KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – KNM Group Bhd plans to expand further its China, North America, Africa and Middle East operations over the next two years to boost exports, managing director Lee Swee Eng said. KNM, which is seeking to list on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Second Board, is an investment holding company with interests...

Australia’s Santos Limited said it has acquired interests in three exploration licence areas in the offshore waters of Western Australia and will invest approximately A$4 million in new exploration. (US$1=A$1.5). Santos has acquired offshore exploration permit WA-274-P in the Browse Basin, Western Australia from a subsidiary of Genting Berhad. As operator, Santos has also recently...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – PNOC Energy Development Corp has joined forces with Chevron Texaco and Europe-based Gulf Resources Inc to bid for a natural gas development project in Bangladesh, PNOC-EDC president Sergio Apostol said. PNOC-EDC is a unit of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. The Bangladesh project will involve drilling activities, he said. Mr Apostol said...

J. Ray McDermott, S.A,said it has recently been awarded a subcontract for work on Qatar Petroleum’s PS-2 and the PS-3 complex in the Maydan Mahzam and Bul Hanine fields located in the Arabian Gulf. The subcontract, valued at approximately US$26.6 million, was signed with Larsen & Toubro (“L&T”) Ltd. India. J. Ray McDermott is a...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Woodside Petroleum Ltd said its first half to June sales rose 13.2% to A$1.118 billion from the year earlier, while second quarter sales fell 3.2% to 498.9 million. In its quarterly production report, Woodside said total output for the first half fell 3.1% to 29.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) while...

ChevronTexaco Global Trading, a unit of the energy major, has selected Houston-based Logical Information Machines, Inc. (LIM) to be its primary provider of software tools that aid in analysing historical energy and financial market data. The multi-year agreement became effective in the second quarter and covers locations in North America, Europe and Asia. The new...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Tokyo Electric Power Co and nine other electric utilities plan to reduce the balance of their nonconsolidated interest-bearing liabilities by a combined 1.2 trillion yen to around 25 trillion yen by the end of March 2004, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources. (US$1=118 yen). Consequently, the balance of their interest-bearing...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Beijing Datang (991.HK) director and company secretary Yang Hongming said the company will spend 11 billion yuan to double capacity to 12,539 megawatts in 2006 from the current 6,170 megawatts. (US$1=8.27 yuan). He said the company had cash on hand of 4 billion yuan at the end of last year, with...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – ING Financial Markets has upgraded its recommendation on Malakoff Bhd to a “buy” from the previous “hold”, saying the independent power producer’s (IPP) move to acquire more power generation assets in Malaysia could potentially enhance its value. Malakoff also has a more resilient earnings profile than its peers, making it a...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Rating Agency Malaysia Bhd (RAM) said it has lifted the rating watch placed on Prai Power Sdn Bhd’s RM780 million Al-Istisna fixed rate serial bonds, following the successful commissioning of the Prai power plant on June 20 this year, while reaffirming the “AA3” rating on the Islamic bonds. (US$1=RM3.8). On April...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) Ð Shares of Tenaga Nasional Bhd have moved higher after announcing last week an out-of-court settlement had been reached with UBS AG over a dispute related to a US$500 million bond issued by Tenaga, which was lead-managed by the Swiss bank, dealers said. Tenaga said the dispute with UBS was resolved “to...

Pakistan’s Zamzama Phase I Development in Sindh Province has delivered its first gas cargoes, said operator BHP of Australia. The gas development project was commissioned nearly four months ahead of schedule and is forecast to be under the original US$106 million budget. Approved in March 2002, Phase I will quadruple the current gas processing capacity...

The US government is contributing to the strength of the crude markets, said US energy consultants ESAI. Low crude inventories and continued strength in the product markets have also kept the US crude market remarkably strong. In the latest edition of Atlantic Basin Stockwatch, ESAI said that resumed stocking of the government’s strategic petroleum reserve...

Oil prices could head higher in the coming week as more speculators build up their long positions on the paper markets. Fundamentally, the world oil markets are being driven by supply fears. The war in Iraq is now looking far from over and is descending into greater uncertainty as the US has been unable to...

China’s CNOOC Limited said it has increased its equity interest in the Qinhuangdao (QHD) 32-6 oilfield to 75.5% and in the Liuhua (LH) 11-1 oilfield to 100%. The company paid US$150 million for a 24.5% interest in QHD 32-6 and US$20 million for each of two 24.5% interests in LH 11-1. BP China Exploration and...

US major ChevronTexaco Corp. said that a production test in Australia’s offshore Jansz gas field shows the field has extensive production potential. The Jansz-3 well, tested on July 2 in the WA-18-R permit area, flowed at a rate of more than 72 million cubic feet a day (MMCFD). The field is located 200 km off...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – State power company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) hopes to return to profits this year with the rupiah remaining stable at current levels until the end of the year, said company finance director Parno Isworo. “If it (the rupiah) stays at this level until the end of this year, we can earn...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – The administration of President George W Bush is considering pledging some of Iraq’s future oil and gas revenue to secure long-term reconstruction loans before a new Iraqi government is in place to sign off on the proposal, The Los Angeles Times reported. The newspaper said the plan, which has been endorsed by...

TEHRAN (AFX) – Iran and Japan are making progress in talks on a multi-billion US$ deal to develop the Islamic republic’s massive Azadegan oil field, despite US demands that Tokyo abandon the negotiations, government officials here said. “We have made good steps in our talks with the Japanese and we do not want to start...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – National utility company Tenaga Nasional hd is maintaining its projected 7% sales growth this year, against 6.5% achieved last year, on expectations that electricity demand will rise in line with economic growth, Bernama news agency reported. “We expect an increase in demand from the household sector due to … population (growth),”...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Scomi Group Berhad said unit Kota Minerals and Chemicals Sdn Bhd (KMC) has secured a RM5.5 million contract from Premier Petroleum Myanmar Ltd to provide drilling fluids materials, low toxicity mineral oil and engineering services for the Yetagun Field Development in the Andaman Sea. (US$1-RM3.8). In a statement, Scomi said KMC...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) Ð Shares of Manila Electric Co and parent First Philippine Holdings Corp have been trading higher recently, extending gains on optimism that the former will succeed in negotiating an extension of the maturity of its short-term debt, dealers said. Dealers said the outlook for Meralco, which still expects to return to profitability this...

Poor communities in developing countries will benefit from the groundbreaking Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF) which became operational July 15. The World Bank which developed the CDCF in collaboration with the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat and the International Emissions Trading Association, announced commitments of US$35 million from both public and private sector participants, as...

TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said that its “A+” rating with stable outlook on Taiwan-based Chinese Petroleum Corp would not be affected by the company’s announcement that it had secured a contract worth NT$298 billion to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Taiwan Power Co’s new Tatan thermal plant. (US$1=NT$34). The contract...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – ING Financial Markets said it has upgraded its recommendation on Manila Electric Co to ‘buy’ from the previous ‘hold’ on prospects of diminishing regulatory risks confronting the country’s largest power distributor. Meralco B shares, open to foreign investors, has risen by 59% in June on the back of a recently-approved rate increase...