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...

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...

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,...

UK-based Cairn Energy’s chairman, Norman Murray, said its successes in finding oil in India’s Rajasthan state has “transformed” the company. Speaking at the company’s Annual General Meeting this week, he said: “The value of Cairn was transformed in January with the discovery of the Mangala oil field in northern Rajasthan. Subsequent discoveries at N-A in...

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....

China’s CNOOC Limited (NYSE: CEO, SEHK: 883) said its subsidiary CNOOC Finance Corporation Limited has approved the expansion of its board membership with the election of Mark Qiu. Mr Qis is CFO and senior vice president of CNOOC Limited. CNOOC Limited now has three members on the board of CNOOC Finance. They include chairman and...

PARIS (AFX) – OPEC may consider expanding the US$28 a barrel upper limit of its current price band in late May, a potential step that has raised concern from International Energy Agency executive director Claude Mandil. Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah Al-Attiya, speaking during an oil conference here, said ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting...

Retail company Woolworths Limited and Caltex Australia Limited have completed their agreement to offer their fuel discount redemption scheme to around 450 sites. The deal was signed recently by Roger Corbett , Woolworths Group managing director and CEO, and Dave Reeves, Caltex managing director and CEO. “With Caltex, we are taking a very significant step...

Japan’s total oil products demand is projected to fall by 1.1% p.a. to 3.93 million barrels per day through to March 31 2009, according to the Japan Petroleum and Energy Trends (JPET), citing the government’s latest five-year outlook on the country’s oil supply-demand balance. The plan has been endorsed by the director-general of the Agency...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – The market for liquefied natural gas-related projects open to foreign firms is estimated at US$60 billion up to 2020, Xinhua news agency reported, citing Fu Chengyu, general manager of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). The Shanghai Morning Post added that China’s LNG market will be very attractive for foreign companies...

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has announced it will pay shareholders a cash dividend of 30% (Rs3 per share) for this financial year, unchanged from last year. (US$1=Rs 57). The PSO board met recently under the chairmanship of Pervaiz Kausar and reviewed the company’s performance for the third quarter ended March 31, 2004, a spokesman for...

An Indonesian company partly owned by Australian engineering company Clough has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by operator BP West Java for the APN Field Development located in the West Java Sea, in Indonesia. The joint venture company, PT Petrosea, said the contract is worth US$65 million. The APN field is...

OSLO (AFX) – Statoil ASA said it will use new drilling technology to increase production at its Lufeng field in the South China Sea and extend production until 2008, rather than shutting it down this February as originally planned. It decided earlier this year to keep producing from the Lufeng field until August, when the...

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that a team comprising ChevronTexaco Corp., Hyundai Motor Co. and UTC Fuel Cells has been selected to lead a five-year demonstration and validation project designed to showcase practical application of hydrogen energy technology. The cost-share contract was awarded to ChevronTexaco, in cooperation with Hyundai Motor Co. and...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said it has transferred all of its 439 retail gasoline stations to Hong Kong-listed unit PetroChina Co Ltd (HK 0857; NYSE PTR). The move is an attempt to centralise management of gasoline stations and increase Petrochina’s share of the oil products retail market, company spokesman Yuan Xinxiang...

SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) – Hints that OPEC will discuss raising its oil price target and continued concerns over the availability of Iraqi oil pulled crude prices to their loftiest level in two weeks and gasoline futures to a fresh record high. “OPEC has acknowledged that they are ready to ratchet up prices … possibly 30%,”...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China has selected three of China’s biggest state-owned enterprises – oil majors China National Petroleum Corporation, China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group) and auto group Dongfeng Motor Corp – for a pilot project involving the spinoff of non-core operations such as schools and hospitals, the Xinhua news agency reported. At a meeting last...

HONG KONG (AFX-ASIA) – CNOOC Ltd (883.HK) said its shareholders have passed a resolution to deposit some operating funds in its 31.8%-owned joint venture, CNOOC Finance Corp Ltd, with parent China National Offshore Oil Corp. CNOOC Finance provides a range of treasury and financial services to the CNOOC group, it said. Chairman and CEO Fu...

Singapore has announced that ships that comply with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO’s) International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code before the July 1 deadline will receive a 5% rebate on port dues when they call at the Singapore port. Between May 1 and 30 June, ships that produce a valid International Ship Security...

Two engineering companies, Technip and Subsea 7, have jointly announced that their Australian venture, Technip Oceania Pty Ltd and Subsea 7 (Australia) Pty Ltd, have been awarded a contract by Woodside Energy Ltd for the Enfield oil development located in the Carnarvon Basin. The field is located 40km offshore from the North West Cape, Western...

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation or Sinopec Corp (HKEX: 386; NYSE: SNP; LSE: SNP; CH: 600028) has announced its unaudited financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2003. It said revenue rose 23.19% to RMB 128.36 billion over the same period last year, while operating profit climbed more than 25% to RMB 13.78...

Korea is feeling the brunt of surging global crude oil prices. Fuel prices at retail outlets rose to record levels last week and could yet climb higher. The gasoline price rose to 1,357.99 won per liter last week, up 5.49 won from a week before, compared to the pre-war record of 1,353.40 won last year,...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – National utility company Tenaga Nasional Bhd has been falling after announcing substantially weaker half year to February results which were generally within market expectations at the operating level, dealers said. Since Thursday, Tenaga is down more than 65 cents to close at RM9.65 on May 3. (US$1=RM3.8). Dealers said the selling...

LONDON (AFX) – BP PLC chief executive Lord Browne is “confident” the oil company’s reserves are “solid”, though he admitted official guidelines need updating. His comments followed Shell’s admission that it over-estimated the potential of its oil and gas wells by as much as 20%. Browne told reporters that guidelines developed by the US Securities...

Australian upstream company Santos Limited has reported lower production, sales volumes and revenue for the opening quarter of 2004, principally attributable to a fire accident at its Moomba plant on January 1. Total production for the three months ended 31 March 2004 was 9.7 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) compared with 13.0 mmboe in...