TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Japan National Oil Corp, a government-affiliated corporation, will later this week commission Merrill Lynch Japan Inc and the consortium of Lehman Brothers Japan Inc and Mitsubishi Securities Co to appraise its equity stakes in oil and natural gas development firms, before selling the interests to private-sector investors, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported,...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – State run electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) booked a net loss of 6 trillion rupiah in 2002 against a net profit of 180 billion rupiah in the previous year due to rising costs. (US$1=8,600 rupiah) The company booked sales of 44.1 trillion rupiah during the year, up 25% from 35.3...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – Huaneng Power International Inc (SH A 600011; HK 0902; NYSE HNP), China’s largest independent power producer, will likely see stable growth in the second half on the back of continued strong electricity demand amid a nationwide power shortage, analysts said. “Demand growth in many provinces continues to be robust because of strong...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Philippine National Oil Co said it has signed a US$175 million syndicated loan with 14 banks to refinance existing obligations, mostly earlier loans taken to invest in the US$4.5 billion Malampaya natural gas project. PNOC president Thelmo Cunanan named the participants as Standard Chartered, Citibank, KBC, Chinatrust Philippines, International Commercial Bank of...

Australia’s BHP Billiton said it has found oil and gas from its Neptune-5 appraisal well in the Gulf of Mexico. It drilled the well in the Atwater Valley Block 574, approximately 215 km from the Louisiana coast. BHP said the well encountered a gross hydrocarbon column of nearly 1,200 feet, with more than 500 feet...

ChevronTexaco Corp. (NYSE: CVX) said an affiliate has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Gorgon Joint Venture in Australia for the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for distribution to markets on the West Coast of North America. A ChevronTexaco affiliate will enter into negotiations with the Gorgon Joint Venture which could lead...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – About 85 tonnes of oil has leaked into the waters of the Huangpu river in Shanghai after a boat collided with a small oil tanker, state press and officials said. The accident, which has polluted at least eight km of the river, was the largest environmental accident on the waterway since 1996,...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – ING Financial Markets said it has raised its full year to August 2003 earnings forecast for Malakoff Bhd to reflect higher contributions from the GB3 power plant. ING also said it is maintaining a “buy” call on the stock for its valuations and the company’s earnings outlook with a 12-month target...

NYSE-listed Apache Corporation and its partner PetroChina Company Limited have begun production at their shallow-water Zhao Dong block in Dagang, Bohai Bay, China, at the rate of 6,000 barrels of oil per day from three wells. Apache said it expects production to peak at 22,000 b/d by the first quarter of next year. “It has...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Manila Electric Co is likely to see sustained profits in the second half of the year all the way to 2004, helped by a 0.25 pesos per kilowatthour rate increase in June that triggered a turnaround from first quarter losses, ING Financial Markets said. But ING said this year’s sales growth may...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Huaneng Power International Inc (SH A 600011; HK 0902; NYSE HNP) said its net profit for the first half of 2003 rose 29.37% to 2.356 billion yuan on increased electricity sales. (US$1=8.27 yuan). Huaneng said four power plants it purchased last year and two new power generators that started operations increased its...

Oil prices fell after weekly oil reports revealed an unexpected weekly rise in US crude inventories, analysts said. September crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed 52 cents lower at $31.70/barrel. “Prices are well off their highs after the US stats, but I don’t think the figures are particularly dramatic,” said analyst Peter...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Fifteen investors have submitted bids for eight of 11 new oil/gas blocks offered by open tender, while some investors are interested four other blocks not included in the tender, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry director general for oil and gas Iin Arifin Takhyan said. He told AFX-Asia that the bidders include PT...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Tenaga Nasional Bhd expects power demand to grow at 7.5% in the current year and up to 8% in 2004, the Star newspaper reported, quoting chairman Awang Adek Hussin. He did not give reasons for the improved forecast for power demand. Mr Awang also said indications of the company’s performance for...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China is speeding up the exploitation of hydroelectricity in its western regions with the goal of having the world’s largest hydroelectric generating capacity within 10 years, Xinhua news agency reported. The agency said experts from the State Development and Reform Commission yesterday passed an evaluation on the project to build a hydroelectric...

UK’s Cairn Energy said it has entered into a non-legally binding Letter of Intent (LOI) with Shell to acquire all of the major’s upstream assets and undertakings in Bangladesh, including its interest in the Sangu gas field. The effective date of the acquisition is July 1, 2003. Cairn said the proposed acquisition is subject to...

Australian upstream company Santos Limited said its sales gas revenue in the June quarter rose 15.5% from A$167.5 million to a record A$193.5 million on sales volumes of 59 petajoules (PJ). (US$1=A$1.5). A large component of the strong June quarter sales improvement came from the US where Santos’ gas sales revenue nearly doubled, reflecting higher...

Australia’s Origin Energy Limited said it is joining Woodside Petroleum to invest in geothermal company Geodynamics Limited. Origin will subscribe for 10 million fully paid ordinary shares in Geodynamics at an issue price of A$0.50 per share for a 19% stake. The proposed deal is subject to approval by Geodynamics shareholders. (US$1=A$1.5). As a cornerstone...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Local brokerage Hwang-DBS Securities Bhd said it is maintaining its “fully valued” rating on Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) despite raising the national utility’s year to August 2003-2005 earnings projections. “We have raised our FY2003-FY2005 projections by 2-17% to reflect higher forward margins and lower effective tax rate. “Despite our earnings upgrade,...

JERUSALEM (AFX) – The Israeli government is planning to privatise the state-owned Oil Refineries Limited by the middle of next year after de-merging it from the Israel Corp holding company, the Haaretz newspaper reported. Oil Refineries (known as Bazan in Hebrew) is one of Israel’s industrial giants and its two refineries in Haifa and Ashdod...

BAGHDAD (AFX) – Iraq signed oil futures contracts with 12 foreign companies, said a senior official at the oil ministry. The contracts, the first since an embargo against Iraq was lifted, date from August 1 until end-December. The total volume of the exports will be 650,000 barrels per day for the month of August, and...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Forty oil and gas companies, four of which are domestic, have raised interest in operating 11 new oil and gas blocks the government was offering, said Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry director general for oil and gas Iin Arifin Takhyan. “The number of companies that took with them the (registration) forms amount...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – The Hong Kong and China Gas Co Ltd (Towngas) will set up a 50-year piped gas joint venture with Shenzhen Gas Corp and New Hope Holding Co Ltd. The venture’s net asset value exceeds 900 million yuan, it said in a statement. (US$1=8.27 yuan). Under the deal, Shenzhen Gas will own...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc said its board of directors has approved a proposal to invest in Tri Energy Co Ltd by acquiring the latter’s major shareholder Banpu Gas Power Co Ltd. Banpu Gas Power holds 12.83 million shares, or a 37.5% stake, in Tri Energy Co Ltd. Ratchaburi Electricity said it...

Singapore-based China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd (CAO) said it has received confirmed orders for another 77,400 metric tonnes of jet fuel, adding to the 216,000 tonnes announced on July 14. In May, CAO had planned to procure around 145,000 tonnes for the third quarter as it had expected weak jet fuel demand in China...