MOSCOW (AFX) – The Union of Oil Exporters, which includes Yukos, Lukoil, BP PLC and its partner TNK, said it has written to the government to demand the right to build a partly privately-owned pipeline, breaking the state’s monopoly on oil export routes. “The network of Russian pipelines does not meet the needs of oil...

Shell Global Solutions International, a subsidiary of the major, has awarded a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract to Japan’s JGC Inc for the onshore design of the $5 billion gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Qatar. The award was announced by Qatar Shell GTL Ltd. The contract, which will require almost 500,000 design manhours, will...

Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Chakib Khelil said Asia holds great potential for development of the liquefied natural gas market, according to the Gulf Times. Asia’s gas consumption is expected to increase threefold to 623 billion cubic metres (bcm) by 2025, Dr Khelil said in his keynote address at the LNG14 gathering in Qatar....

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – The country’s wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) is expected to be ready for operations later this year after last week’s signing of two vital contracts to jump-start the project, the Department of Energy said. The DoE and the state-run National Transmission Corp will formally award a US$2 million contract for consultancy services...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Six Singapore-listed oil companies and two European financial institutions will be the standby buyers for next month’s initial public offering (IPO) of a 25-30% stake in oil and gas company PT Energi Mega Persada (EMP), Bisnis Indonesia reported quoting an EMP commissioner. EMP commissioner Nazamudin Latif said EMP has known the eight...

Qatar expects to export more than 60 million tons/year of natural gas by 2010, up from the current level of 18 million tons/year with the start-up of its third train by one of two state-owned companies, RasGas, last month. Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy & Industry, made these predictions...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Liaohe Jinma Oilfield Co Ltd (SZA 000817) said its 2003 net profit increased 35.25% to 538.11 million yuan for 2003 due to higher crude oil prices. The company, which extracts oil in northeast China, said core revenue increased 15.01% to 1.39 billion yuan with a gross profit margin of 63.57%, up 10.51...

Thailand’s Ministry of Energy is drafting a national strategic plan on the county’s future energy need, according to a Business Day report. The report quoted Pornchai Rujiprapa, deputy permanent secretary of the ministry, as saying that the plan will cover forecast figures on annual energy demands and its supply sources from 2004 to 2030. According...

LONDON (AFX) – Hardman Resources said it expects to be able to report a substantial pretax profit in the year to June of possibly over A$100 million, as it will include the profit from the sale of the Mauritania ENI interests and a profit from selling its Perth Basin assets. (US$1=A$1.3). Managing Director Ted Ellyard...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has maintained its BBB+ foreign currency rating on Hong Kong-listed CNOOC Ltd (883.HK) after the company reported a 2003 net profit of 11.98 billion yuan, up 32% over 2002. (US$1=8.27 yuan). “However, the positive effect of higher oil prices has been partially offset by an increase...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – PetroChina (HK 857) may be coming around to the view that it can run the west-east pipeline on its own, as negotiations with potential foreign investors make little progress, the Wall Street Journal reported. The report quoted three Chinese industry sources involved in the project as saying that nearly two years after...

TBILISI (AFX) – Georgia’s Batumi oil terminal has declared force majeure because of a blockade that is severely hampering oil exports from the Caspian Sea region, authorities said. Batumi’s Western-owned oil terminal loads 9 million tonnes of oil and oil products from Azerbiajan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan a year. Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili this week ordered...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – BP Indonesia is seeking a license to import fuel and distribute it in the local market, Detik.com reported, citing the Processing and Marketing Director at Directorate General for Oil and Gas, Erie Soedarmo. “BP has submitted the application for retail and import business. We are still processing it,” he said. He added...

India’s state oil marketing companies have agreed to buy 3.7 million tonnes of diesel from Reliance Industries the next financial year, sharply lower from last year’s 6.2 million tonnes, but still higher than what they had intended. The buyers include Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL)....

A commentary by French investment bank SG “The market asks itself how OPEC can justify implementing its previously-announced reduction in quotas: 1 million b/d effective 1 April, meant to keep prices from collapsing below US$25/barrel in the second quarter. “The decision to cut was taken with Brent at US$29/barrel and looking to be headed lower,...

Singapore has in place the measures to ensure that it remains a safe, secure and clean port of call for the international maritime community, said Minister for Transport Yeo Cheow Tong. Singapore has in place effective oil and chemical response capabilities, and is party to several international conventions on the preparedness, response and co-operation to...

Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Co. has received approval to restart a stalled program using reprocessed spent nuclear fuel in nuclear power reactors, according to the Japan Times. In a meeting with the utility’s president, Fukui Governor Issei Nishikawa announced a decision to follow the national government and the Takahama Municipal Government in allowing Kansai Power...

Royal Dutch/Shell said it is continuing discussion and correspondence with “several” regulatory authorities including cooperating with a formal non-public investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over the brewing scandalinvolving the shortfall of its oil and gas reserves. In a statement, the company acknowledged that is subject to “related ongoing legal actions in the...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) Ð The share price of Huaneng Power International Inc’s (SHA 600011, HK 0902, NYSE HNE) has moved higher after it announced higher net profit for 2003 on the back of increased power demand and expanded generating capacity. Investors snapped up the stock as the company also indicated further acquisition plans in the near...

■ The market asks itself how OPEC can justify implementing its previously-announced reduction in quotas: 1 Mb/d effective 1 April, meant to keep prices from collapsing below USD 25/b in the second quarter. The decision to cut was taken with Brent at USD 29/b and looking to be headed lower, and Ð far from weakening...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Scientists from the Life Science Institute of Sichuan University announced that they have developed an environmentally friendly fuel from a dried fruit, which can be used in various existing diesel engines, Xinhua news agency reported. Plans are underway to commercialize production of the oil, which is deemed more efficient and cleaner than...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – PT Amoseas Indonesia, a unit of US company ChevronTexaco Corp, said it is in talks with state oil and gas company PT Pertamina and electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to develop the Darajat III geothermal power plant, company president Bernie McCloskey said. “We are currently negotiating and hopefully will be...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – The International Energy Agency has almost doubled its China 2004 oil demand growth estimate to 6.07 million barrels per day (bpd), or 10.5%, from 5.49 million b/d in 2003, as refiners boost output to satisfy surging demand for electricity. Last month, the Paris-based intergovernmental body forecast China’s oil demand to grow 6.2%...

Asig, a member of Britain’s aviation service provider BBA Group Plc, has teamed up with Bangkok-based Novatech Co to provide alternative fuelling services for airplanes calling Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport, which have to date been dominated by Bangkok Aviation Fuel Service Plc (Bafs), said the Bangkok Post. The 20-year concession that the joint venture firm,...

HANOI (AFX-ASIA) – A Vietnamese company said it will build a US$273 million hydroelectric power plant in Laos that will export electricity to Vietnam to meet energy shortages there. Tran Dieu Ha, deputy head of the planning department at the Vietnam-Laos Joint Stock Investment and Development Co, said work will begin on the 250 megawatt...