China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) and the Royal/Dutch Shell group have established a marketing joint venture in Nanjing city in East China’s Jiangsu province, according to the China Daily. The – Sinopec and Shell (Jiangsu) Petroleum Marketing Company Limited is 60%-owned by Sinopec Corporation, 30% by Shell China Holdings BV and 10% by Shell...

Thailand’s biofuels sector is rapidly gaining importance as the government continues to encourage its development as a substitute for hydrocarbons. Last week, four accords were signed in Bangkok at a biofuels conference, reported the Bangkok Post. The deals included a memorandum of understanding signed between Thailand’s ACG Group, a leading food supplement and cosmetics producer,...

Singapore-listed China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd (CAO) said that its initial tender for jet fuel procurement volumes for the upcoming October-December quarter was 43.8% higher than the initial tender for the same period last year. It also announced that full-year procurement volumes would be at least 30% higher than those recorded in 2003, reaching...

Hong Kong-listed China Gas Holdings Ltd, a gas pipeline construction firm, has announced plans to invest a total of HK$94.57 million (US$1-HK$7.8) to increase its holdings in five gas ventures in Hubei province in China. According to the China Daily, the company already owns a 65% stake in each of four companies — Hancuan Jiaxu,...

Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) has been awarded a 30-year lease for a new gasoline station site at 3800 Jalan Bukit Merah by the Housing & Development Board. The company secured the lease with a winning e-bid of S$11 million. (US$1=S$1.7). The new site is located within a high traffic area supported by established residential,...

India’s state oil companies have underperformed against their private sector rivals the last few years, according to a discussion paper released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The state companies recently reported higher profitability only because of the dismantling of the administered pricing mechanism, lack of competition and the recent rise in international...

After more than two years of a maritime boundary dispute, Australia is expected to conclude a A$5 billion deal with East Timor from joint production of natural gas in the Timor Sea. According to The Australian newspaper, the Australian Cabinet has established the benchmarks for offering a greater share of the revenue from the massive...

Caltex Australia Limited said first half profits were up sharply to A$340.6 million from A$76.2 million in the same period last year. (US$1=A$1.4). It said the replacement cost of sales operating profit (RCOP) after tax came to A$180.3 million excluding significant items from A$86.1 million last year. Caltex said: “This result excludes the impact of...

Indonesia’s state gas distribution firm Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) said foreign exchange losses caused its first half net income to drop by 82% from the same period last year. According to the Jakarta Post, PGN’s corporate secretary, Widyatmoko Bapang, said net income in the first half ending June 30 was Rp 76 billion compared to...

Australian engineering firm Clough Limited said it has reached agreement, subject to shareholder approval, to enter into a strategic alliance with South African engineering, construction and manufacturing group Murray & Roberts Holdings Limited. Murray & Roberts, a leading contractor in the global resources sector, will take a significant shareholding in Clough Limited through the placement...

The Indonesian government could raise fuel subsidies by more than 334% over initial proposal as a result of sharply higher oil prices. The latest proposal contained in a revision to the 2004 state budget will help consumers cope with higher fuel cost as Indonesia imports the bulk of its fuels. Finance Minister Boediono said the...

Thailand is pushing ahead with its bio-fuels programme by approving ethanol production by two more sugar mills with a combined production capacity of 400,000 litres per day. Thirty-seven of Thailand’s 46 sugar mills have applied to set up ethanol plants in line with the state policy aimed at solving chronic debt problems in the sugar...

With the oil market currently whipsawed between bullish Yukos stores out of Moscow, potential violence in southern Iraq, and continuing concerns over Saudi spare capacity, prices have been on a rollercoaster in recent weeks. In the latest edition of its Global Crude Oil Outlook, US energy consultant ESAI raised its crude price forecast for the...

Sakhalin Energy has commissioned IUCN – The World Conservation Union – to convene an independent panel to review the effectiveness of mitigation measures to minimise the impact of its operations on Western Gray Whales as it develops the Sakhalin II Phase 2 project. The Independent Scientific Review Panel will study the key issues concerning conservation...

Morgan Stanley has signed an intent agreement to buy a stake in 11 power projects in northeastern China worth 2.3 billion yuan (US$278.11 million) at an auction held by China Xinda Assets Management Company. The 11 projects include a thermal power company in Dalian of northeast China’s Liaoning province, according to the Xinhua News Agency....

The board of Indian Oil Corporation has approved a bid for the company to buy a 40% stake in Indonesia’s largest upstream company PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk. “We have completed due diligence of Medco and are now valuing the company. The board today cleared bidding for acquiring stake in the company,” IOC chairman M.S....

China’s Sinopec will invest between $22 million and $29 million on exploration projects in Oman as part of an oil and gas concession agreement it recently signed with the Omani government. The deal marks state-owned Sinopec’s entry into Oman, with project work due to start early next year, reported the Khaleej Times. The agreement, signed...

As rapidly as it had climbed, the front month New York oil futures price fell more than US$8 from August 20 to 30, giving all the signs it had finally come off an overheated market. After failing to crash the US$50 barrier, hedge funds and paper traders quickly took profit, giving hope to many worried...

Guangdong province, China’s biggest oil importing and consuming province, is looking to establish an oil futures exchange to help its companies hedge energy costs, according to the Hong Kong Standard. The proposal, revealed by the Guangzhou Economic Commission, comes as the mainland’s only oil exchange, in Shanghai, resumed trading last month after a nine-year shutdown....

IHS Energy, a leading global source of oil and gas information, analysis and software said it has acquired Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a strategic knowledge advisor to the world’s energy industry and to financial institutions and governments. “This powerful combination will create a depth and range of analytical capability that does not currently exist,”...

Asia Development Bank has announced it will lend Vietnam about US$776 million over the next two years. The announcement was made on its Country Strategy and Program (CSP) Update for 2005-2006 endorsed by ADB’s board of directors, which noted that Vietnam’s outlook in the short and medium term is healthy. “Endowed with natural resources, enterprising...

David Mulford, the US Ambassador to India, and Proshanto Banerjee, chairman and managing director of GAIL have signed an agreement for jointly funding and undertaking a feasibility study on the proposed National Gas Grid in India. The agreement provides for funding of US $690,000 by the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and US $...

The Korean government is still looking into the possibility of reducing oil taxes to relieve the economy from the burden of rising oil prices. According to Yonhap news agency, Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Lee Hun-jai said the government was concerned that high oil prices could slow down the economy as well as...

Antares Energy Company, a fully owned subsidiary of Australia’s Amity Oil Limited expects to soon start a multi-well drilling programme on its recently acquired leases in Oklahoma, US. The leases are located in the Oklahoma portion of the prolific Anadarko Basin. In a statement, Amity Oil said the initial programme will comprise two firm wells,...

China Southern Power Grid Co, a state enterprise in Guangzhou, has proposed to supply 3,000 megawatts of power to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) under an energy affairs co-operation agreement signed by Thailand and China in 2000. According to the Bangkok Post, the power supply would be transmitted from two hydro-electricity dams –...