WASHINGTON (AFX) – The Bush administration is trying to assist US oil major ChevronTexaco Corp as it seeks to resolve a multi-billion dollar contract dispute with the Kazakhstan state amid concern that the Kazakh government also wants to renegotiate deals with other western oil companies. Analysts said it is becoming increasingly hard for western corporations...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – National Transmission Corp president Asisclo Gonzaga said the state-run company has not received a formal notice from National Grid Plc that it will be abandoning its bid for Philippine power assets, as reported in local newspapers. The UK’s National Grid earlier expressed an interest in Transco’s power transmission assets, which is set...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – PTT Plc has decided against merging chemical unit National Petrochemical (NPC) and Thai Olefins (TOC), planning instead to build up TOC as a core business, PTT vice-president Pichai Chunhavachira said. “PTT plans to invest more in TOC and wants it to become a core business for PTT in the future. Merging would...

Upstream company China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has signed a contract with Husky Oil China Limited to explore for oil and gas in the deepwater block 40/30 in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of the South China Sea. This is the first deepwater exploration contract signed between CNOOC and a foreign company. In September,...

US energy consultant ESAI says China is set to become a major importer of naphtha in the coming years. This is due to fact that several western companies have announced major investment plans to boost ethylene capacity in the country, ESAI said in its latest issue of China Watch. BASF, BP, and ExxonMobil have all...

Malaysia’s Petronas through its upstream company Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd has acquired an interest in Iran’s onshore Munir Block from Edison International and Lundin (Munir) Ltd. Carigali Overseas now owns a 30% in the block, while Edison International and Lundin Munir have 40% and 30% stakes, respectively. Edison International, the operator, previously controlled 60%,...

Exxon Mobil Chemical Asia Pacific (EMCAP), a unit of the major, said it has lifted the force majeure on delivery of propylene to industrial customers in Singapore as of December 5. The resumption of supply followed the restart of the steam cracker at the Singapore Chemical Plant (SCP) on Jurong Island. The company declared force...

State Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has been tipped as a potential supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) feedstock to the Reliance Assam Petrochemical Limited (RAPL) cracker project in Assam, India’s Assam Tribune reported. According to the paper, the proposed ethylene project will need some 50 000 tonne/year of LPG feedstock, in addition to gas feedstock....

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – The Energy Regulatory Commission is likely to follow the Supreme Court ruling barring the charging of income taxes of public utility companies to consumers, ERC acting chairwoman Leticia Ibay said. The Supreme Court last week ordered the Manila Electric Co to refund overbillings to customers amounting to 0.167 pesos per KwH. (US$1=52...

“Where’s the crude?” is a question on the minds of many oil traders, according to the US Department of Energy. Over the last few weeks, there have been many reports about increased crude oil production in October and November, particularly from OPEC, being shipped and on its way to arrive in consuming markets. But with...

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AFX-ASIA) – LUKoil is planning to restart stalled talks on buying a 7.5% stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, a company source told Agence France-Presse. LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov and Vice President Ravil Maganov will travel to Azerbaijan’s capital Baku early next week to discuss the proposal, the source said, speaking on...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans urged the Kazakhstan government to honour its oil and gas contracts with US corporations in a recent private meeting here with Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister Karim Massimov, a senior government official said. US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Samuel Bodman told AFX News on the sidelines of a...

Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said oil spilled from a collision of two vessels last week did not enter the country’s port waters. However, it noted the sight of “scattered patches of oil sheen” in the Singapore Strait, south of Sebarok Island. Two MPA anti-pollution craft were deployed to clean the patches of oil...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Woodside Peteroleum Ltd said the Sunrise joint venture participants have completed their review of the development options for Greater Sunrise, with neither of the two proposals considered viable. The participants in the joint venture are Woodside which is the operator and has a 33.44% stake, ConocoPhillips with 30%, Shell with 26.56% and...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s has placed the ‘CC’ rating of Paiton Energy Funding BV’s US$180 million bonds on CreditWatch with positive implications, citing restructuring progress. The action reflects material progress in its restructuring process, including changes in power purchase and fuel supply agreements and restructuring of debts with commercial banks and export credit...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – PTT Plc senior executive vice president for corporate finance and accounting Pichai Chunhavajira said the company expects its 2003 revenue to come in at 380-390 billion baht. (US$1=43 baht). “The company’s revenue in 2003 is expected at 380-390 billion baht, with the average crude oil price at US$22-25 per barrel,” he said...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it assigned a BBB senior unsecured debt rating to Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s US$350 million guaranteed exchangeable bonds maturing in 2007. Tenaga has a BBB rating with a stable outlook. In a statement, S&P said the 350 million bond issue has a greenshoe option allowing it...

DARWIN, Australia (AFX-ASIA) Ð Australia’s Northern Territory has given official authorisation for Phillips Petroleum Co to build a A$1.5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Darwin Harbor to supply the Japanese market, officials said. (US$1=A$1.8). But the deal depends on ratification by Australia and East Timor of the Timor Sea treaty regulating exploitation of...

MOSCOW (AFX) – LUKoil said it has signed a declaration of intent to sell its 10% stake in Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli offshore oil field in the Caspian sea to a Japanese oil group for US$1.25 billion. Last month, a source said LUKoil was selling the stake to Itochu Corp for “a little over US$1 billion” ....

LONDON (AFX) – ChevronTexaco Corp said work on the US$3 billion second stage of its huge Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan has been halted, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company said the Tengiz project’s partners, which include the Kazakhstan government, are at odds about terms. “We had no option but to suspend all activity,”...

China Resource Enterprise’ (CRE) said its LPG margins were hurt by rising prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the third quarter (Q3). Despite higher sales volumes, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate said margins are expected to remain under pressure going forward. Hong Kong authorities set the retail price for LPG every six months in advance,...

India’s Bajaj Auto is expected to launch a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) powered car in January, according to local news reports. Bajaj’s car will be a three-wheel, four-stroke car, and it will be the first time an LPG engine will be fitted into a factory-delivered car, the reports said. Until now, LPG powered cars in...

Qatar Petroleum has agreed with TotalFinalElf and ExxonMobil to build a condensate refinery in Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial hub to produce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and other light products. In a statement, Qatar Petroleum said that the new refinery is expected to start up by the end of 2006. The unit will take in some...

Air Products Singapore Pte Ltd (APS), a wholly owned company of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has recently acquired parts of the business and assets of Messer Singapore Pte Ltd. The acquisition, effective October 22, will enable Air Products, a leading global supplier of industrial gases and chemicals, to strengthen its position in Singapore’s industrial...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – PTT PLC said net profit in the third quarter fell by 19.4% from the previous year to 4.39 billion baht due to foreign exchange losses and losses from subsidiaries. (US$1=43 baht) The company posted a 730 million baht net loss from its investments in subsidiaries. It also recorded a foreign exchange loss...