VIENNA (AFX) – Saudi Arabia is planning to cut its oil production by 300,000 to 500,000 barrels a day, a Saudi oil official has said.. “If the current (OPEC) production level is maintained, prices will fall below 20 dollars,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “Remember 1998.” In 1998 crude prices dropped below US$20...

at the opening of its 740MW combined cycle power plant in Singapore on 25 Nov 2002 Good morning, Mr Raymond Lim, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Ministry of Trade and Industry, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to welcome all of you here today to celebrate with us, this...

Australia’s upstream company HP Billiton Limited and joint venture partner Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with TXU Electricity Ltd (TXU) for the sale of Gippsland gas. The MOU is subject to a number of conditions. It covers the sale of 860 petajoules (p/j) of Gippsland gas to...

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued its final decision on NT Gas Pty Ltd’s access arrangement for the Amadeus Basin to Darwin natural gas transmission pipeline, ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, announced last week. Professor Fels said that while the ACCC has decided to moderate NT Gas’ proposed revenues, it will accept...

US independent ConocoPhillips has approved a US$6.6 billion capital budget for 2003. This budget amount includes approximately $400 million in capitalised interest and $200 million in minority interest. The $6 billion of cash capital expenditures for the 2003 budget represents a 25% reduction compared to the stand-alone capital programs of the heritage companies. “The reduced...

China’s CNOOC Limited said Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded both its issuer rating and the foreign currency long-term debt rating of subsidiary CNOOC Finance (2002) Ltd to Baa1 from Baa2. The US agency also upgraded the issuer rating of the company’s parent, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), from Baa2 to Baa1. The outlook on...

NEW DELHI (AFX) – Privatisation Minister Arun Shourie said the government will go ahead with the controversial sale of majority stakes in two major state-owned oil companies after months of uncertainty. He sparked an opposition lower-house walk-out by announcing details of the sales of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL)....

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – PTT Plc vice president Anon Sirisaengtaksin said the company is studying the possibility of consolidating its energy business with subsidiaries Thai Oil, PTT Exploration and Production Plc and National Petrochemical Plc, Business Day reported. The consolidation will enable PTT to better cope with an anticipated increase in domestic electricity demand in the...

ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AFX) – ChevronTexaco Corp. and the Kazakh government reached an agreement that will move forward expansion plans by the US oil company, the Kazakh energy minister said. “We have come up with a mutually acceptable scheme for the financing of the second-generation project,” said Vladimir Shkolnik. Tenghizchevroil (TCO), the ChevronTexaco-led venture, said last...

Logistics company Exel has been awarded a five-year contract to provide logistics and supply chain management services to Halliburton’s Energy Services Group across the Asia Pacific region. The contract builds on Exel’s increased focus within the energy industry and sees Exel managing consolidated and bulk freight, inventory, customs brokerage, and specialist handling of hazardous materials...

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – The government will extend two off-budget stimulus measures it introduced last year for another six months or up to June 2003 which is expected to result in about S$308 million in savings for businesses and motorists amid the weak economic conditions, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said. (US$1=S$1.78). In a statement, the...

MULTAN, Pakistan (AFX-ASIA) – Assailants recently fired three rockets at Pakistan’s largest gas pipeline network but failed to hit their target, officials said. The rockets were fired before dawn Thursday from mountains overlooking the pipeline near Dera Bugti in Baluchistan province, 650 kilometres southwest of the capital Islamabad. “The pipeline remained safe and no damage...

Origin Energy said it is ready to register residential and small business customers in South Australia state looking for competitive electricity offers. Yvette Reade, the company’s public relations manager, said: “Origin Energy has been offering attractive electricity contracts to selected small businesses in South Australia for several weeks, and we are pleased that many of...

LONDON (AFX) – Crude prices have been firmer after OPEC announced last week it would cut its actual worldwide production but raise official quotas, dealers said. OPEC has agreed to cut worldwide oil production and raise official quotas for the 11-nation cartel by 1.3 million barrels per day to 23 million b/d, OPEC President Rilwanu...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – State-owned National Power Corp signed a one-year, US$250 million bridge loan facility with 15 foreign and local banks, Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM) president Edgardo del Fonso said. The lenders include Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney, which lent US$30.5 million; Credit Lyonnais, US$30.5 million; Standard Chartered Bank, US$30.5 million; Sumitomo Mitsui...

China’s Beijing Datang Power Generation Company Limited has signed an agreement with Agricultural Bank of China for securing a credit facility from the latter amounting to RMB10 billion. (US$1=RMB 8.28). Earlier, Beijing Datang obtained an RMB10 billion facility from Bank of China in April, and an RMB30 billion facility from China Development Bank in November....

US-based energy consultants ESAI says Asia’s oil refining margins have soared to a two-year high. “The sharp increases in cargo freight rates have had aresounding impact on product prices in Asia, with refining margins soaring to a two year high,” it said in the latest edition of its Pacific Basin Stockwatch. “High freight rates are...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – ExxonMobil Corp said its Esso Highlands unit has reached conditional agreement with TXU Electricity on commercial terms for the sale of gas from the Papua New Guinea Gas project for up to 20 years. “The conditional term sheet covers the sale of gas over a period of 20 years from 2007. Annual...

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation said output from its Mumbai High oilfield rose 15% to 243,000 barrels per day at the end of October, two years after the launch of an ambitious 79 billion rupees redevelopment programme. (US$1=50 rupees). The redevelopment plan is running on schedule, said local news reports. ONGC chairman Subir Raha...

BAKU (AFX) – A pipeline is to be built under the Caspian Sea to export oil from Kazakhstan through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, Natiq Aliyev, head of Azerbaijan state oil company SOCAR, said in an interview on the local ANS channel. The BTC consortium comprises SOCAR, BP PLC, Unocal, Statoil AS, TPAO, ENI Agip, TotalFinaElf,...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – PetroChina Co Ltd said it has appointed Ma Fucai as chairman and Wu Yaowen and Ren Chuanjun as vice-chairman following a board meeting. It said Chen Geng has been made president while Su Shulin has been appointed senior vice-president. Wang Fucheng, Liu Baohe and Duan Wende have been named vice-presidents...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China must ensure that long-established foreign-invested joint ventures can revise the conditions under which they operate in order to compete with the new wave of post-WTO foreign investment, Ernst Behrens, president and CEO of Siemens AG in China said. “We have been doing extremely well with our joint ventures, but (the big...

LONDON (AFX) – China and Russia failed to close a US$2.5 billion deal to build an oil pipeline which would carry crude from southeast Russia to refineries in northeast China, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Chinese oil executives. Hong Kong and Beijing officials at China National Petroleum Corp, the Chinese state-owned company that would...

Vietnam’s oil and gas officials have recommended that a regulatory framework be set up to encourage the use of autogas to cut gasoline imports and utilise the country’s abundant natural gas resources. At last month’s 3rd International Autopetrol Exhibition, representatives from the oil and gas sector said that autogas should be promoted as a result...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Nippon Oil Corp has purchased crude oil from Kazakhstan as the first Japanese importer of oil from Central Asian countries, the Nihon Keizai newspaper cited company sources as saying. Japan’s top oil company is trying to diversify its import sources in preparation for a possible military attack on Iraq. Kazak oil prices...