Oman’s Sohar Port has started up operations after five years of construction, receiving its first vessel carrying raw material for the Sohar Refinery this week. According to the Khaleej Times, the port was built at a cost of 90 million rials (US$235 million) and is situated at the northeast port city of Sohar, which is...

SEOUL (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it has assigned its “A-” rating to Korea Electric Power Corp’s (KEPCO) proposed US$300 million global bonds due 2034. “The rating on KEPCO reflects its strong market position as the dominant player in the Korean electric power industry,” S&P credit analyst Kim Eun-Jin said in a...

PetroChina Company Limited (SEHK stock code 0857; NYSE Symbol PTR) said that it has achieved all its production and operational targets set for the first quarter ended March 31. It attributed its success to high oil prices and the rapid growth of Chinese domestic oil market. Its total oil and gas output grew 3.3% to...

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – Singapore Petroleum Co Ltd (SPC), a unit of conglomerate Keppel Corp, plans to use the 180.7 mln usd net proceeds from its recent convertible bonds issue to fund upstream acquisitions, possibly in regional oil exploration projects, chief executive officer Koh Ban Heng said. He told AFX-Asia in an interview that the company...

Russian oil major Lukoil will take part in the development of three oil blocks in the Persian Gulf, an Iranian deputy minister of oil has announced. “Lukoil has agreed to bid for development projects in North Azadegan, Kushk and Hosseinieh fields,” Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian told the Petroenergy Information Network. He...

TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) – YC Wang, chairman of the Formosa Plastics group, has signed a letter of intent with the provincial government of Henan, China to invest 60 billion yuan or NT240 billion, the Economic Daily News reported with specifying a source. (US$1=8.27 yuan, NT$33). Of the total, 20 billion yuan will go to a coal-fuelled...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – The government is considering increasing kerosene subsidies to cover the increase in demand for kerosene to 12.024 million kiloliters from the 11.563 million allotted under the state budget, an official at state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina said. “To anticipate the scarcity of kerosene and a surge in demand we have...

Tuas Power Supply Pte Ltd, the retailing arm and subsidiary of Singapore’s Tuas Power Ltd, has announced that it has introduced a new electricity package that will safeguard consumers against the recent upward trend in fuel oil prices. The new package, known as PowerFlex, sets a cap on the contractual electricity price, but yet, allows...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Merrill Lynch said it has upgraded its recommendation on Woodside Petroleum Ltd to “neutral” from “sell” after revising oil price forecasts upwards. Merrill said its global oil team is increasing its full year 2004 West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price forecast by 9.4% to US$30.08 a barrel and its long-term oil price...

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) said its first quarter lubricant sales rose 30% to 320,000 tons over the same period last year. It attributed growth to a successful campaign promoting its Great Wall brand, according to a Shanghai Daily report. Its March sales figure was even more impressive, rising 38% year-on-year on the back...

Gasoline prices in the UAE rose by 5% to 20% last Saturday in response to higher oil prices on the world markets. The 95 octane grade price was raised 20% to 4.75 dirham per gallon while 98 Octane was up 5% to 5.25 dirham per gallon. (US$1=3.6 dirham). In a joint statement, UAE oil retailers...

Australian upstream company Woodside Energy Ltd will supply TXU Electricity Ltd up to 30 petajoules of natural gas a year for more than 10 years under a gas sales agreement under. TXU will buy Woodside’s share of natural gas from the Otway Gas Project. In a statement, Woodside said the agreement is conditional on the...

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) – Gasoline prices are rising as refiners hike wholesale prices due to higher crude oil prices and lower production. But with discounts at the pump expected during the holiday season in early May, it is uncertain whether prices will continue to rise, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing a survey by the Oil...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – The World Bank, together with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JIBC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has offered to provide political risk coverage to investments in Indonesia’s electricity sector, Bisnis Indonesia reported. The report quoted Director General for Electricity and Energy Yogo Pratomo as saying that the political risk coverage...

Malaysia’s power company Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has signed an agreement with its Indonesian counterpart, Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), awarding an engineering services consultancy study to Shaw PTI of the US. In a statement, TNB said the contract is for Shaw PTI to conduct detailed feasibility studies on constructing a power connecting Sumatra, Indonesia to...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – The chairman of China’s largest oil and gas company PetroChina Co Ltd (HK 0857; NYSE PTR), Ma Fucai, has resigned over an explosion in a natural gas field that killed 243 farmers, state media said. China’s cabinet accepted Ma’s resignation as chairman of PetroChina and president of parent China National Petroleum Corp...

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) – Singapore is the perfect base for Russian companies seeking to expand into Southeast Asia, Trade Minister George Yeo said, as he called on the two nations to build their economic ties. Mr Yeo, who is in Moscow for a seven-day official visit, said in comments released by the government here that the...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has agreed, in principle, with US-based ConocoPhilips on most terms of a gas purchase deal, including the price, said an official of the state-run electricity firm. Kardaya Warnika, deputy chairman of oil/gas authority BP Migas, said the two companies are expected to signed a contract this month....

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has predicted that world energy consumption will grow by 54% to 121 million barrels/day by 2025, with most of the new demand coming from China and India. Oil prices will rise at a modest rate. According to its “International Energy Outlook 2004” (IEO2004) report, energy use in the developing...

Maersk Oil Qatar will take up geological and geophysical studies and drill several wells in the Al Shaheen Field Block 5 extension area under an exploration/appraisal and production sharing agreement (EPSA) with Qatar Petroleum, said a Gulf Times report. According to the report, the agreement was signed for QP by Second Deputy Premier and Minister...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) (HK 0386; SHA 600028; NYSE SNP) has confirmed reports it is holding talks with the Iranian government on a major oil and gas production sharing agreement. Zheng Baomin, an official in the company’s investor relations department, told AFX-Asia that Sinopec is discussing a production sharing agreement...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Oil and gas company PT Medco Energi Internasional is likely to raise its price offer for a 100% stake in Australia’s Novus Petroleum Ltd to above A$1.77 per share to beat a rival bid, Medco chief operating officer Rashid I. Mangunkusumo said. (US$1=A$1.3) “Right now we’re under intense discussion with Medco’s three...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may exceed their oil production quotas due to high world oil prices despite an agreement to cut output, said OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro. “OPEC members are still producing above their quota because oil prices are still high,” he told reporters. He said the...

The Philippines has become the latest market to be introduced to the automotive lubricants range of Emirates National Oil Co (Enoc), according to a Gulf Times report. Manila-headquartered CKW Enterprises was recently appointed the Philippines distributor for Enoc Lubricants, said the newspaper. “The Philippines market for automotive lubricants is worth around 250 million litres a...

Finland’s W’rtsil’ Corporation said it has been awarded a contract to supply a 31.5 MW diesel power plant for a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Mutineer-Exeter field of Santos Ltd off the north west coast of Australia. Wartsila did not say how much the contract is worth. The plant has been...