KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Crest Petroleum Bhd has secured contracts from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and the Oil and Gas Corp Ltd of Mumbai, India, a company statement said. It said Petronas has awarded Crest’s unit, Teknik Lengkap Sdn Bhd, a contract to provide geotechnical engineering services from this year to 2007. The 4-year project,...
INDIA: Petroleum ministry seeks direct sale of LPG by producers
(INFRALINE) — India’s ministry of petroleum and natural gas has proposed to the Cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) to allow liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) producers to make direct sales to bulk consumers. The ministry has long been advocating the right of direct sales by the producers which include Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC),...
INDIA: Jump in naphtha prices to hit fertiliser companies, power generators
(INFRALINE) — Independent Power Projects (IPPs) and fertiliser companies are likely to face tough times following a 35% jump in naphtha prices over the last six months. Naphtha is used as a feedstock for producing ethylene, propylene and fertilisers, and as a fuel for power generation. Naphtha prices have risen from a low of Rs...
INDONESIA: Jakarta proposes to raise Fujian, China LNG supply to 5 million tons/year
Indonesia will propose to increase the amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) it supplies to Fujian province in China to 5 million tons a year from 2.6 million previously agreed, said Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro. The proposal will be presented to a visiting delegation from Fujian expected to arrive in Jakarta next month...
JAPAN: Tokyo Gas to enter foreign power projects
CAIRO (AFX-ASIA) – Tokyo Gas Co. (9531) is entering the overseas power generation business to expand its energy-related business territory in response to deregulation of Japan’s power and gas industries. As the first phase of this new strategy, it plans to submit a bid to participate in operation of an independent water and power producer...
SINGAPORE: Tractebel sells stakes in joint ventures to SembCorp Utilities
Belgium’s Tractebel Electricity & Gas International, a unit of SUEZ, said it has sold off its minority stakes in three joint ventures to partner SembCorp Utilities Pte Ltd, a Singaporean engineering, power and utility company. The deal is worth some Euro 93 million and is expected to be finalised before the end of the year....
CHINA: Yangtze Power received over US$1 billion in loans ahead of IPO Ð report
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – The China Yangtze Power Co, the listing arm of the controversial Three Gorges Dam, has received over US$1 billion in new loans only days ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) on Nov 18, state press said. The China Development Bank, a mainland policy bank, granted loans amounting to 5 billion yuan...
MALAYSIA: Autoven sharply higher on oil consortium talk
KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Autoindustries Ventures Bhd (Autoven) shares have been on the rise recently after it confirmed speculation that it has applied to be part of the proposed second national oil consortium. In a statement issued in response to a Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange query, Autoindustries said it made a formal application to the...
VIETNAM: PetroVietnam says EPC contract for Dung Quat oil refinery to be signed next year
State Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation or PetroVietnam said it will formalise the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Dung Quat oil refinery with an Italian firm next year. Lack of funding and partnership disputes have delayed construction of the 130,000 barrels/day plant in recent years. PetroVietnam chairman Pham Quang Du said the...
MARKETS: Iran, Iraq boosted OPEC output in October Ð MEES
NICOSIA (AFX) – Production by the OPEC oil cartel rose by 380,000 barrels per day (b/d) in October to 27.82 million b/d, spurred by Iranian and Iraqi output, the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) reported. Without Iraq, which is not bound by OPEC quotas, output increased 230,000 b/d to 26.27 million b/d from 26.04 in...
CHINA: HK’s Sinopec Kantons unit subcontracts storage construction work to parent
HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Sinopec Kantons Holdings Ltd (934.HK) said its 70% owned subsidiary Hua De Petrochemical Co Ltd has signed an agreement to subcontract oil storage construction work worth 38.00 million yuan to Guangzhou Zhong Yuan Petrochemical Engineering Co Ltd, a wholly-owned unit of Sinopec’s parent China Petrochemical Corp. (US$1=8.27 yuan). The work involves...
VIETNAM: ConocoPhillips announces first oil from SuTu Den offshore field
US energy company ConocoPhillips, an owner of the Cuu Long Joint Operating Company (CLJOC), said it has begun producing oil from the SuTu Den (Black Lion) field in Block 15-1 off Vietnam’s east coast. Production began October 29 on budget and ahead of schedule, it said. The field has started producing 60,000 barrels of oil...
JAPAN: IEA tells Tokyo to restore public confidence in nuclear power
(JAPAN TIMES) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has Japan to restore public confidence in nuclear energy in light of its plans to increase its nuclear power output by 30% by 2010. The Paris-based agency also stated in an energy policy report on Japan — issued every four years — that Tokyo should clarify the...
SAUDI ARABIA: Oil minister signs multi-billion-dollar deal with Shell, Total
RIYADH (AFX-ASIA) – Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi has signed a multi-billion-dollar landmark deal with a consortium led by Royal Dutch/Shell and Total for gas exploration and production in the south of the kingdom. He told reporters that the project’s exploration phase alone needs investment of US$2 billion. An official in his ministry put...
MALAYSIA: Petronas reports 1st half net profit of RM 8.95 billion
Malaysian state oil and gas company Petronas has reported an 8% jump in net profit to RM8.95 billion for the fiscal half year ended Sept 30 over the previous period. (US$1=RM3.8). Revenue was RM43.94 billion compared with RM37.35 billion previously while pre-tax profit was up 24.2% to 15.06 billion. Petronas said its earnings were boosted...
CHINA: Panva Gas strengthens presence in Sichuan with new MOUs and an Agreement
China’s Panva Gas Holdings Limited said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Panriver Investments Co., Ltd, has signed two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and an agreement with various authorities in China’s Sichuan province. At the signing ceremony in Sichuan last week, Panva managing director Chen Wei said: “Sichuan is rich in natural-gas resources and accounts for 20% of...
AUSTRALIA: Hardman – Tiof may contain more than 200 million barrels of oil
SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Hardman Resources Ltd said further evaluation of the C-4-6 Tiof appraisal well off the Mauritanian coast has revealed that the Tiof field may contain more than 200 million barrels of recoverable oil. In a statement, Hardman said that since its report, wireline logging operations have been completed and the well is being...
INDIA: CERC may allow sale of power directly to buyers
(INFRALINE) — India’s Central Electricity Regulatory Commission is drafting a proposal for setting up an exchange where one can buy and sell power, bypassing the middleman. Generating utilities like the Damodar Valley Corporation and states like Goa and Sikkim sell surplus power to other states through traders like Power Trading Corporation and Global Energy Ltd....
THAILAND: Energy companies report 3Q results: PTT, EG, Banpu, TPI
BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) Ð PTT Plc said its third quarter to September net profit rose to 10.33 billion baht from 4.35 billion a year earlier, with earnings per share up at 3.70 baht from 1.56. Its nine months to September profit rose to 27.96 billion baht from 17.15 billion a year ago, and earnings per share...
AUSTRALIA: Canberra to auction oil, natural gas exploration rights to Chinese companies
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – The Australian government will hold an auction in China next March to auction oil and natural gas exploration rights to Chinese companies, the China Business Times reported, citing sources with Australia’s Ministry for Industry, Science and Resources. The newspaper quoted Warren Entsch, minister of Industry, Science and Resources, as saying Australia had...
INDONESIA: Citibank, Caltex among those on terrorist target list in Indonesia
JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Indonesian police have found a terrorist target list for Jakarta which includes Citibank branches, a suburb popular with expatriates and two international schools, newspapers reported, quoting an unnamed policeman. The Kompas daily and the Jakarta Post said officers found notes written by Marriott hotel bomber Asmar Latin Sani, which mentioned nine places...
MALAYSIA: ExxonMobil begin oil production from Irong Barat-B and Raya-B satellite platforms
ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc. (EMEPMI) has announced the start-up of crude oil production from Irong Barat B and Raya B, the last two of five satellite platforms installed under the Satellite Fields Development Phase I (SFD I) Project in 2001. “By using a generic minimum facility design which optimised the use of existing...
CHINA: Panva Gas, Harbin City sign MoU to establish JV in China
Panriver Investments Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Panva Gas Holdings Limited, and the Harbin city government have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture in the city of Harbin in China’s Helongjiang province. The MoU, signed on November 13, is a non-legally binding document. The two parties will follow up...
THAILAND: Ratchaburi Electricity looking to expand regional investment
BANGKOK (AFX-ASIA) – Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc said it may buy stakes in power plants in Indonesia and Laos to expand its generating capacity, Businessday reported. “We are looking for investment opportunities in other countries in the region,” managing director Boonchoo Direksathapon told reporters. The company plans to spend as much as 7.3 billion...
THAILAND: PTT’s jet fuel ranks best in Asia and seventh in the world
International air carriers have ranked Thailand’s state oil and gas company PTT as the best regional jet fuel marketer for 2003 from among 50 oil traders in the Asia-Pacific region, said the Armbrust Jet Fuel Report, a leading international airline business magazine. On a world scale, PTT was ranked seventh. The report surveyed 78 international...