The Thai government may raise retail gasoline prices as the subsidies paid to cap them are running out. According to the Bangkok Post, Energy Minister Prommin Lertsuridej said the government had hoped to subsidise gasoline prices for two months but the world oil price had stayed at high levels longer than expected. To date, the...
MOSCOW (AFX) – OAO Lukoil said it has signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with the Iraqi oil ministry, following talks in Baghdad between Lumoil president Vagit Alekperov and Iraq’s oil minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulyum. The parties have agreed to set up a technical committee to coordinate their oil and gas activities, while Lukoil...
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...
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...
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...
Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s chairman and CEO Ray R. Irani, met with the Libyan leader, Colonel Moammar al-Ghadafi, and other high-ranking officials in Libya to discuss the resumption of the company’s operations that were suspended in 1986. In a statement, Dr. Irani said, “We’re excited about the significant improvement in U.S.-Libyan relations that will allow Occidental...
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AFX) – ExxonMobil Corp said exploratory work at its Zafar Mashal prospect in Azerbaijan’s sector of the Caspian Sea was progressing well following an earlier setback when a well had to be redrilled. Drilling operations have been shifted four kilometres from the original site of a wildcat well, and are faring much better...
ChevronTexaco Shipping Co. LLC (NYSE: CVX) said that one of its affiliates will serve as the operator of the North West Shelf Venture gas project’s newest vessel, the Northwest Swan. The vessel is planned to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the project’s Western Australian operations to customers in Japan, Korea and China, as well...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) (SHA 600028; HK 0386; NYSE SNP) and PetroChina Co Ltd (HK 0857; NYSE PTR), the country’s two biggest oil producers, have begun slashing refined-oil prices in a price war to win market share in western China’s Chongqing municipality, the 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing sources...
US gasoline imports are still far below last year’s levels, keeping gasoline inventories on the low side despite higher production, said US-based consulting group ESAI. In the latest edition of its Atlantic Basin Stockwatch, ESAI said the next major hurdle for the gasoline market will be the production of summer grade gasoline, which could bring...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) is targeting a stock market listing in 2008, a company official told AFX-Asia. “We’ve been contemplating an IPO on the group level for a long time, and our general manager Fu Chengyu raised the issue again during an internal company meeting last month,” a CNOOC official,...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the parent company of PetroChina Co Ltd (857 HK), will begin construction of the second phase of a 3000 km crude oil pipeline linking China and Kazakhstan in July, the China News Agency reported. Wang Yongming, director of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Economic and Trade Commission,...
MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – The Philippines needs investment of around US$2-3 billion in the next five years to build new power-generating plants and meet growing demand, an industry official said. Federico Lopez, president of First Generation Holdings Corp, said the Luzon island alone will need an additional power supply of about 700 megawatts by 2007. First...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – The Ministry of Commerce will allow both CNOOC Ltd (HK 883) and Sinochem Corp to conduct wholesale and retail sales of refined oil products and has submitted the plan to the State Council for approval, the 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing people familiar with the matter. CNOOC is expected to get...
GE said it has received a $78 million contract to provide four 250- megawatt pump/turbine and motor/generator sets, auxiliary equipment and services for a new, 1,000-megawatt pumped-storage hydropower station in the mountainous area in the southwest suburb of Yixing City in China. The Jiangsu Pumped Storage Power Co. Ltd awarded the contract for the equipment...
LONDON (AFX) – Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire and owner of Chelsea football club, is in talks to sell half his 92% stake in Russian oil company, Sibneft to a foreign energy group, the Financial Times on-line edition reported, citing oil industry bankers. Royal Dutch/Shell, the Anglo-Dutch group, ChevronTexaco, and Total of France have had...
French investment bank SG said it is even more bullish on world oil demand than the International Energy Agency. In a report, it said the IEA had issued an “extremely bullish” update on the state of the world’s oil markets. The IEA hiked its estimated 2004 demand by 300,000 b/d due to ‘unexpectedly rapid growth...
CAIRO (AFX) – OPEC members expressed diverging opinions last week on whether the oil cartel should automatically implement a production cut of one million barrels per day (b/d) from April 1, despite soaring prices. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said the 11-member Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries could delay a decision to slash its output...
BAGHDAD (AFX) – Iraq has successfully pumped oil through a pipeline linking its northern oil fields to the Turkish export terminal of Ceyhan, but an official reopening date has not been decided, the interim Iraqi oil minister said. Two weeks ago, “on a trial basis, we pumped 6 million barrels of oil, enough to fill...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Premier Wen Jiabao said he is confident of the prospects for cooperation between China and Russia in the field of oil and gas exploration, pipeline and power plant construction, even though it now looks likely that Japan has won the battle with Moscow for a US$2.5 billion oil pipeline deal. “Although there...
India’s state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has signed a deal with Shell India for sharing product supplies and infrastructure, The Economic Times newspaper has reported. The newspaper quoted sources as saying that HPCL would offer Shell oil products from its depots throughout India and in return would get a foothold in Shell’s gas business...
Australia’s BHP Billiton said it has appointed Rebecca McDonald as President of its gas and power unit, and a member of its executive committee. Ms McDonald will have responsibility for the development and implementation of BHP Billiton’s gas marketing and commercialisation strategy and will report to Phil Aiken, President of the company’s Energy unit. BHP...
Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) will invest NT$2.5 billion (US$1=NT$33) to set up three piers at the Mailiao industrial port in Yunlin County, according to CENS news agency. The three piers will be inaugurated at the end of 2005 or the beginning of 2006. The establishment of the three piers will make Mailiao Taiwan’s second-largest...
BEIJING (AFX-Asia) – China National Petroleum Corp unit PetroChina Co Ltd (HK 0857; NYSE PTR) has seized 90 pct of Shanghai’s public transport fuel market after winning a five-year contract to be the sole supplier for the city’s second-largest bus operator Dazhong Transportation (Group) Co Ltd( SHA 600611; SHB 900903), Xue Huashi, vice-general manager of...
SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Duke Energy said it has agreed to sell its Asia-Pacific energy assets to Australia’s Alinta Ltd for US$1.238 billion as it shifts its focus on the Americas. In a statement received here, US-based Duke said the sale will include all its assets in Australia and New Zealand, and will help it achieve...