Lower fuel costs due to the yen’s appreciation...

Australia’s upstream company Bounty Oil & Gas has completed the acquisition of interests in six exploration permits which the company had announced on May 31. The deal was subject to a number of conditions detailed in that announcement, including shareholder approval which was obtained on August 21. The permit interests are in the offshore Sydney...

China’s CNOOC Limited said that Moody’s Investors Service has placed the Baa2 issuer rating of the Company and the Baa2 senior unsecured rating of the guaranteed subsidiary, CNOOC Finance (2002) Ltd., on review for possible upgrade. The current Baa2 issuer rating of the company is the highest rating Moody’s has given any Chinese companies. The...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – PetroChina Co Ltd expects its newly acquired gas stations to generate profits next year, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported, citing an unnamed source close to the company. It said the group is planning to cut about 28,000 jobs out of the 50,000 workers currently employed in these gas stations, adding...

Japex North Sumatra Ltd., which had been granted financial assistance by Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC), has withdrawn from an oil and gas production project in the Gebang block in North Sumatra, Indonesia In 1985, Japex North Sumatra Ltd. acquired a 50% working interest in the block, establishing a joint operating body (JOB) with Indonesian...

NEW YORK (AFX) – Poor downstream margins as a result of continuing high oil prices are set to hit third-quarter earnings of the major oil companies, with the weakness likely to continue well into 2003, analysts said. Prudential and Credit Suisse First Boston are among brokers who have recently downgraded their full year estimates for...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – Electricity Generating Plc said one of its joint ventures, Gulf Electric Plc, signed an agreement on Sept 27 with Tractebel SA in for the purchase of 100 pct stakes in Nong Khae Cogeneration Co Ltd (NKCC) and Samutprakarn Cogeneration Co Ltd for US$94.3 million. Electricity Generating holds a 50% stake in Gulf...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – China’s state Environmental Protection Administration has agreed to include Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong in trials of a pollution-control scheme on the mainland, the South China Morning Post reported, quoting Secretary for Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao. The report said the scheme could lead to the creation of a market...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – PT Medco Energi Internasional unit PT Apexindo Pratama Duta said it has secured a new contract worth US$4.3 million for its onshore rigs. The contract is a twelve-month extension of an existing contract with JOB Pertamina-Medco Madura Pty Ltd, Apexindo said in a statement. JOB Pertamina is the joint operating body between...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Tokyo Gas Co Ltd is expected to post first half to September pre-tax profit of 22 billion yen, about double from a year earlier and sharply above the initial forecast of 9 billion yen, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources. (US$1=120 yen). Lower fuel costs due to the yen’s appreciation...

India has decided to drop a proposed project to pipe gas from after more than eight years of discussion. Citing lack of gas reserves and technical difficulties with laying deep-sea pipelines, New Delhi said it would not be pursuing the project which had been agreed to by both governments in 1994. The Indian ministry of...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – The projected rise in crude oil prices is expected to have minimal impact on local electricity rates, Energy Secretary Vicente Perez said. Envoys from Middle East nations recently warned crude oil prices could hit US$100 a barrel in the event of a prolonged US-Iraq war, officials said. Mr Perez said the Philippines...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Australian Gas Light Co Ltd (AGL) said its five percent shareholding cap will be lifted from Oct 11 after the New South Wales energy minister issued a Conversion Order for AGL to convert into a modern body corporate. In a statement, AGL chairman John Phillips said: “From that day, AGL will become...