KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – National utilities company Tenaga Nasional Bhd expects to raise some RM4.4 billion by June next year, from the sale of some assets, and will use the proceeds to pare down its debts as well as provide funding for future capital spending, chairman Awang Adek Hussin said. (US$1=RM3.8). Tenaga, which is finalising...
BAGHDAD (AFX) – Oil production from Iraq’s southern fields has reached 2 million barrels per day (b/d), the same level as before the US-led invasion began in March, Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum said. He said he hopes the country’s total output will reach pre-war levels of 2.8 million b/d by March 2004. “Production from...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China Petroleum & Chemical Group (Sinopec Group) plans to offload its loss-making non-petrochemical assets in the near future by handing them over to local governments, as part of restructuring efforts, a Sinopec official said. Like other state-owned companies, Sinopec Group has many unprofitable affiliates nationwide, including schools and hospitals, servicing the needs...
NEW YORK (AFX) — Dan Gordon, the former head of Merrill Lynch’s global energy markets group, pleaded guilty Friday to criminal charges including money laundering and wire fraud, and has agreed to forfeit $43 million obtained as a result. The Securities and Exchange Commission also slapped Gordon with civil violations last week for the schemes...
LONDON (AFX) – CanArgo Energy Corp said it has acquired oil and gas interests in Kazakhstan which were previously owned by the UK public company Atlantic Caspian Resources PLC (ACR). CanArgo said it acquired the assets through a new company, Tethys Petroleum Investments Limited (TPI), which has acquired ACR’s 70% interest in BN Munai LLP...
KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) Ð Shares of national utility Tenaga Nasional Bhd have been trading lower as investors trimmed their position on concerns over the company’s asset sale and diversification strategy, dealers said. “Tenaga’s move to sell its assets and diversify overseas, baffled some investors. I think that is why some of them are slowly cutting...
Australian resources company BHP Billiton and its equal joint venture partner, Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd, have signed a gas sale and purchase agreement with TXU Electricity Ltd (TXU). The agreement is for the sale and purchase of 825 petajoules gross of Bass Strait gas to TXU in the period 2004 to 2017. First gas...
SK Corporation, South Korea’s largest oil refiner, and BP p.l.c., one of the world’s leading energy companies, said they have reached agreement for BP to participate in a new 1,074 megawatt gas-fired power station in South Korea, due to start operations in 2006. In a statement, BP said: “Under the agreement signed in Seoul, BP...
JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina said it expects 2004 production to reach 344,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboepd) from 285,000 boepd currently, with new oil and gas projects in the pipeline next year. Pertamina’s total oil and gas reserves as of November amounted to 424 million barrels of...
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has released the last US$100 million of a US$300 million programme to improve the air quality of the Philippines’ Manila city and surrounding areas. The ADB said the Air Quality Improvement Sector Development Program being implemented by the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had achieved “significant reductions”...
TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Mitsui & Co has received a 50 billion yen order to construct and supply four thermal power generation plants for Saudi Arabian Oil Co, the state-owned oil company known as Saudi Aramco, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing sources close to the deal. (US$1=107 yen). The report said this is the first...
Thailand’s oil and gas demand (exclusive of feedstock for petrochemical sector) increased by 5.4% to 1,045,900 barrels per day (b/d) for the first 10 months of the year, said state company PTT. Consumption of refined oil products averaged 645,200 b/d, an increase of 4.9% over the same period last year while diesel use was up...
Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum Ltd said it will increase its interest in two of its core Mauritanian exploration areas following the signing of an agreement to acquire Agip Mauritania B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Italian oil and gas company, ENI Exploration B.V. Agip Mauritania B.V. currently holds a 35% interest in each...
There is reason for optimism that air quality in Asia’s cities can be improved in the years to come, ADB vice president Geert van der Linden told a recent workshop on air quality held in Manila. Speaking at a workshop on better air quality management in Asia, he said that one sign of progress is...
SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – Shanghai will increase the amount it charges commercial and industrial electricty users by between 2.5 and 5% starting mid-December as the city moves to counter a looming power crisis, the Shanghai Daily said. The city will also charge more for power used during peak hours as the government prepares for a capacity...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Sinochem Corp, one of China’s largest domestic oil trading companies, said in a statement that it has purchased a 14% stake in an Ecuadorian oilfield. Separately, the China Daily reported Sinochem paid US$100 million for the stake. The stake purchase, in Block 16 of the oilfield and controlled by US oil firm...
Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has warned that greenhouse gas emissions could wreak ecological havoc on the country’s woodlands, sea life and endangered bird species by the end of the next century, according to the Taipei Times. A new study carried out by the National Taiwan University (NTU), National Taiwan Ocean University and National Central...
US major ChevronTexaco has announced an $8.5 billion capital and exploratory spending programme for 2004, with US$6.4 billion of that for upstream projects. A key project includes the continued development of the Sour Gas Injection Second Generation Project at Tengiz, Kazakhstan which is targeting production increases in 2006. The other projects are in Nigeria, Angola,...
KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – The Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) hopes to adopt a five-year blueprint in 2004 to boost energy security, encourage investment and build capacity in the sector, Malaysian energy ministry said. Senior officials from the 10 member countries discussed a draft of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation at a...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s oil companies have suspended or reduced exports of diesel oil and gasoline due to a domestic supply shortage, the Beijing Morning Post reported. The newspaper said China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) (SHA 600028; HK 0386; NYSE SNP) will suspend diesel oil exports again for January following a similar move this...
TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – A Mitsubishi Corpled consortium led is considering bidding for a gas development project in Iraq, a member of the group said. “We are raising our hands, expecting that there will be such an opportunity” to develop gas fields in the post-war Iraq, said a spokesman for Marubeni Corp, a member of the...
SunGard Market Data Services, an operating group of SunGard (NYSE:SDS), said that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire New York-headquartered FAME Information Services, Inc., a leading provider of data management technology and consulting solutions to the world’s financial services, public sector and energy industries. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is...
Australian Worldwide Exploration Limited (AWE) and ARC Energy NL have signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) for the sale and purchase of AWE’s onshore Perth Basin assets. AWE will sell its onshore Perth Basin interests to ARC for a cash consideration of A$15.75 million. (US$1=A$1.3). The onshore Perth Basin interests comprise a 15.245% interest in...
US independent company ConocoPhillips has approved a 2004 capital budget of approximately $6.9 billion, with US$1.3 billion allocated for upstream projects in Asia. “Maintaining a 2004 cash capital budget essentially equal to 2003 is part of our disciplined approach toward improving returns on capital employed,” said Jim Mulva, president and chief executive officer. “This capital...
CAIRO (AFX-ASIA) – Non-OPEC oil exporting countries will be asked to participate in a potential reduction of the global oil supply that OPEC could decide for the second quarter of 2004, ministers from the oil cartel said. They were speaking against a background of surging oil prices in the face of higher demand and ahead...