HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Polyurethane product maker and distributor Minglun Group said it has signed a letter of intent with vendors Sun Hai Lin, Guo Jing Jun and Jin Yu Ling to buy a 50% stake in Beijing Chang Dong Shun Gas. In a statement, the company said the proposed purchase price is subject to...

Russia’s akhalin Energy has just completed loading the first cargo of Russian Far East crude oil for delivery to Taiwan from its Vityaz production complex offshore Sakhalin Island. The cargo of 720,000 barrels was loaded aboard the crude oil tanker Pacific Virgo earlier this month. The cargo has been purchased by Taiwan’s Chinese Petroleum Corporation...

Malaysia’s newly listed engineering firm Sumatec Resources Bhd is eyeing a role in the second phase of the Chad-Cameroon export pipeline project. Managing director Wan Kamaruddin Wan Abdullah told local reporters the company, through 60%-owned Sumatec Cameroon Co Ltd, had been invited to participate to bid for the project’s second phase due to start by...

(INFRALINE) — State Indian Oil Coporation (IOC) has decided to locate its 2 million/year tonne greenfield naphtha cracker complex at Koyali in Gujarat state. Engineers India (EIL) is conducting a detailed feasibility report on the project which will produce about 800,000 tonnes of ethylene and propylene. The Rs 80 billion project will be commissioned in...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – Siam United Services PLC said its board of directors has approved a plan to increase the company’s registered capital from 985 million baht to 1.48 billion by issuing 500 million new shares at a par value of 1 baht each. (US$1=41 baht). The company will allocate 300 million new shares to McCarthy...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Oil and gas stocks were higher in early trade in positive reaction to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement last week that the government will allow another consortium to undertake oil exploration, production and refining, dealers said. In the 2004 Budget, Mahathir said national oil corporation Petronas has operations in more than...

WASHINGTON (AFX) – US Vice President Dick Cheney said he played no role in awarding lucrative Iraq contracts to his former firm Halliburton Corp, and allegations that he was involved were “political cheap shots.” “Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush’s vice president I severed all my ties with the company, got rid of...

Panva Gas Holdings Limited and Jinan Gas have formed a 70/30 joint venture, Jinan Panva LPG Co, to tap the expanding retail liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business in Changsha, Hunan Province. The JV, subject to state approval, will have a registered capital of RMB60 million. (US$1=RMB8.27). Panva Gas’s investment was made through its wholly-owned investment...

ENOC Lubricants, a subsidiary of Dubai-based Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) LLC, has appointed a distributor in Vietnam Ð becoming the first Middle Eastern lubricants supplier to enter the Southeast Asian country. With the deal, Vietnam has become the latest country to join ENOC Lubricants’ expanding international distributor network. Ho Chi Min-headquartered Thien An Lubricants...

(INFRALINE) — Essar Oil plans to import 21,000 tonnes of diesel in October and gradually raise its imports to one cargo a month to supply industrial and retail customers, a senior company official said. The company, which is building a 210,000 barrels per day (b/d) refinery in western India, opened its first petrol station in...

India’s state IOC said it plans to begin trading oil derivatives next month as part of its strategy to manage oil price risks. “IOC plans to use derivative transactions in conjunction with its physical oil purchases to mitigate price risk arising from volatile international prices,” said an IOC statement. It plans to hedge the risks...

More than 90% of PetroVietnam bonds were sold on the first day of their issue early this month, according to the VNS news service quoting the PetroVietnam Finance Company (PVFC). Most of them were sold to banks, credit institutions and other finance companies who had registered in advance. Nearly 10% were sold to individuals and...

(INFRALINE) — The international oil market has shown some encouraging trends over the past week. Crude prices are down, and production from Iraq has risen. The OPEC basket price slipped to less than $28/bbl during the week, and stayed down. Prices for benchmark crudes are at a 2-month low. However, there are still some potential...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Shanghai Zhixin Electric Co Ltd said it plans to raise 148.15 million yuan in a mainland A-share IPO to be launched today to fund some technical upgrading projects. (US$1=8.27 yuan). The company will sell a total of 25 million shares at 6.30 yuan each, reflecting a price-to-earnings ratio of 20, based on...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – US energy group TXU Corp is considering a A$2 billion float of its Australian operations to raise capital to help sustain its debt-laden business, the Australian newspaper reported citing an unidentified company spokesman. (US$1=A$1.55). TXU Australia is the third largest energy retailer in Victoria, serving more than 430,000 customers, and recently moved...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – PTT Exploration and Production Plc said the company has, through its subsidiaries, raised its stake in Yetagun project in Myanmar to 19.3178% from 14.1667%. The company’s participation in Yetagun is through two of its susidiaries, PTTEP International Limited (PTTEPI) and PTTEP Offshore Investment Co Ltd (PTTEPO). The other joint-venture partners of Yetagun...

Australian upstream company Santos Ltd said that the Apache-operated East Spar joint venture has signed a new contract to supply up to 90 petajoules of gas to Alinta Ltd. The gas will be sourced from the East Spar field in the Carnarvon Basin, off Western Australia state. The gas will fuel Alinta’s gas-fired co-generation unit...

State Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) plans to expand its role in the maritime industry with the build-up of its shipping subsidiary in the coming months. The expansion plan was announced by Hussain Sultan, ENOC’s CEO, at an industry conference in Dubai last week. Mr Sultan said ENOC and the Dubai government saw opportunities emerging...

BAGHDAD (AFX) – Iraq’s battered oil industry is managing to produce 1.5 million barrels per day (b/d), Paul Bremer, the top US official in the occupied nation said. “(On Saturday), we produced 1,624,000 barrels of oil. We’ve been averaging about 1.5 million barrels a day for the last 10 days,” he told reporters here. The...

Indonesia’s upstream oil and gas authority, BP Migas, has signed an initial agreement to supply US independent company Sempra Energy up to 10 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas per annum. The agreement marks Indonesia’s entry into the lucrative US market. Rachmat Sudibyo, the head of BP Migas, said Indonesia will supply between 6...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Mitsui & Co has reached an agreement with BG Group Plc to buy the latter’s 10% stake in the Tangguh natural gas development project in Indonesia, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. The report, quoting sources close to the matter, said Mitsui will acquire the stake for about 30 billion yen. (US$1=117 yen)....

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Tenaga Nasional Bhd has set aside RM57.53 million in its year to Aug 2004 budget for 231 new projects in Penang state, New Straits Times reported, quoting unit TNB Distribution senior general manager of region 2 operations M. Mithiran. (US$1=RM3.8). The projects cover the supply of electricity to new customers as...

Petronas International Corporation Limited (PICL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysian state Petronas has completed the transfer of its 25% interest in Premier Oil Plc for the latter’s interests in producing fields in Myanmar and Indonesia. The transaction, announced last September, was completed last week. With the deal PICL relinquished its 25% shareholding in Premier...

Major shareholders of Tri Energy Co have approved a plan by Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc to purchase a 37.5% stake, or 12.84 million shares, in Tri Energy, according to a Bangkok Post report citing Ratchaburi managing director Boonchoo Direksathapon. Ratchaburi is expected to acquire Banpu Gas Power Co, which owns the stake in Tri...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – The East Spar joint venture between Santos Ltd and Apache Corp has signed a new sales agreement with Alinta Ltd for the supply of up to 90 petajoules of gas over 10 years. In a statement, Santos said the gas will be supplied to Alinta’s new gas-fired co-generation unit in southwest Western...