WASHINGTON (AFX) — The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week more stringent pollution-control rules for diesel engines that it claims will cut diesel pollution by 90%. “We are going to make that burst of black smoke that erupts from diesels a thing of the past,” EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt vowed. Environmental and public health groups...
LONDON (AFX) – BP PLC said it signed a number of agreements covering investments totalling around 1 bln usd which will deepen its presence in the growing Chinese energy market. “China, as one of the most rapidly expanding economies, offers significant opportunities for the BP Group, particularly its customer-facing businesses,” said Lord Browne, BP chief...
Energy software developer Allegro Development Corporation has opened an office in Singapore to meet growing demand for its products in the Asia Pacific markets. Many of the region’s oil, gas, and energy companies are seeking to replace inflexible and costly legacy software in the face of rapid industry growth and changing regulations. The US company...
Singapore’s seaport has clinched the “Best Seaport in Asia” award at the recent annual Asian Freight & Supply Chain Awards (AFSCA) held in Shanghai. This is the 16th time that Singapore has won the top spot since the awards started 18 years ago, said a statement from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. “The...
With oil prices rising to record levels, another 18 companies in Thailand have applied for licences to produce up to 6.75 million litres of ethanol per day, boosting the country’s output by almost six times. The Cane and Sugar Board had planned to endorse production of only 1.8 million litres in the new round, Natthapol...
US independent company ConocoPhillips [NYSE:COP] has announced the formation of a global gas organisation as a new division of its Exploration & Production (E&P) segment. Sig Cornelius, currently president of the US Lower 48, Latin America & Midstream unit, has been named president of the new organisation. He will report to Bill Berry, executive vice...
The Thai government said domestic gasoline prices will likely be raised by up to one baht a litre this week in keeping with rising oil prices on the world markets. Bangkok has been straining to continue subsidising fuel prices from its indebted State Oil Fund. (US$1=40 baht). According to the Bangkok Post, the Energy Planning...
KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Esso Malaysia Bhd has redeemed fully all its outstanding notes issued under the RM250 million commercial papers facility, said Rating Agency Malaysia Bhd (RAM). In a statement, RAM said, as a result of the redemption, it no longer has any rating obligation on the debt instrument and its P1 rating is...
New York-listed Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE:JEC) said one of its subsidiaries has been awarded a contract by the Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd. (GASCO) to provide know-how, process design, and engineering services for the expansion of the Habshan gas complex in Abu Dhabi. The project will help GASCO meet increasing crude oil production needs...
Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd (Sakhalin Energy) has named Shell executive Ian Craig as CEO, replacing Steve McVeigh, who is returning to the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies (Shell) in July 2004 after leading the company for three and a half years. In a statement, Sakhalin Energy said Mr McVeigh made “a valuable contribution” to...
Thai state oil company PTT Plc will bid for all the 125 retail stations to be put up for sale by Kuwait Petroleum Company, said PTT president Prasert Bunsumpun last week. KPC is withdrawing from Thailand to focus on the Middle East. Most of KPC’s Q8 service stations are located in and around Bangkok and...
CANBERRA (AFX-ASIA) – China’s booming economy coupled with a recovery in Japan and the US is likely to mean Australian exports of non-rural commodities will remain strong over the coming year, the government said. In its annual budget papers, the government said “dramatic” rises in the price of Australia’s bulk commodity exports, such as coal...
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China is planning to allow the country’s two power grid firms to raise electricity prices for the second time this year to help fund investments of billions of yuan to upgrade their networks, an official at State Grid Corp said. (US$1=8.27 yuan). The official in the electricity price office at State Grid,...
Three Middle East companies and an European firm have joined forces to form GEM – Gulf Energy Maritime PJSC – a new $430m joint venture shipping company. The owners include Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) with a 35% stake, Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) (30%), Oman Oil Company (30%) and Thales, an...
China’s full-owned state-owned Tianjin Electric Power Transmission and Transformation Engineering Corporation, has set up a joint venture company with Abu Dhabi’s Mutawa Corp to expand into the Middle East. The new company, Arabian Chinese Trading Corp, will be based in Dubai and will focus on providing power cables and transmission lines, according to local media...
An international consortium led by Malaysian engineering and construction company Ranhill Bhd has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to construct a US$21 million gas-processing plant in Pakistan for state-owned Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. Ranhill holds a 70% stake in the consortium, while the rest is held by the DDFC Group of Companies of Pakistan, according...
Thailand’s upstream company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), said that its subsidiaries’ net profit for the first quarter of 2004 had risen by Baht 784 million from Baht 2,594 million over the same period last year. (US$1=40 baht). The company and its subsidiaries’ total revenues were up 28% to Baht 10,709 million,...
The UAE and neighbouring countries may need to invest at least $1 trillion over the next three decades to expand their oil and gas output capacity to meet the world’s demand for another 40 million b/d. According to the Gulf Times, the Gulf states will have to attract around one-sixth of the cumulative foreign direct...
Another oil major is looking to reduce its downstream presence in Southeast Asia following BP’s recent exit from Singapore and Malaysia. ExxonMobil Corp is planning to divest its retail business in Malaysia’s Sabah and Sarawak states, according to the Malaysian Business Times. It said ExxonMobil, after failing to secure interest from other parties in a...
Iran’s consumption of gasoline rose 11% last month in keeping with the country’s growing affluence, said the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution and Refining Company. In a statement, it said that Iran’s gasoline use rose to 57.5 million liters for the Iranian month between March 20 and April 20, up from 51.9 million liters the...
Hongkong-listed liquefied petroleum gas company Panva Gas said its first-quarter net profit rose 23% to HK$46.211 million on a 18% rise in revenue to HK$411.238 million. (US$1=HK$7.78). However, diluted earnings per share fell 5% to HK4.53 cents. The company said its wholesale LPG business, which accounts for 55% of total revenue, grew 4% year-on-year to...
KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) Ð The share price of Shell Refining Co (Federation of Malaya) Bhd has moved higher after reporting a 49% net profit growth for the first quarter to March, dealers said. The counter shot up to well over RM6.60 from under RM6 on May 12. Shell said the rise in its first quarter...
HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – Petrochina Co Ltd unit Chinaoil (Hong Kong) Corp Ltd has secured a 21-year land grant, with a total premium of HK$501 million, from the Lands Department, a government spokesman said. (US$1=HK$7.78). In a statement, the spokesman said Chinaoil put in the highest bid for the land grant, beating five other contenders....
BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Officials at China’s major airline groups said they are not sure rising international crude prices can be passed on to customers when jet fuel prices rise later on, due to intense domestic competition and the regulation of ticket prices. “I am worried about further rises in domestic jet fuel prices if hikes...
HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – China Gas Holdings Ltd (384.HK) said it has signed a letter of intent with Gazprom, a Russian joint-stock company, about possible cooperation in developing natural gas projects in China. Under the agreement, Gazprom will become a strategic investor of China Gas, it said in a statement. Both parties agreed to establish...