Mobil Australia, a unit of ExxonMobil, last week announced the closure of its 78,000 b/d Adelaide Refinery at Port Stanvac in the next few months. The company described it as “uncompetitive in today’s Asia Pacific refining industryÉfollowing a review of its South Australian refining operations.” About 400 employees are expected to lose their jobs after...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – US motorists should not expect much relief from high gasoline prices this summer as low stocks and increased demand are expected to push prices up above levels seen last summer, according to a government short-term energy outlook. In its April Short-Term Energy Outlook, the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration said today...

BEIJING (XFN) – Guangdong Electric Power Development Co Ltd (SZ A 000539; SZ B 200539) said net profit rose 12.17% year-on-year to 1.18 billion yuan for 2002 from 1.052 billion a year earlier, under international accounting standards, due to steady growth in power generation and acquisitions of a number of power plants. (US$1=8.28 yuan). According...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – PetroChina Co Ltd (857.HK) may bid for an interest in an oil company in Kazakhstan, the South China Morning Post reported. The report said the Kazakhstan government plans to sell its 25.12% stake in CNPC-Aktobemunaigaz. The remaining 74.88% is owned by China National Petroleum Corp, PetroChina Co Ltd’s parent. The report,...

Intertanko has reported the latest piracy incidents as submitted by The International Maritime Bureau: On 26 March, 10 pirates with automatic weapons stormed an Indonesian chemical tanker of about 1,300 DWT in the waters on the Malaysian and Indonesia border. The pirates arrived in speedboats, four pirates boarded, switched of the communication systems, held the...

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (AFP) – Malaysia has postponed an energy security forum planned for today after some delegates from ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea cancelled because of concerns about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Noriah Ahmad, undersecretary of the ministry of energy, communications and multimedia told AFP. “A few countries informed us that...

Bangladesh will restructure the boards of nine companies under the Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) as part of an energy reforms programme. Representatives from the private sector and civil society will be invited into the boards alongside senior state officials, said the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. The latest move follows a proposal...

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – Federal International has applied to buy 1.25 million new Technics Group shares at the IPO price of S$0.22 each. (US$1=S$1.78). The shares represent 5% of the 25 million new shares Technics is selling through the IPO. “We are pleased to take a stake in Technics. Both companies have core competencies and strengths...

Xinao Gas Holdings Limited, a piped gas distributor in China, said its net profit rose 61.4% to RMB128 million on revenue of RMB544 million for 2002. (US$1=RMB 8.28 yuan). Earnings per share were RMB18 cents, representing an increase of 25.9% over the previous year. In a statement, the company said: “The board of directors has...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – UBS Warburg said it has upgraded its earnings forecasts and share price target for Origin Energy Ltd in anticipation of a stronger second half result. The brokerage has lifted its share price target to A$4.50 from A$3.75 but is maintaining its ‘neutral’ recommendation. (US$1=A$1.67). In a note, UBS said it has upgraded...

Singapore’s Keppel Shipyard said it is on course to complete a Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) conversion by end April for Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) Inc. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation Ltd (KCL) through Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), the yard also achieved three million man-hour work without a lost-time accident during...

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – SembCorp Industries shares have traded firmer after news last week that unit SembCorp Utilities will, in partnership with three Chinese companies, build and operate a power plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, dealers said. SembCorp Utilities and its partners are investing a total of S$725 million to build the 605-MW electricity...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – BOC International said it has initiated coverage of China Oilfield Services Ltd (2883.HK) with a “market perform” rating based on the view the company’s near term growth will be limited by its operating capacity. “From a long-term perspective, the company is an excellent proxy to China’s rapid economic growth and rising...

NEW DELHI (AFX-ASIA) – Global volatility has caused a 7% increase in India’s oil import bill to 840 billion rupees for the fiscal year ended March, Oil Minister Ram Naik said. (US$1=47 rupees). “The country imports about 70% of its crude requirements and in this financial year the bill is estimated to have reached 840...

ANKARA (AFX) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Iraqi Kurdish control of oil-rich Mosul and Kirkuk would constitute grounds for Turkish military intervention in northern Iraq, Anatolia news agency reported. “Going into northern Iraq is not an objective for us. Entering northern Iraq will not be on the agenda as long...

The following report was issued by the US Department of Energy. “With US commercial crude oil inventories increasing by 10.9 million barrels between March 7 and March 28, some analysts may be expecting crude oil prices, which had decreased significantly over that period, to continue falling. “Just a few days ago, OPEC announced an emergency...

Singapore’s SembCorp Utilities (SembUtilities), the wholly-owned utilities subsidiary of SembCorp Industries, has agreed to establish a joint venture company, Shanghai Caojing Cogeneration Company, to build, own and operate a 605 megawatt (MW) cogeneration plant in the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park (SCIP). Its partners include Shanghai Electrical Power Company, Shanghai Shenergy Company and Shanghai Chemical Industrial...

Commentary by Fearnley’s for tanker activity dated April 9. Crude “The recent dearth of cargoes observed in the VLCC market continued, and this lack of activity resulted in rate levels on the MEG/East run dropping about 50 Worldscale points; this was accompanied by a considerable increase in the number of VLCCs available for employment in...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – China Oilfield Services Ltd (2883.HK) president and COO Yuan GuangYu said the company is spending 745 million yuan to acquire 7 standby vessels and one or two 10-year old second-hand drilling vessels. (US$1=8.28 yuan). The company expects to incur capital expenditure of 506 million yuan in its drilling services this year,...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – PetroChina (857.HK) shares have moved higher after its 2002 results released last week came in slightly better than market forecasts, dealers said. The company posted a 2002 net profit of 46.91 billion yuan, up 3.17% from 2001, and higher than a forecast of 45.4 to 46.2 billion by analysts polled by...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – MMC Engineering Group Bhd’s unit MMC Oil & Gas Engineering Sdn Bhd is bidding for a project at the Ruby Field off Vung Tau in Vietnam, online newspaper The Edge said, quoting the company’s chief operating officer Shaharel Shafiei. He said the company submitted the bid with Shapadu Corporation Sdn Bhd...

India’s state upstream company ONGC said its crude production for the year to March 31 2003 rose five percent to 26 million tonnes, due mostly to improvements at its offshore Mumbai High field. Its natural gas output reached a record 24.3 billion cubic metres while sales exceeded 19.5 BCM. The company added that its production...

Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority has stepped up bunker quality checks since announcing tougher regulations and enforcement at the Singapore International Bunkering Conference last September. New sampling practices for fuels in ‘ship-to-ship’ transfers and terminal loading by bunker tankers have been implemented and more bunker samples are now being obtained from bunker tankers for compliance...

BAKU (AFX) – OAO LUKoil’s sale of a 10% stake in Azerbaijan’s offshore Azeri-Chiraq-Guneshli oil field has been held up because of a row with the Azeri government over tax, LUKoil sources said. The stake was sold to Japan’s INPEX in December last year for US$1.375 billion in cash, subject to an approval from the...

BEIJING (XFN) – The National Audit Office has sent a team of 1,300 investigators to audit last year’s accounts of former state-run monopoly State Power Corp and possible corruption among senior management, the China Business Times said citing insiders at the watchdog. The probe could have serious implications for the break-up of State Power that...