Domestic oil prices in the US have been rising sharply in recent weeks as supplies of both crude oil and refined products have diminished while demand has stayed strong. Crude oil inventories are now at their lowest level since October 1975. According to the US Department of Energy (DoE), the average retail price for regular...

Canada’s Nelson Resources Limited said its joint venture, KazakhOil Aktobe (KOA), has entered into a new set of crude oil offtake agreements with Euro Asian AG and with Unioil AG to provide marketing services for KOA’s crude oil production from the Alibekmola field in Western Kazakhstan. The agreements, which allow for US$25 million of credit...

BP and the Alfa Group and Access-Renova (AAR) said that they have agreed in principle to combine their interests in Russia to create the country’s third biggest oil and gas business, in which they will each have a 50% stake. In a statement, BP said the new company will incorporate TNK and Sidanco which, between...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – Electricity Generating Plc said the anti-Thai riots in Cambodia has had no impact on the company’s investment plans in the Thai-Cambodia border. In a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, it said a planned high-voltage transmission system project to be built on the border with Cambodia is still the subject of...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – State run oil and gas company Pertamina will build an oil refinery in Tuban, East Java with an investment of US$250 million, Bisnis Indonesia reported, citing Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim. The report said under the original plan, the Tuban refinery was to be built by Pertamina in cooperation with Hi-Tech International Group...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – President George W. Bush has made no provision in his 2004 budget to fund heavy fuel oil shipments to North Korea, which were cut in the early days of the latest nuclear dispute with Pyongyang, officials said. The fiscal 2004 budget announced yesterday had no provision for the Korean Peninsula Energy Development...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp, Petron Corp and Caltex Philippines Inc have been granted a three-month extension to operate their fuel depot in Pandacan, Manila, the Energy department said in a statement. The Manila city council is pushing for the relocation of the depot, which lies in the middle of a heavily populated...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – PNOC Exploration Corp president and chief executive officer Rufino Bomasang said the company is negotiating for a US$75 million loan with Japan Bank for International Cooperation to finance a gas pipeline project, the BusinessWorld newspaper reported. Mr Bomasang said the company will invite investors to participate in the construction of the US$100...

NYSE-listed Huaneng Power International, Inc. has announced tariff cuts of between 0.2% to 2.4% for its four power plants in Jiangsu Province on China’s east coast retroactive from January 30. The on-grid tariff for the Nanjing plant was adjusted from RMB336.1 per MWh to RMB334 per MWh while Nantong’s was lowered from RMB334.6 per MWh...

Oman has signed a new concession agreement with EnCana for the Canadian company to explore for oil and gas off the kingdom’s east coast. The US$20 million deal was signed by Oil and Gas Minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al Romhi. Encana will complete its first exploratory period within three years of the programme that includes...

announced on January 29 that the Australian upstream company had achieved record production and strong sales for 2002. “Santos advances to record 2002 production” Australia’s oil and gas group, Santos Limited, has announced record production and sales volumes for the year ended December 31, 2002. The company also achieved higher sales revenue of A$1.48 billion...

SINGAPORE EXCHANGE COLUMN Crude oil prices eased slightly on Tuesday and could slide in the days ahead as huge spanners were thrown into the US machinery to wage war on Iraq. Three anti-war developments emerged unexpectedly on Monday just days after US President George Bush had warned in another war speech that the ‘game is...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – US special forces will be deployed rapidly to seize and protect Iraq’s largest oil fields if President George Bush decides to launch an attack to overthrow Saddam Hussein, according to defence and industry sources. “They would basically go in to stop Iraq’s military from torching the fields,” said a Washington-based Middle East...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to set up obstacles to foreign takeover of a new oil exploration firm which will be created through the merger of affiliates of the Japan National Oil Corp, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources. Under the new scheme, the government will hold...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Energy Secretary Vincent Perez said the government is urging Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp to brave prevailing uncertainties and pursue its IPO plans. He said President Gloria Arroyo, who recently met with Royal Dutch/Shell Group managing director Malcolm Brinded, had proposed that Shell be allowed a phased listing of shares on the Philippine...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp president Edgardo del Fonso said the company expects to generate less than US$2 billion from the privatisation of the National Transmission Corp (Transco). Although the government initially expects the asset sale to generate some US$2 billion in revenues, Mr Del Fonso said investors may consider...

The following is a news update from LNG One World: 1.  The North West Shelf venture got off to a good start in 2003 by signing a new seven-year contract to supply 500,000 tonnes/year of LNG to Korea Gas Corp. 2.  A consortium comprising Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL), Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), Kawasaki...

US energy consultant ESAI said the market is not in a bearish mode yet, despite reports of a resumption of Venezuelan oil production and OPEC’s promise to raise output. In the February edition of its Pacific Basin Stockwatch, ESAI said fundamentals do not yet support a bearish view. Venezuelan production may have risen despite the...

India’s Disinvestment Ministry is targeting to complete the privatisation of Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) by June while the deadline for the proposed sale of Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) is still unclear. According to local media reports, a four-month internal deadline has been set to reduce the government’s stake in HPCL from 51% to 12%. The government plans...

TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) – The steering committee of the State Stabilisation Fund is set to convene if domestic financial markets sustain a major non-economic disruption — the outbreak of war in the Middle East, Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i said. “The steering committee will convene according to pertinent regulations (and decide on the need for intervention),” he...

LONDON (AFX) – Royal Dutch/Shell Group kept its 3% annual production growth target over the medium term and plans US$2 billion in asset disposals each year despite the market uncertainty, chairman Philip Watts said. Following the group’s annual results, Mr Watts described the near term outlook of the market as “extremely uncertain” amid the threat...

India’s crude oil producing states Gujarat and Assam will each earn an extra Rs 2 billion this fiscal year after the central government approved a proposal to raise the royalty rate on crude from an ad hoc fixed rate of Rs 850 per tonne to an ad valorem rate of 20%. The additional royalty burden...

Totalgaz LPG, a subsidiary of the French energy giant TotalFinaElf, has formally launched its commercial operation in Bangladesh’s Chittagong city. The country’s Water Resources Minister LK Siddiqui inaugurated the Totalgaz LPG plant at Maddhya Sonaichhari in Sitakunda upazila. The plant, jointly owned by local partners, is the second largest French investment in Bangladesh after Lafarge...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Energy Secretary Vincent Perez said he has directed oil companies and bulk suppliers to start complying with the minimum 30-day inventory requirement amid growing prospects of a US-led military strike on Iraq. Mr Perez, together with national security adviser Roil Golez, also urged the Manila city government to reconsider its decision to...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Tenaga Nasional Bhd plans to issue up to RM200 million in convertible bonds this year, as part of an overall bond issue package to raise a maximum of RM1.5 billion needed to finance the utilities company’s capital expenditure, chairman Awang Adek Hussin said. (US$1=RM3.8). The company has received shareholders’ approval for...