BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Asian airlines plan to increase fuel surcharges on cargo and some are considering introducing them on passenger flights after crude oil prices surged to a 14-year high of US$40 per barrel, the Financial Times reported. The paper said 72 airlines in Hong Kong will increase fuel surcharges on cargo by 33.3%, starting...

OPEC Oil Ministers might meet ahead of their Extraordinary Conference scheduled for Beirut on June 3 to review the international oil market situation, said the cartel’s Secretary General and Indonesia’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, yesterday. In a statement, he said that OPEC Ministers attending the 9th International Energy Forum meeting in...

UNITED NATIONS, New York (AFX) – The head of the new fraud probe into the UN’s handling of Iraqi oil sales under Saddam Hussein said that he will reject outside requests to disclose documents from the programme. “We understand the policy of the United Nations is not to release confidential, contractual or proprietary documentation in...

Rising fuel prices are hurting Thailand’s fledgling budget airlines, but they have ruled out raising ticket prices for now. Jet fuel prices, which account for 30% of operating costs, are hovering around US$46 per barrel FOB Singapore, up more than 25% in recent months. “Our gross margin is now only 10%. If oil prices continue...

Singapore-listed CH Offshore, a vessel operator for the offshore oil and gas industry, said its third-quarter earnings tripled to S$4 million despite a marginal rise in revenue of only 1.5% to S$11 million. The company attributed the sharp rise in profits to improved charter rates helped by higher oil and gas prices. World oil prices...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Oil and gas firm PT Medco Energi Internasional said it does “not know for certain” if its shareholder CSFB plans to sell its stake in the company. “As a public company which is also indirectly owned by CSFB, we do not know for certain about CSFB’s plan to sell its stake,” Medco...

The world’s largest listed oil company, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), will face a major climate-change shareholder vote arising from a resolution filed by Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (CBIS) and other members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). The voting takes place on May 26. Since it is the only one of three such...

LONDON (AFX) – Benchmark US crude oil futures will soon break through US$40 per barrel and trade above that key psychological mark in the near term as markets grapple with tight supply conditions and fears of terrorist attacks on oil installations, western analysts said. “We would not be surprised to see prices trading above US$40/barrel...

Australian upstream company Santos Limited has announced details of its new business improvement programme to enhance the oil and gas group’s future profits. Features of the program are a new senior leadership team, a dramatic reduction in executive reporting structures, and a 16% reduction in staff and contractor numbers. Announcing the programme, Santos CEO John...

DMX Technology Corp. has entered into a partnership with one of the world’s largest oil refiners, ConocoPhillips to distribute Conoco brand hydroclear oils in the Philippines. DMX Technology Corp. (DTC) is the Philippine affiliate of DMX International Ltd, a petroleum technology integrator, according to a report from the Philippines Star. DMX engages in the distribution...

Australia’s South West Queensland Gas Producers group operating the Cooper Basin production have signed a Heads of Agreement with Origin Energy Retail to swap gas between Queensland and the Moomba Gas Hub. The conditional agreement is designed to provide Origin with access to up to 200 petajoules (PJ) of gas at the Moomba Gas Hub...

US-based energy consultants ESAI said that developments over the last months indicate that the Kremlin leadership is determined to dismantle Yukos, Russia’s largest and still most valuable oil company. In the latest issue of its Weekly Intelligence Briefing, ESAI said the stand-off between the government and Yukos is evidence of the Kremlin’s resolve to bring...

Datang International Power Generation Company, a Chinese power producer listed in Hong Kong, said it will apply to regulators to issue yuan-denominated A shares to pay for construction of 10 power plants in China. According to Xinhua News, the company, formerly known as Beijing Datang Power Generation, says it plans to raise up to 6...

Taiwan’s two oil refiners said they would keep wholesale gasoline prices stable for the moment, after U.S. light crude broke the US$40/barrel ceiling last week. “We will fix our wholesale prices at the current level at least to the end of this month,” said Liao Tsang-long, deputy director of the industrial relations division at state-run...

Malaysia’s oil and gas-based BIG Industries Bhd is venturing into marine transportation by acquiring a 47.2% stake in Singapore-listed Penguin Boat International Ltd for S$23.62 million to be financed by a share swap and cash. (US$1=S$1.72). According to the Edge newspaper, BIG has proposed to issue new shares at RM2.478 and pay S$13.62 million cash...

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) has announced an ambitious plan to build 24 new power plants between 2004 and 2015 at an annual investment cost of around Bt40 billion. The proposal has been submitted to the board for approval, said the Nation newspaper. (US$1=40 baht). The country’s domestic power demand is expected to...

To meet rising power demand, Heihe City in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province has recently started importing electricity from the Russian Far East. According to Xinhua News Agency, this is the first time that China has imported electricity from Russia. The city would import 15.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity from Amurskaya of Russia in the...

Santos chairman Stephen Gerlach said the South Australian state government’s decision to keep its 15% shareholding limit is not in the interest of the oil and gas company’s shareholders. Addressing its Annual General Meeting in Adelaide last week, he said that Santos continued to lobby the government for a lifting of the shareholding limit. “The...

Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Netherlands’ Van Leeuwen company, last week received the Regional Headquarters (RHQ) award from the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). The prestigious status was conferred on the company by EDB’s managing director, Ko Kheng Hwa, at the company’s 25th anniversary celebrations in Singapore. Van Leeuwen...

SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – ExxonMobil Corp’s upstream oil and gas exploration and production activities in Australia made a net profit of A$681 million in 2003, a decrease of A$41 million over 2002, the group said in a statement. (US$1=A$1.36). It said net liquids production from Gippsland, Central Australia and Western Australia totaled 110,000 barrels per day,...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – BIG Industries Bhd has proposed to acquire a 20% stake in Singapore-based Penguin Boat International Ltd from two individuals Heng Kheng Seng and Khiew Lun Heong for S$10 million by issuing new BIG shares at RM2.478 each. (US$1=S$1.7 and RM3.8). The 20% stake comprises 40 million Penguin shares at S$0.25 each,...

OPEC is not to blame for soaring oil prices, which have hit 13-year highs as producers pump up to maximum capacity, but the cartel could do more to calm a nervous market, Gulf analysts said. Unexpectedly strong economic growth in some industrialised nations as well as China and India has driven demand for crude to...

Calgary, Canada-based PetroKazakhstan said its first quarter crude oil shipment rose 42% to 7.44 million barrels as a result of an increase in the number of available routes, the additional capacity provided by the KAM pipeline and Dzhusaly terminal and less severe winter weather problems in the Central Asian region. The information was released as...

Qatar and Dubai stand out as exceptions to the gloom and doom rapidly engulfing much of the Middle East today. While strife and violence increasingly dominate the headlines of so many countries in the region, the focus of the two small countries seem to be on economic development and improving the living standards of their...

Iran plans to raise its petrochemical revenues by six fold to $20 billion a year by 2015, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said last week. “Our aim is to produce 70 million tonnes of petrochemical products in 2015 worth $20 billion,” Mr Zanganeh said at a weekend petrochemical conference in Tehran. But industry experts told...