Korea’s public transportation fares, water rates and power tariffs are poised to rise further in the second half of the year on the back of high oil and gas prices. According to the Ministry of Finance and Economy, bus and subway fares have risen 14% and 25% respectively in Seoul since the start of July....

Cash-flush Kazakhstan, riding a tide of increasing crude exports and high oil prices, is making a hostile bid — described by one analyst as a “lose-lose” proposition — to wrest a slice of its Kashagan field from the Western oil majors investing in the project, reported the Moscow Times. Kashagan, the site of the world’s...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – There will be no electricity tariff increase until January, but a rise is inevitable given the government’s generation policy shift from gas to coal, which may result in higher costs, the Star reported. It quoted minister of energy, water and communications Lim Keng Yaik as saying that for now, the government...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Beijing economic planners have threatened to cut off power to the capital’s hotels unless they implement a 20% reduction in consumption during peak periods, officials said. The Beijing government’s development reform commission ordered the power reductions last month, but tourist officials, representing the hotels, have come out strongly against the plan and...

China has started talks with six Middle Eastern countries to establish a free trade pact. According to the China Daily, a Middle East delegation led by Kuwait’s Finance Minister Mahmoud Al-Nouri recently visited Beijing to meet with China’s Commerce and Finance Ministers to discuss the signing of a free trade agreement (FTA). Kuwait’s ambassador to...

Laugfs Gas will revive its flagging auto-LPG business with a series of new re-filling stations around the country, as it tries to hold on to a falling number of auto gas users. Auto gas isn’t as popular as it once was, according to a Lanka Business Online report. Gas conversions have fallen from about 150...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Tenaga Nasional Bhd said unit Kapar Energy Ventures Bhd (KEV) has secured Securities Commission (SC) approval for a proposed issue of RM3.4 billion worth of Bai’ Bithaman Ajil Islamic Debt Securities (BaIDS). (US$1=RM3.8) KEV is a 60% subsidiary of Tenaga Nasional and 40% owned associated company of Malakoff Bhd. In a...

Thailand’s PTT Plc will set up a joint venture with its petrochemical subsidiaries, National Petrochemical Plc (NPC), Thai Olefins Plc (TOC) and Aromatics (Thailand) Plc (ATC), to build a 2.4-billion-baht central utilities project. (US$1=40 baht). The project will produce electricity and generate steam from natural gas to sell to its shareholders and shareholders’ affiliates as...

Singapore’s offshore support and marine services provider Ezra Holdings Limited said that two of its subsidiaries have landed three contracts worth a total of about US$14.2 million including extension options. The time charter contracts are awarded to its Anchor Handling Tug (AHT) and its fast crew utility vessel, two of Ezra’s existing fleet of 12...

Economists are downgrading their estimates for Korea’s economic growth in the second half of the year. The Bank of Korea had predicted in December that the economy would grow by 5.2% in 2004, up from last year’s 3.1%. It had expected growth of 4.8% in the first half and 5.6% in the second half, based...

UK-based Cairn Energy said it has successfully placed a total of 7,512,850 new ordinary shares of 10 pence each with institutions at a price of £13.70 per share, raising approximately £102.9 million before expenses. (US$1=£0.54). The shares were placed by Hoare Govett Limited and Canaccord Capital (Europe) Limited. The placing shares will be issued credited...

The Chinese government said it is making energy conservation its top priority in its long-term planning and policy on energy issues. China is feeling the strains of runaway oil demand growth and rising power supply shortages. This represents a significant shift from its emphasis on energy exploitation. The government will have to push for an...

RasGas and its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors have said they are confident of establishing the LNG major’s Train 5 within the schedule time and budget. According to the Gulf Times, RasGas managing director Jerry Wolahan said the estimated cost of US$1.5 billion for train 5 was lower than the budgets for the previous...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – State-owned National Power Corp (Napocor) may return to profitability once it is allowed to implement an average 1.85 pesos per kilowatthour increase in its basic rate, Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM) president Raphael Lotilla said. PSALM is the company created by the government to absorb the Napocor assets set...

Japan’s engineering and construction company Chiyoda Corporation said it joint venture with Italy’s Snamprogetti S.p.A has been awarded a contract for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) train in Qatar. The proposed LNG Train 5 plant and related facilities at the Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (II) complex...

The Thai Energy Ministry, the Royal Thai Navy, PTT Plc and the Society of Automotive Engineers of Thailand last month signed a joint agreement to develop bio-diesel for commercial use in the transport sector. In announcing the deal, Energy Minister Prommin Lertsuridej said local automakers would be asked to start manufacturing more vehicles that can...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China is trying to reform its tightly controlled oil pricing system which is encouraging speculation and hoarding because of the time lag between changes in international prices and domestic prices, the 21st Century Business Herald reported, without citing sources. The National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top planning agency, recently held...

The Philippines’ Department of Energy said four bus companies have committed to start using compressed natural gas-fired buses this year. The DoE told The Manila Times that it recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the companies to implement the country’s Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport Pilot Project, which aims to encourage the...

Saudi shipping firm National Chemical Carriers (NCC) has signed loan agreements worth US$160 million with three Saudi and regional banks to finance the purchase of six chemical tankers, according to a report by the Peninsular Qatar. The facility agreements will “finance up to 80% of the contract price for six large chemical tankers to be...

Australian upstream company Origin Energy Limited has begun drilling the Agonis 1 exploration well in the onshore Perth Basin Production Licence L1. The well, operated by ARC Energy, is located approximately 5.5 kilometres east of the Hovea production facility and approximately midway between the Xyris and Mondarra gas fields. Origin said the well is being...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) Ð State oil corporation Petronas’s capital expenditure (capex) in the current year to March 2005 will be maintained at US$3 billion, said the company’s President and CEO Mohd Hassan Marican. “Our capex averages US$3 billion a year. We don’t see that changing,” he told reporters at briefing. He said however that year...

State Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) has reported a 34% rise in first half earnings from its crude oil exports. The company sold nearly 9.8mil tonnes of crude oil worth US$2.5 billion. The corporation produced more than 10 million tonnes of crude and nearly 2.9 billion cubic metres of natural gas, an increase of...

Think tank Petroleum Institute of Thailand (PTIT) said the country’s oil and petrochemical industry to move up the value chain by producing higher grade petrochemical products. In a study on the country’s strategic plan for the sector, PTIT said the government should focus on strengthening the competitiveness of Thailand’s petrochemical industry by increasing value-added petrochemical...

The world’s largest synthetic fuel producer, Sasol of South Africa, is planning to build two large plants in China to feed the country’s fast-growing demand for fuel, according to local Chinese agency CRI. The two projects, in northwest China’s Ningxia and Shaanxi, are expected to cost about US$3 billion each and will have a combined...

China’s proven oil reserves, or crude oil classified as commercially viable to extract, totalled 6.5 billion tons at the end of 2003, according to local news reports. CRIENGLISH.com said this volume represents more than 40% of China’s estimated total recoverable reserves and could provide for steady output growth over the next 20 years. Paris-based International...