Australian resources company BHP Billiton said it has uncovered new oil reserves following the completion of drilling at the Puma-1 exploration in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well encountered approximately 500 feet of net oil pay in Miocene sandstones, and two subsequent sidetrack bores also encountered oil in reservoir intervals of a similar age. In...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s crude oil imports increased 31.3% year-on-year to 91.12 million tons in 2003, and refined oil imports were up 38.8% at 28.24 million tons, the official International Business Daily reported, citing customs figures. The newspaper said China’s steel imports rose 51.8% year-on-year to 37.17 million tons last year, while auto imports were...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said here that world oil prices should be determined by market forces and acknowledged a drop in US oil inventories. “President (George W.) Bush has publicly commented and expressed concern that the price of oil not hurt the world economy whether it’s the economy of the United...
China’s CNOOC Limited (NYSE: CEO, SEHK: 883) last week announced its business strategy and development plan for 2004. It has targeted net offshore production at between 118 and 123 million BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) compared with 108 million BOE last year. Its Indonesian unit is expected to report a net entitlement volume of approximately...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China will curb the rising cost of water and electricity by freezing their tariffs for the first quarter of this year, the China Daily reported, citing an official at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The official, who called himself Zhang, was quoted by the paper as saying that it is...
US energy consultants ESAI has tipped Japan to win the battle with China for Russia’s decision to build an Asia-bound natural gas pipeline. In a statement, ESAI said that although no official decision on the route of the pipeline from east Siberian Angarsk has been announced, it has learnt that “Japan is likely to win...
TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Itochu Corp, a major Japanese trading house, is buying a 5% concession in the Cliff Head Oil Field off the west coast of Australia from Norwest Energy NL for A$8.1 million, or about 660 million yen, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing unnamed Itochu company sources. (US$1=106 yen). Itochu plans to start...
Five years after launching reforms of its domestic oil markets, China’s energy demand is making a big impact on the world markets. Chinese demand is expected to help prop up oil prices in 2004 and beyond while overtaking Japanese demand to become the world’s second largest after the US. Last year was a watershed for...
BOMBAY (AFX-ASIA) – Reliance, India’s largest private sector group, has announced plans to acquire the ailing and debt-ridden National Organic Chemicals (NOCIL), a move which should help to bolster Reliance’s leading position in the country’s petrochemicals industry. The group said its associate, Sunbright Cement, had signed an agreement with NOCIL to acquire the latter’s petrochemicals...
ChevronTexaco has responded to last week’s shock announcement by Royal Dutch Shell that it will reduce its proved crude oil and natural gas reserve quantities by 20%. ChevronTexaco said it has a rigorous review process for determining how and when its proved reserves for crude oil and natural gas reserves are recognised. The Jan 9...
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AFX-ASIA) – Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today an agreement to sell the huge Bakun hydroelectric dam project to a politically well-connected tycoon has lapsed, but the project will still proceed. The government initially planned to sell 60% of Sarawak Hidro, operator of the 2,400-megawatt Bakun scheme in Sarawak state on...
MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Energy Secretary Vincent Perez said the “excessively high” oil prices maintained by OPEC hamper the sustainability of economic recovery by the Philippines. In a statement, he expressed disappointment over the reported OPEC decision not to increase oil production when the OPEC price basket exceeds US$28 per barrel for more than 20 consecutive...
PARIS (AFX) – Over one million plants and animals — a quarter of all life on land — could become extinct in just decades due to man-made climate change, scientists writing in the UK journal Nature said. The main culprits for this change, they say, are greenhouses gases, which are churned out by automobiles and...
French investment bank said this week’s key figure in US oil data report is that product deliveries total “an extremely low 19.3 million barrels/day”. It is 1.2 million b/d less than four weeks earlier for the second week running. In short, SG said high prices work as US oil demand has stalled. It said: “Markets...
Thailand’s upstream company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) said it set aside about 120.8 billion bath for its capital and operating expenditures for the next five year starting 2004. (US$1=39baht). The company said it has a total of 21 projects including production in Bongkot, Pailin, Yadana, Yetagun, and S1; upcoming projects in...
China’s CNOOC Ltd (HK 0883; NYSE CEO) said it has taken over from BP Plc (NYSE BP) the operations of a jointly developed offshore gas field in south China as previously planned. The gas field in Yacheng 13-1 in the Ying Ge Hai Basin in South China Sea, was jointly owned by CNOOC, BP and...
Federal energy regulators plan to implement tougher electricity regulations by this summer, regardless of whether Congress passes an energy bill, Pat Wood III, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said. FERC already requests that power companies comply with reliability standards to balance supply and demand, but compliance has been voluntary for more than...
JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Two fertilizer plants in the province of Aceh suffered an estimated 42 billion rupiah loss after gas supply was cut off for two months due to falling production at the Arun gas field operated by ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia Inc, the Koran Tempo reported. (US$1=106 yen). Tempo said that during the month of...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Net profit at China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the parent group of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina Co Ltd (HK 0857: NYSE PTR), rose over 30% last year to more than 70 billion yuan, but its chairman Ma Fucai warned of increasing competition, the South China Morning Post reported. (US$1=8.27 yuan). CNPC also saw...
WASHINGTON (AFX) — President Bush was fixed on removing Saddam Hussein from power from the very first days of his administration, former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill says in a new book to be released next week. “From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed...
NEW DELHI (AFX-ASIA) – The cabinet has approved the construction of strategic oil reserve facilities to provide 15 days of emergency supplies, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced Wednesday. The facilities, to be fashioned after US storage depots, will be built at a cost of US$350 million at two places along India’s west coast —...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s power generation was up 15.3% at 1.908 trillion kWh in 2003, the highest growth recorded since China started its economic reforms in the late 1970s, the official China Electric Power News reported. The report said power consumption increased to 1.891 trillion kWh last year, up 15.4%, also a record growth rate....
ExxonMobil Chemical said it has implemented an advanced information system, the Global Enterprise Management System (GEMS), with the Asia Pacific phase going ‘live’ last October. The system provides the company’s customers around the world with timely information about their orders and the products they buy. ExxonMobil Chemical said its Singapore office played a key role...
The following commentary on the oil markets was made by SG economist Frédéric Lasserre in a commentary early this week. “One year ago to the day, crude oil was trading nearly US$3/barrel below today’s levels. In fact, in order to match today’s US$31.50 for Brent or US$34.40 for WTI, it’s necessary to look back to...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China will begin operating its regional northeastern power grid on a trial base from Jan 15, to test the feasibility of the project and to pave the way for final implementation of reforms, the country’s electricity industry regulator said. In a statement, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said the reforms are aimed...