HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Independent power producer China Resources Power Holdings Company Ltd drew strong demand for its initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, enabling it to fetch a top-range price of HK$2.80 per share. (US$1=HK$7.78). The price set by the company and underwriters hit the top end of an initial range of HK$2.20-2.80...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Sime Darby Bhd’s purchase of a 50% stake in Island Power Holdings Pte Ltd is a positive move, OSK Research said. Island Power Holdings is developing a 715-megawatt (MW) combined cycle gas turbine power plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island. The deal calls for Sime Darby to pay IG Island Power BV...

Australian upstream company Santos Limited said a consortium that it is heading has conducted a successful production test of the Casino-3 well in the offshore Otway Basin in Australia. Santos Limited has a 50% stake in the the VIC/P44 joint venture, shared with Peedamullah Petroleum Pty Ltd (Australian Worldwide Exploration) with a 25% stake and...

MOSCOW (AFX) – The power struggle over Russia’s largest oil producer Yukos appears set to determine the country’s political orientation in the coming years, and many analysts believe the Kremlin has opted for the Chinese model of development. President “Vladimir Putin’s second mandate has begun early,” the daily Izvestia commented last week, with his popularity...

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...

China’s CNOOC Limited (NYSE: CEO, SEHK: 883) said its parent company — China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) — has sealed an agreement with Philippines’ PNOC Exploration Corporation (PNOC EC) to undertake joint exploration and development of oil and gas in the South China Sea. CNOOC and PNOC EC have signed a Letter of Intent...

Australian resources company BHP Billiton has announced positive results of its first appraisal well on the Shenzi field, discovered last year in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Shenzi-2 began drilling on September 22 on Green Canyon Block 653 with the BHP Billiton operated drillship CR Luigs. The well is located in water depths of 4,238...

LONDON (AFX) – ConocoPhillips is in discussions about a joint venture with OAO Lukoil, the Financial Times reported, citing a senior Lukoil official. ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco are also said to have approached Lukoil about a deal, but the talks with ConocoPhillips appear to be the most advanced, the FT said. Executives close to both sides...

Trading software solutions company SolArc has secured $25 million of funding from US, Palo Alto-based TCV, signalling a return of investor interest in the commodities trading technology space that has taken a beating since Enron. “This funding not only positions SolArc as a major player in its industry, it also sends a strong signal that...

SEOUL (AFX-ASIA) – North Korea today threatened to seize the assets of Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO), a US-led international consortium, if the group suspends a nuclear power project in North Korea without compensation, according to a report in the North Korean state media, monitored here by Yonhap news agency. The North’s foreign ministry...

Ministers from Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have agreed to deepen regional cooperation in energy, transportation and trade. In a ministerial statement issued at the end of the recent Second Ministerial Conference on Central Asia Economic Cooperation in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the ministers “expressed strong commitment to working together to pursue a...

Crude prices have lost some of their steam since late in the third quarter, mostly due to higher crude inventories and relatively mild weather. How much more downside is possible? In the latest edition of its Pacific Basin Stockwatch, ESAI said it believes the downside for crude prices through the end of the year is...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Listed oil refiner Petron Corp will receive tax breaks from the government for the 5.5-billion peso modernisation of its refinery in the province of Bataan, the Board of Investment (BoI) said. (US$1=55 peso). The BoI said it has approved the grant of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for Petron’s refinery upgrade, and at...

SchlumbergerSema, the information technology (IT) business segment of Schlumberger Limited, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. have teamed up to offer utility computing solutions to customers in the energy, finance and telecommunications industries. The agreement enables SchlumbergerSema, a member of the Sun iForce(sm) community, to deploy Sun’s utility architecture so that customers in these sectors can dynamically...

OSLO (AFX) – The Norwegian oil company Statoil denied a report by the Iranian news agency IRNA that it is linking up with Total to win contracts to operate a major field in southwest Iran. “Statoil has no relationship with Total, and there is no cooperation between the two companies,” Kai Nielsen, spokesman for Statoil,...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Scomi Group Bhd said it is on track to meet its 2003 profit forecast of 18 million. (US$1=RM3.8). “Barring any unforeseen circumstances and based on historical trend, the board expects the group to be on track to meet its profit forecast as set out in its prospectus dated Apr 15, 2003,”...

Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and US-based FuelCell Energy, Inc. said they will build two Direct FuelCell(R) power plants at the Seiko Epson facilities in the City of Ina, Nagano Prefecture, in Japan. Marubeni, Asian partner of fuel cell developer FuelCell Energy, will supply two 250 kW DFC power plants to the First Energy Service Company, Ltd....

US independent oil and gas company Murphy Oil Corporation said it has successfully conducted an extended drill stem test on its Kikeh 4 well located in deep waters off the coast of Malaysia’s Sabah state. The well tested a single oil zone that was flowed for 15 days up to an equipment-limited maximum rate of...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Scomi Group Bhd has been trading higher, a week after the company had announced plans to buy 70.9% of Oiltools International Ltd for US$77.38 million, dealers said. The company also announced a share placement exercise of up to 11 million Scomi shares at RM12.50 each and a 3-for-5 bonus issue of...

(INFRALINE) — India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to issue a second public offer sometime next year to help fund its gas exploration activities. Merchant bankers said the state-run firm will seek government permission to divest 5% of its equity as it is short by Rs 30,000-40,000 million to pay for investments of...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Nippon Oil Corp is teaming up with ConocoPhillips of the US and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp (PetroVietnam) to obtain carbon dioxide emissions rights, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. Nippon Oil would be the first in Japan’s oil industry to secure emissions rights under the Kyoto Protocol. A Nippon Oil subsidiary will...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Crest Petroleum Bhd said it has fixed the issue price for its rights issue shares at RM1.50 per share and the exercise price of its warrants at RM3.51 per share. (US$1=RM3.8). Crest Petroleum is making a renounceable rights issue of 100 million new shares on the basis of about 5.28 rights...

SEOUL (AFX-ASIA) – North Korea today threatened to seize the assets of Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), a US-led international consortium, if the group suspends a nuclear power project in North Korea without compensation, according to a report in the North Korean state media, monitored here by Yonhap news agency. The North’s foreign ministry...

SEOUL (AFX-ASIA) – Russia, China and South Korea will decide today on whether to include North Korea in a US$11 billion project to pipe Siberian natural gas into the Korean peninsula, officials said. “The three countries will officially complete the feasibility study at a meeting in Moscow on November 14,” the commerce, industry and energy...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – US-based utility Duke Energy will formally begin the A$1.5 billion sale of its Australian assets tomorrow with investment bank JP Morgan to deliver a ‘sale flyer’ to potential buyers, the Australian Financial Review reported without specifying sources. (US$1=A$1.4). In preparation for a sale, Duke has employed international branding group Interbrand to develop...