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...

US independent upstream company Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) said last week that its Kikeh number 5 well in Malaysia yielded successful test results. The well was drilled in 4,380 feet of water in Block K (80%), offshore deepwater Sabah state, and extended the limits of the Kikeh oil trend. “We are pleased with the results...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Petra Perdana Bhd shares have moved higher after last week’s announcement that ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia (EMEPMI) has renewed an oil and gas support services contract for a further two years, dealers said. A local brokerage dealer said the contract renewal is positive for the company, but he noted that...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, the Japanese refining arm of oil major Royal Dutch Shell Group, will acquire a 33.4% stake in domestic oil product distributor Marubeni Energy Corp, a Showa Shell spokesman said, in a move to expand the number of service stations selling its oil products. Showa Shell, however, declined to...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) (HK 0386; SH A 600028; NYSE SNP) has signed an agreement with US firm Aspen Technology Inc (NASDAQ AZPN) to adopt the latter’s systems and business practices to improve its oil distribution system, the Securities Times reported. No financial terms of the agreement were disclosed. Sinopec...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Beijing will invest 23.2 billion yuan over the next five years to upgrade its power grid for the 2008 Olympic Games, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the vice-chairman of the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee. (US$1=8.27 yuan). The news agency quoted Jiang Xiaoyu as saying Beijing will set up 81 new electricity transmission...

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...

State oil and gas company PetroVietnam exported 11.123 million tones of crude oil worth US$2.453 billion in the first eight months of 2003. The earnings represent a 25% jump over the same period last year, ensuring the sector remains the country’s main hard currency earner. PetroVietnam reported producing 11.568 million tones of crude oil and...

Australia’s North West Shelf Venture LNG sellers have signed a heads of agreement with Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc., for additional long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply. The agreement is for the supply and purchase of 500,000 tonnes of LNG a year between 2009 and 2014 and 925,000 tonnes of LNG a year between...

US major ChevronTexaco Corp said it and joint venture partners developing Australia’s giant Gorgon gas project have received in-principle approval from the Western Australia state government for the restricted use of Barrow Island for a foundation development. The Gorgon development proposal centres on the establishment of an liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on Barrow Island,...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China Yangtze Electric Power Corp’s planned initial public offer has been postponed due to the current sluggish board market, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported. According to the previous schedule, China Yangtze Electric was to have issued its IPO prospectus last week, the newspaper said, but added official Chinese newspapers received notices from...

DUBAI (AFX) – Iraq’s oil production capacity has increased to nearly 2 million barrels per day (bpd), the chief executive of Iraq’s oil ministry, Thamir Ghadhban, said. “Iraq’s production capacity is at almost two million bpd,” he told the Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference here, adding that at least 1 million b/d of sustainable...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s State Power Grid Co will sell 11 large power plants with a total installed capacity of 6.47 million kilowatts, the company said on its website. The company said the 11 plants originally belonged to the former State Power Corp and were allocated to State Power Grid during an industry restructuring last...

China’s West-East pipeline will begin supplying natural gas to Shanghai from January 2005, said a senior manager with a Chinese oil company. “We are fully confident of meeting the schedule for gas supply to Shanghai by Jan. 1, 2005,” said Sun Longde, general manager of the Tarim Oilfield Company, an affiliate of the China National...

BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – The cabinet today approved a plan for the Ministry of Finance to place some of the shares it holds in PTT PLC and Thai Airways International PLC with the Government Saving Bank (GSB), the government said in a statement. The share placement is aimed at raising about 11.17 billion baht in cash...

PARIS (AFX) – The International Energy Agency (IEA) said August world oil production increased by 798,000 barrels per day to 79.69 million, in its monthly oil report released this morning. OPEC crude production rose by 415,000 b/d and non-OPEC supply/OPEC NGLs (Natural Gas Liquids) contributed 383,000 b/d, the Paris-based agency said. The Former Soviet Union...

DUBAI (AFX) – The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it sees current oil prices as being too high and called on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase supplies to the market. “I see (oil) prices too high because I see that (oil) stocks are still very low, the economy is still not...

MOSCOW (AFX) – The head of Russian oil major Yukos said in an interview published last week that Russia’s economic interests will suffer from any delay in building an oil pipeline to China over environmental concerns. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose company has championed the construction of the pipeline from its eastern Siberian oilfields to the Chinese...

Australian upstream company Bounty Oil & Gas NL will issue 9 million shares at 15 Australian cents and 3.4 million options exercisable at 20 cents each on or before September 1, 2008 to London based Aminex PLC (Aminex) to raise A$1.35 million (less costs of the issue). The funds will allow Bounty to farm into...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – China Oilfield Services Ltd’s (2883.HK) chief financial officer Wu Mengfei said oil price fluctuations will have little bearing on demand for services supporting oil and gas exploration and drilling activities, the South China Morning Post reported. He said demand for oilfield services would not be affected even if oil prices fell...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s Asian Equity Research said it put an “underweight” rating on China’s power sector, because it believes the recent share price outperformance by the H-shares of China’s independent power producers (IPPs) has resulted in relatively lofty valuations. This latest development could exert some downward pressure on share prices, S&P said...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – The former chairwoman of Shenzhen Energy Group has been prosecuted by the Shenzhen People’s Procuratorate on multiple charges of embezzlement of public funds, graft and abuse of rights, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. The newspaper said Lao Derong has been charged with taking bribes, allegedly collecting 9.5 million yuan during her tenure...

DUBAI (AFX) – Modernising Iraq’s oil sector will cost up to US$40 billion, said Peter Robertson, vice chairman of Chevron Texaco Corp. “It will cost US$30 to $40 billion to bring Iraq’s oil sector up to modern standards and have a sustainable production rate of two to three million barrels per day,” he told the...

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will launch 14 oil and gas projects worth US$1.9 billion from Sunday in an attempt to show that Indonesia is open for business. According to the Jakarta Post, four of the projects have been completed, while the other 10 will start development soon. They include 12 projects worth US$940 million owned by...

Singapore main board-listed China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd said its jet fuel sales for the July-September quarter will reach record volumes of 543,000 tonnes, about 12% above its previous forecast made in August. Its latest forecast followed the purchase of two spot jet fuel cargoes in early September, allowing it to predict better sales...