ENOC Lubricants, a subsidiary of Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) LLC, has launched its website with potential for online ordering and trade. The company said www.enoclubricants.com has a highly user-friendly interface and provides up-to-date product and service information. The site has details on the full ENOC Lubricants’ product range for both the automotive and industrial...

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...

MUSCAT, April 19 (AFP) – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) must do something about the surplus two million barrels per day (b/d) that have come on to the market since the war in Iraq ended, OPEC’s president Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said. “There is a surplus of two million bpd that we have...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – Thai Petrochemical Industry Plc said group consolidated sales revenue in the first quarter totalled 21.83 billion baht, up 34.27% from 16.26 billion baht a year earlier. (US$1=42 baht). The increase in sales reflected the upturn in global oil prices, especially in February and March, as a result of the war in Iraq...

TEHRAN (AFX) – Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said that maintaining Iran’s OPEC oil production quota was vital for the country. “We have a 14% share in OPEC (output), about 3.6 to 3.7 million barrels per day and keeping this share is vital for Iran… it’s the minimum we can do,” he said speaking on...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Sinopec Jiangsu Oilfield Co, a unit of China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group), has signed a memorandum with the Yemen energy ministry to explore an area of about 2,000 sq km in the country, a director with Jiangsu Oilfield’s foreign affairs department told XFN. “The two parties signed the memorandum on March 22,...

With the war in Iraq winding to a close, a deadly new pneumonia-like disease — severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) — has emerged to become the latest unlikely influence on Asia’s oil markets. SARS is casting a bearish pall on the oil industry as its rapid spread to more than 25 countries killing more than...

NASIRIYAH, Iraq (AFX) – Retired US general Jay Garner, who is expected to lead an interim administration in Iraq, has convened a meeting of Iraqi opposition groups today, to communicate the US vision of the initial steps Iraq needs to take in order to secure its future. Mr Garner, 64, was appointed by US president...

Singapore’s SembCorp Utilities (SembUtilities), the wholly-owned utilities subsidiary of SembCorp Industries, said last week it has acquired the power assets of bankrupt US company Enron. It bought the assets of of Enron Teesside Operations Limited (ETOL) from receivers Ian Brown and Nick Dargan of Deloitte & Touche. SembCorp said: “The business will now operate through...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Dao Heng Securities expects Huaneng Power International Inc (902.HK) to benefit from possible asset injection from its parents. “We expect Huaneng to be the first to acquire assets from parent. Those acquisitions will further strengthen the company’s long term earnings prospects,” analyst Andrew Tong said in a research note. New acquisitions...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it has completed the shutdown of all 17 of its nuclear reactors for emergency inspections. TEPCO stopped operations at around 12:00 noon at its last running nuclear reactor in Fukushima, 200 kilometres northeast of Tokyo. The company has been forced to shut down all its nuclear...

Join energy trading experts Peter Fusaro and Tom James in Seoul on May 28 and 29 or Tokyo on June 3 and 4 to learn the latest energy trading techniques in oil, gas, power, coal and emissions. Joining this effort are energy experts from Platts, KWI and Solarc. Further information is available at www.greentradingsummit.com, click...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – The Manila Electric Co, National Power Corp (Napocor), and National Transmission Corp (Transco) said they have signed an agreement that will give some 900 industrial and commercial power users a rate discount of up to 0.50 pesos per kilowatthour. (US$1=53 peso). They said the agreement came after almost eight months of deliberation...

Japan could face a serious power shortage in the coming months as Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) has shut down for inspection the last of its 17 nuclear reactors still in operation, said local media reports. The No.6 reactor at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was shut down last week as part of investigations into...

SHANGHAI (AFX ASIA) – Demand for power in China is expected to grow by as much as 10% this year from the year earlier, the China Economic Times reported, quoting a report by the China Electricity Council. Demand is expected to increase by 149 billion kilowatt hours to 1.80 trillion kwh by year-end, the report...

ANKARA (AFX) – Reservoirs at Turkey’s southern terminal of Ceyhan are full to the brim with Iraqi crude oil, and the country is seeking help from the US and the United Nations to sell it, a spokesman for the Turkish energy ministry said. The lack of storage space forced Ankara on Thursday to ask Iraq...

Following one of the most severe winters in recent years, the US’s inventory of heating fuels, including high-sulphur heating oil and propane, plunged to near historical low levels at the end of March 2003, said the US Department of Energy (DoE). It said that preliminary data show heating oil inventories ended the 2002-03 heating season...

Petronet India, the joint venture of state oil companies for laying pipelines, is likely to be wound up as `it has out-lived its utility’, local media reported. Petronet’s dissolution is on the cards as oil companies have now been permitted to lay pipelines and to share up to 25% of capacity with other companies. Petronet...

With the war in Iraq finished, there will be a growing pressure to get its oil flowing again to pay for the costs of rebuilding society after Saddam, says US energy consultant ESAI. In the latest issue of Atlantic Basin Stockwatch, the company says it believes Iraqi oil may be back sooner than everyone thinks....

CARACAS (AFX) – Deputy Foreign Minister Arevalo Mendez Romero said the government will ask OPEC to increase Venezuela’s oil production quota to make up for the loss of revenues caused by the general strike, Venevision reported. Mr Mendez Romero said that the government will ask for the increase at the OPEC meeting this week. The...

LONDON (AFX) Ð The direction of oil prices remain uncertain as analysts continue to grapple with conflicting signals ahead of an OPEC meeting to discuss a possible output cut. “Information continues to seep out suggesting that major production cuts could be some way off,” said Barclays Capital analysts. “Earlier, it was reported that Saudi (state-owned...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Woodside Petroleum Ltd said it will commence the search for a successor to chief executive John Akehurst whose contract is due to expire in April 2005. In a statement, Woodside said that by the time Mr Akehurst’s contract expires, he will have been CEO for nine years. “In view of the board’s...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) Ð Malaysia’s Petronas CEO Hassan Merican has not been approached by the US government as a possible candidate to help manage the oil industry in Iraq as part of the rebuilding of the country when the war is concluded, Bernama news agency reported, quoting an unnamed Petronas spokesperson. According to earlier reports,...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip’s comments that the government has no plans to regulate Hong Kong and China Gas Co Ltd’s tariffs or rate of return is positive for the stock, ING Financial Markets analyst Rohan Dalziell said. “We see this announcement as a positive for the stock...

Australia’s Origin Energy said it has been awarded the South Australian state government’s contract to supply electricity to over 4,000 state and local government sites for the next three years. Executive general manager (retail) Peter Vines said: “Under the agreement, Origin Energy will supply electricity to around 2,500 State Government sites and 1,500 local council...