SEOUL (AFX-ASIA) – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it has raised to “A-” from “BBB+” its long-term local and foreign currency ratings on South Korea’s four thermal power generating companies (GENCOs) — Korea Western Power (KOWEPO), Korea Midland Power (KOMIPO), Korea East-West Power (EWP), and Korea Southern Power (KOSPO). The outlooks on the ratings...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Petronas Dagangan Bhd expects its share of the lubricant market to grow by single-digit percentage points this year from 12% currently, Bernama news agency quoted managing director and chief executive officer Ibrahim Marsidi as saying. He said the company plans to export its new fully-synthetic lubricants Syntium 5000 0W-30 and Syntium...

Senoko Power Ltd, one of the largest power generation companies in Singapore, has awarded a contract to the major German industrial company Siemens for the life extension work of its first gas turbine plant. Over the next two years, Siemens will be involved in a turnkey project to upgrade the instrumentation and control (I&C) and...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – An explosion at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) station in the northwestern city of Xian killed two people and injured two others, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The explosion occurred last Monday morning while staff at the station were refilling home-use LNG tanks for clients, Xinhua said. Xinhua said one of...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Woodside Petroleum Ltd expects a final investment decision will be made on a A$1.6 billion expansion of the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in north Western Australian by year-end, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. (US$1=A$1.3) The newspaper quoted Woodside acting chief executive Keith Spence as saying he expects final...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) Ð The share price of China Yangtze Power Co Ltd (SHA 600900), the listed unit of the world’s largest dam project, has been trading higher after saying its 2003 net profit surged 227%. Yangtze Power said it posted a net profit of 1.44 billion yuan for 2003, against 442.62 million a year earlier....

The Indian government is looking to invest US$100 million in building underground natural gas storage facilities. A high-level team comprising officials from the Petroleum Ministry and the state gas company Gail India Limited recently visited France, Germany and Belgium to study their natural gas storage systems. It has recommended that the government build up a...

Ironically, oil prices fell right after OPEC confirmed consumers’ worst fears that it would proceed to cut its output quota by 4% to 23.5 million barrels/day from April 1. “Buy on the rumour, sell on the fact” best described last month’s trading strategy as traders pushed crude prices to a 13-year high in the run-up...

VIENNA (AFX) – Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that oil prices are set to fall to a range of US$25 to 28 per barrel. “We think the prices will continue to go down until they reach a range of US$25 to 28,” said the prince, who is accompanying Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Sinopec Zhongyuan Petroleum Co Ltd (SZA 000956) said its 2003 net profit rose 11.4% to 521.65 million yuan from 468.33 million in 2002 on the back of higher prices in crude oil and natural gas. However, based on the net profit for the first nine months of the year, the oil exploration...

China’s CNOOC Limited (NYSE: CEO, SEHK: 883) said that it has drilled successfully two appraisal wells, BZ 34-1-5 and BZ34-1-4, in Bohai Bay. BZ 34-1-5, with a water depth of 21 meters, is an appraisal well drilled on BZ 34-1 discovery. On 7.14mm choke, the appraisal well was tested to flow nearly 400 barrels of...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd (CKI) (HK 1038) will invest about 4.5 billion yuan in the second phase of construction on its Zhuhai power plant in China’s southern province of Guangdong, the 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing a local government official. (US$1=8.27 yuan) Zheng Weidong, vice director of the Zhuhai Economic...

The Bayu Undan project in the Timor Sea has exported its first cargo of 340,000 barrels (gross) of condensate on March 30, said operator ConocoPhillips of the US. The export marks a major landmark in the development of the US$1.8 billion liquids phase of the Bayu-Undan project in the Timor Sea. The start of condensate...

Talisman Malaysia Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada’s Talisman Energy Inc., has signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for Block PM-314 in offshore Malaysia. In a statement, Jim Buckee, President and CEO of Talisman Energy Inc, said: “Block PM-314 is located adjacent to the PM-305 Block on which Talisman Malaysia made the South Angsi...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Exxon Mobil Corp has agreed to sell its 21% share in Australia’s inland Cooper Basin oil and gas fields to Sydney-based investment company Gradav Ltd, The Australian Financial Review reported. The newspaper said Exxon Mobil Australia’s chairman Richard Olsen had confirmed the sale will proceed but will not disclose the price. However,...

A US representative said that the administration of President George W. Bush allowed Japan to invest in a major oil field project in Iran in exchange for its dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq, according to a Kyodo News Report. “An administration desperate for re-election will take 550 soldiers from Japan, which provide the...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Santos Ltd has bid for an oil development opportunity in the Middle East and also a bid for a multiple exploration and development project onshore North Africa, the Australian oil and gas company said in its annual report. The report said the group is awaiting the outcome of both bids as it...

SHANGHAI (AFX-ASIA) – China Yangtze Power Co Ltd (SHA 600900) earned 1.44 billion yuan last year and expects a better result this year on the back of rising electricity sales, the China Daily said. (US$1=8.27 yuan). The report quoted chairman Li Yongan as saying that earnings per share were 0.251 yuan compared to a projected...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Canberra was accused Monday of robbing East Timor of billions of dollars after parliament signed off on a controversial treaty with the impoverished nation covering oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea, Agence France-Presse reported. The treaty relates to development of resources in the Greater Sunrise field, valued at A$7 billion,...

Australian upstream company Santos Limited has signed a non-binding Heads of Agreement with BP Singapore Pte Limited to market Santos’ crude oil and natural gas liquids (naphtha and export LPG). The two companies will now work to negotiate and conclude a Marketing Services Agreement, said a statement from Santos. “Marketing of crude oil and natural...

China yesterday raised the retail prices of gasoline to reflect the price hike on the international market, triggering fears of inflation and possible social unrest. According to Xinhua News Agency, the National Development Reform Commission yesterday raised benchmark gasoline rates by 300 yuan a ton, or 8 per cent, but kept prices of diesel unchanged....

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – The Australian Government is working to ensure delivery of the first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the US west coast in 2008-10, Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane, said. Mr Macfarlane said, during an address to an oil and gas industry conference in Canberra, he hopes a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Hong Kong-listed China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec)(386.HK) will pay 230 million yuan in cash to purchase a new unit, Yanhua Group Tianjin Lubricant & Grease Co Ltd, from its parent China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group Co). The acquisition will give Sinopec 100% ownership of the issued shares of Yanhua Group...

LONDON (AFX) – BP PLC promised to return all excess free cash to shareholders and grow production, including TNK-BP, by 7% a year through 2008. In a strategy update, BP said it expects to be able to deliver “significant extra cash to its shareholders over the next three years and at the same time strongly...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s cabinet, the State Council, has given its approval to the Shanghai Futures Exchange to launch fuel oil futures trading, media reports said over the weekend. “The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has to approve the new products but there is no doubt about this,” the China Business Post said quoting an...