SYDNEY (AFX-ASIA) – Santos Ltd said it expects higher earnings in 2005, helped by the implementation of a new business improvement program announced last week. Santos chief executive John Ellice-Flint said the program is expected to achieve improvements in after-tax earnings, before restructuring and implementation costs, in the order of A$22 million in 2005 and...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) said its net profit for the first quarter to March grew 13.5% year-on-year to 440 million pesos on robust contributions from its power-related businesses. (US$1=56 pesos). Earnings per share in the quarter rose 14% year-on-year to 0.09 peso. “AEV’s power companies posted the largest contribution to 2004’s...

Australian upstream company Nido Petroleum Ltd has acquired additional interests in SC-14 and SC-6B in the Northwest Palawan Basin, Philippines. Nido is acquiring these interests from Vaalco Energy to facilitate ramping up production at the Nido Fields. The company said it is optimistic about the Nido-B Field where some 2 million barrels of oil could...

GlobalView Software Inc., a leading provider of data management solutions for global energy markets, has appointed Jim Garland as senior vice president (sales) and Ari Greenberg as vice president (Americas). Both worked for Houston-based Logical Informationa Machines Inc before joining GlobalView. GlobalView said they will play an integral part in further expanding GlobalView’s sales presence...

Japanese engineering company JGC has signed an agreement with the state National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company to expand an oil refinery at Arak town. The plant’s capacity will be increased from 170,000 barrels/day to 250,000 b/d, said Reza Kasaizadeh, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company. He told the...

PII Pipeline Solutions of GE Energy will provide Qatar’s RasGas Company Limited pipeline integrity management services under a six-year service agreement. RasGas’s offshore asset manager, Brant Edwards, said the agreement provides for an industry expert to closely monitor the health of new and existing export pipelines, and to carry out timely and cost effective integrity...

Electricity costs could rise by 32 satang per unit (kilowatt-hour) to reflect rising energy costs in the local and global market, according to the Bangkok Post. (US$1=40 baht or 4,000 satang). Sitthiporn Ratanopas, the former governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, told the newspaper that natural gas prices have risen in recent months...

Thai Oil Co, the country’s largest refinery, said it had appointed JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and ABN Amro Rothschild as advisers for its $300-million (US$1=40 baht) initial public offering. Thaioil, 49.9% owned by PTT Plc, said the IPO was expected to be launched by the fourth quarter and the proceeds would be used...

JAKARTA (AFX-ASIA) – Oil and gas firm PT Medco Energi Internasional unit, drilling contractor PT Apexindo Pratama Duta, said it posted a first quarter to March net profit of 14.03 billion rupiah, up 56.72% year-on-year, on sales of 234.93 billion rupiah, up from 139.06 billion previously. (US$1=8,700 rupiah). In the same period, operating costs rose...

ChevronTexaco said a subsidiary, MolecularDiamond Technologies, has produced “gram quantities” of diamonds from oil. MolecularDiamond is a unit of ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures LLC. The company described the output as “a new class of molecular building blocks called higher diamondoids.” The diamondoids are available immediately for application research and development. “This is an important step in...

SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) — Gasoline futures have been rising to record levels in recent weeks, contributing to a total gain of 10% last month in a reflection of growing market concerns over summer supplies. “This could be a much longer summer than any of us predicted,” said Kevin Kerr, editor of a trade newsletter. “The...

French IT consulting and systems integration company Steria will be stepping up efforts to sell its services to the oil, gas and power industries in Asia following the establishment of its Asia Pacific regional office in Singapore. China will be a key target for growth. As one of Europe’s top 10 IT companies, Steria has...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China’s demand for oil will grow “rationally” after the overheating economy cools off, Chen Tonghai, president of the country’s largest oil refiner China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) was quoted as saying by the official China Daily. Recent rapid expansion led by overinvestment in some sectors have brought on an energy crisis...

TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) – Chinese Petroleum Corp, the island’s state-owned oil company, is studying British Petroleum’s offer to sell its overseas alpha olefin ventures, the Economic Daily News reported, citing Tsao Ming, chief executive officer of Chinese Petroleum’s petrochemical operations. A final decision rests with the company’s board of directors and supervisors, he said. Except for...

A pipeline to deliver natural gas from Kovykta in Russia’s Eastern Siberia to China and South Korea could be completed ahead of the proposed Sino-Russian oil pipeline. China and Russia are negotiating the price of the gas and the result of negotiations will likely be seen in three to four months, TNK-BP President and CEO...

Thailand’s Ministry of Energy said it plans to raise the ceiling on domestic oil prices as part of its efforts to reduce the state’s financial burden by cutting back on subsidies. Minister of Energy Prommin Lertsuridej told the Business Day that the government would continue to subsidise domestic oil prices despite rising prices on the...

China will supply Vietnam with electricity from October 1 with last month’s deal signed between the Vietnamese Electricity Company No.1 and the Chinese Yunnan Electricity Company. The Vietnamese company will buy electricity from the Chinese firm via the Yunnan-based 110kV Ha Khau power station to supply Vietnam’s Lao Cai province through the 110kV Lao Cai...

Thai Oil Co and PTT Plc may negotiate share swaps with Japanese partner Mitsubishi Oil Corporation in two affiliated companies as a way to deal with mounting financial problems at the two affiliates, Thai Paraxylene Co and Thai Lube Base Thai Paraxylene Co is 17%-owned by Thai Oil, 34% by PTT and 49% by Mitsubishi...

Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum AB said that it has resumed drilling operations in Iran’s onshore Munir Block last month. In a statement, it said: “Since recommencement of drilling operations, good progress has been made on the Seh Qanat deep-1 (SQD-1) well which has now reached a depth of 2,140 meters. Total target depth is 2,887 meters...

LONDON (AFX) – Hardman Resources Ltd said it has identified several new potential oil drilling prospects in Gabon. In an update on the group’s third quarter activities, the London-listed Australian miner said it is envisaged that it will drill one or two wells in late 2004 or early 2005. In Mauritania, equity transactions during the...

ISLAMABAD (AFX-ASIA) – Pakistan and China have signed an agreement to build a second nuclear power plant in Pakistan for civilian use, officials said. The deal was inked a day after a car bomb in southwest Pakistan killed three Chinese engineers helping to build a multi-million dollar seaport and injured 11 others including two Pakistanis....

Dutch bank ABN AMRO has concluded its financial advisory role for the construction of the LNG import terminal and trunkline project in Guangdong Dapeng in China. ABN AMRO advised four state-owned banks, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of China as well as China Development Bank,...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) expects to restart two of its four remaining inactive nuclear plants within weeks, bringing its nuclear capacity back to near-normal levels after last year’s data falsification scandal, the Financial Times newspaper reported on its website. The restoration of nuclear capacity, which advanced this week with the opening of...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Tenaga Nasional Bhd said its first half to Feb 2004 net profit fell sharply to RM30.7 million from RM583.4 million a year ago because of higher forex losses resulting from the strengthening of the yen and euro. (US$1=RM3.8). Tenaga’s forex losses for the first half came to RM543.8 million against a...

Thailand’s largest oil refiner, Thai Oil Co, is reportedly interested in developing a large-scale power plant project as part of its plan to expand in the electricity business following a major debt refinancing deal. Last month, it signed a loan agreement for about 14 billion baht with six banks. (US$1=40 baht). The funds will be...