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...

MOSCOW (AFX) – President Vladimir Putin told the visiting IMF head that an official probe of the Yukos oil giant did not mean that other privatisation deals of the past decade would be reviewed, a top Kremlin aide reported. “The president underlined that there would be no de-privatisation,” the Kremlin’s senior ecomic adviser Andrei Illarionov...

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...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – PNOC Exploration Corp told the stock exchange that two Indonesian firms, Medco Energi International and the Expan group, have concluded their joint due diligence relating to their interest to acquire the Philippine company’s stake in the Malampaya natural gas project. PNOC-EC, a unit of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co, is in the...

ADB has approved a technical assistance (TA) grant of US$350,000 to assess the potential and options for renewable energy development in Uzbekistan. According to an ADB statement, financed by Denmark and administered by ADB, the grant will help develop an action plan to boost renewable energy development and design pilot projects for the most appropriate...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Indonesian oil and gas firm PT Medco Energi Internasional said that after 6 weeks of comprehensive evaluation, its technical team has concluded that its Madura PSC-JOB block contains “potentially big gas reserves.” However, it said in a statement that further work needs to be done before commercial development of the block can...

With the successful completion of two new tank pits, the Oiltanking Group of Companies has expanded its storage capacity in Singapore to over one million cubic metres. Chem-3 and 4 tanks, built by Oiltanking Odfjell Terminal Singapore (OOTS), have the capacity to store between 2,000 and 10,000 cubic metres of chemicals for third-party use. Since...

Malaysian oil and gas service company Scomi Group Bhd’s placement shares involving the issuance of 10 million new ordinary shares of RM0.50 have been fully secured, reported Bernama news agency. (US$1=RM3.8). “The entire placement shares have been identified and their undertakings to subscribe to the placement shares have been secured accordingly,” the group said in...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s oil consumption is expected to hit 10.9 million barrels per day (b/d) by 2025, double last year’s total consumption level, Goldman Sachs said in a research note. The investment bank quoted statistics from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) as saying that by 2025 China is likely to account for 9.2% of...

Listed downstream oil company Esso Malaysia Berhad (EMB) has reported an after tax loss of RM 10 million in the third quarter, down from a loss of RM 15 million in the same quarter of 2002. (US1=RM3.8). In a statement, it said the current quarter had been adversely affected by weak retail margins as the...

RIYADH (AFX) – State oil company Saudi Aramco is launching an investment initiative, expected to attract US$4.1 billion, to turn the Rabigh refinery on the Red Sea into a petrochemical centre, the official news agency SPA said. The project, expected to be completed by 2008, will allow the refinery to feed stock into a petrochemical...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Scomi Group Bhd has submitted a bid to Murphy Oil Corp for a RM40-60 million 3-year contract to supply drilling fluids and related engineering services, The Edge online reported, quoting sources. The sources said Scomi is competing with MI Drilling Fluids and Halliburton Baroid for the job. The result should be...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s State Power Grid Co has finished restructuring its five regional grid operations, following the establishment of North China Power Grid Co Ltd on Oct 8, Xinhua news agency reported. The news agency said North China Power Grid, one of State Power’s five regional grid operations, has registered capital of 60 billion...

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 earlier this month, wireline logging operations have been completed and the...

GlobalView Software Inc., a leading provider of data management solutions for global energy markets, has launched its new web-based product MarketView. “This new solution not only delivers and displays two-way, real-time streaming data but will also allow for full connectivity into back-end office systems, increasing operational efficiencies and reducing costs for its users,” said a...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – China is expected to contribute about 35% growth in global oil demand this year and 30% in 2004 as the country’s thirst for oil products grows stronger in line with its rapid economic expansion, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. The IEA has raised its forecast for global oil demand by 180,000...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – China Resources Power Holdings Co Ltd vice chairman and chief executive officer Wang Shuai Ting said he expects electricity prices in China to remain stable for the next three years. Attending the debut trading session of the company’s shares on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, Mr Wang said prices have...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Rating Agency Malaysia Bhd (RAM) said it has reaffirmed the “AA1” rating assigned to Sarawak Electricity Supply Corp’s (SESCO) RM605 million Al-Bai Bithaman Ajil Islamic debt securities (BAIDS). (US$1=RM3.8). “Our rating is premised on SESCO’s strong financial profile and its strategic role as the sole utility company in Sarawak. “SESCO enjoys...

VIENNA (AFX) – Iran is guilty of some breaches of international nuclear safeguards but has shown increased cooperation with UN inspectors, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report, according to diplomats. “Based on all information currently available to the agency, it is clear that Iran has failed in a number of instances over...

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – Total Automation Ltd said it expects net profit and revenue in 2004 to increase between 20 to 30% on the back of a buoyant marine and oil and gas industry. “If we have enough manpower, I think we should be able to attain our past years’ growth rate (in 2004), which is...

Saudi Aramco has announced a major programme to attract 15 billion riyals (US$4.1 billion) to turn the Rabigh oil refinery on the Red Sea into an integrated oil-petrochemical downstream hub. According to the official news agency SPA, the complex will be completed by 2008, with the refinery supplying feedstocks into a petrochemical plant with the...

Singapore-listed China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd (CAO) has announced a 29.2% year-on-year rise in net profit for the July-September quarter of 2003. It attributed the rise to “record jet-fuel procurement volumes and healthy profitability in international oil trading”. Net profit was S$10.4 million, compared with S$8 million in the same quarter last year. (US$1=S$1.73)....

ADB has approved a technical assistance (TA) grant of US$350,000 to assess the potential and options for renewable energy development in Uzbekistan. According to an ADB statement, financed by Denmark and administered by ADB, the grant will help develop an action plan to boost renewable energy development and design pilot projects for the most appropriate...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Hong Kong-listed China Gas Holdings Limited has announced a share placement and top-up by a substantial shareholder to raise net proceeds of HK$130 million. (US$1=HK$7.78). Heng Fung Holdings Ltd, which owns 23.61% of the company’s existing issued share capital, will place a total of 160 million shares at HK$0.84 each to...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – China Yangtze Power Co Ltd has announced the names of its 15 strategic investors for its 10 billion yuan A-share IPO, Yangtze Power’s lead underwriter CITIC Securities (SHA 600030) said. (US$1=8.27 yuan). These strategic investors, including a portfolio from the China National Social Security Fund, State Grid Corp and Shanghai Baosteel Group...