SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – Singapore Petroleum Ltd said its net profit for the first quarter to March fell to S$15.135 million from S$17.274 million a year earlier, mainly due to a 14.7 mln sgd provision following the fall in crude oil prices coupled with a weak demand toward the end of the quarter. (US$1=S$1.8). It said...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Shenzhen Energy Investment Co Ltd (SZ A 000027) said its 2002 net profit rose to 506.87 million yuan from 392.1 million a year earlier, largely due to increased sales of electricity. (US$1=8.28 yuan). The company plans to reduce operating costs, expand production scale and strengthen internal management this year. The company’s Mawan...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – HSBC said it has upgraded its rating on Huaneng Power International (902.HK) to “hold” from “reduce”, citing increases in the company’s generating capacity and improvement in plant utilisation. Analyst Ivan Lee said in a research note that Huaneng recorded a sharp 42.8% year-on-year rise in gross generation in the first quarter...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Oil and petrochemical multinationals Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Exxon Mobil Corp and BASF AG said their multi-billion-dollar projects in China are running almost normally despite significant travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the spread of the SARS virus in China. All three groups have several joint venture projects that are either operational,...

New Delhi has allocated another 17 billion rupees to help pay for the delivery of essential fuels like gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene to remote areas of the country. (US$1=48 rupees). Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said the government already spends more than 4.5 billion rupees a year to subsidise the delivery of...

Several business groups want Indonesia’s state electricity company PLN to lower electricity charges to help them cope with a battered economy reeling from the effects of the war in Iraq and the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in Asia. They have the backing of the chairman of the National Economic Recovery Committee (KPEN) Sofyan Wanandi...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – The Central Bankruptcy Court said it has approved the dismissal of Effective Planners Ltd as restructuring plan administrator for Thai Petrochemical Industry Plc (TPI). The dismissal was made after TPI chief executive officer Prachai Leophairatana’s petition. TPI creditors — who first appointed Effective Planners — will appeal the court’s decision, according to...

A joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Malaysia’s Sumatec Corp has won an eight billion yen (US$1=120 ye) order to modernise natural gas plants in Kertih town in Malaysia’s Terengganu state. Malaysia’s state oil and gas company Petronas awarded the contracts to overhaul a gas processing plant and several liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)...

RIYADH (AFX) – ExxonMobil Corp denied Sunday that it had pulled out of the multi-billion-dollar Saudi gas initiative, a spokesperson said. “We continue to have discussions with the Saudi government on the natural gas initiative,” the spokesman told Agence France-Presse in a brief statement. ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive officer Lee Raymond was quoted by...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Newly installed Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Manuel Sanchez said implementing a Supreme Court decision ordering the Manila Electric Co to refund excess collections since 1994 will be a “logistical nightmare”. In a television interview, he said the ERC will have to determine not only the number of beneficiaries of the refund order...

MOSCOW (AFX) – A senior US defense adviser suggested in an interview published in Moscow that Russia was likely to lose rights to Iraqi oil contracts signed under the Saddam Hussein regime. “There is a high probability that all previous deals with Russia will be declared meaningless,” Richard Perle, counselor to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,...

KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 (AFP) – Standard and Poor’s said it has affirmed its BBB-plus foreign currency and A-plus local currency ratings with a stable outlook for Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas). The ratings agency said Petronas’ ratings reflected its exclusive ownership and control of Malaysia’s substantial hydrocarbon resources and the company’s “very strong financial profile”....

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Merrill Lynch Securities said it has a “sell” rating for Shandong International Power Development Co Ltd (1071.HK), saying the company’s earnings will stay flat through 2004. In a note to clients, Merrill Lynch said the company will face pressure on its costs and utilisation due to the high level of new...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Netherlands-based Aegon Group and China National Offshore Oil Corp Ltd (CNOOC) (HK 0883; NYSE CEO) received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to launch an insurance joint venture in Shanghai, an official at Aegon’s Beijing representative office said. The official said the 50-50 joint venture, to be named Aegon-CNOOC Life Insurance...

Japan’s power consumption rose 2.1% to 841.48 billion kilowatt-hours for the year to March 2003, said the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan. The data, based on sales by the country’s 10 main power companies, marked the first increase in Japan’s domestic electricity consumption in two years. The federation said the rise was due...

Malaysia’s Sapura Energy Sdn Bhd, an oil and gas services provider, is expanding into Myanmar and Thailand this year building on the success of its recent venture into Indonesia which yielded RM15 million worth of revenue last year. (US$1=RM3.8). President and CEO Shahril Shamsuddin said the new ventures would help the company become a major...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Manila Electric Co president Jesus Francisco said the company will likely report a net loss for 2002 due to flat revenue and losses arising from its inability to fully collect deferred purchased power adjustment (PPA) charges. “We’ll most likely post losses for 2002, but the exact amount is still being determined,” he...

China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) said it has signed a new annual marine support services contract to provide services worth a total of RMB 187 million to CNOOC China Limited of Tianjin. (US$1=RMB 8.28). The contract, from January to December 2003, will involve 15 vessels providing regular services and 18 vessels providing ad hoc services....

GAIL India Ltd has chosen Houston-based Energy Solutions to provide pipeline simulation tool to evaluate hydraulic design, develop operational plans and analyse alternative operational scenarios. Energy Solutions said its Pipeline Studio(TM) combines powerful graphics capability with top-performing, interactive pipeline simulation tools. Engineering companies and pipeline experts use Pipeline Studio’s steady state and transient simulation capabilities...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Caltex Australia Ltd chairman Dick Warburton said the company’s year to date refiner margins have been stronger than the average experienced in 2002. Speaking to the company’s annual meeting, he said refiner margins at the oil company were very weak in January but showed significant strength in February and March. “Although they...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Scomi Group Bhd expects its sales to increase 28% to RM204 million this year and after-tax profit to rise to RM18 million from RM15 million previously, chairman Asmat Kamaludin said. (US$1=RM3.8). Malay daily Utusan Malaysia quoted him as saying that much depends on the company’s core operations in the oil and...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – One of Wall Street’s largest banks, JP Morgan Chase & Co, has confirmed that it is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in relation to its alleged role in helping Enron Corp to hide the true extent of its multi-million dollar debts. “I can confirm that for you,” a...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Liaohe Jinma Oilfield Co Ltd (SZ A 000817) said net profit rose to 169.16 million yuan in the first quarter from 66.16 million a year earlier, largely due to increased prices of crude oil and reduced operating costs. (US$1=8.28 yuan). Earnings-per-share increased 155.91% to 0.154 yuan, while core revenue rose to 390.29...

Singapore’s power tariffs will be reduced by an average of 1.96 Singapore cents/kWh or 11.4% from May 1 as a result of lower oil prices, said Singapore Power Services. (US$1=S$1.77). Tariffs for domestic consumers and small businesses will drop 11% while business and industrial consumers will pay up to 12.7% less for high tension supplies...

Lanka IOC Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation in Sri Lanka, has completed the task of taking over 100 gasoline retail outlets from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and made an interim payment of $2 million to Colombo, pending final valuation. In an interview to Business Line in Colombo, M. Nageswaran, CEO...