Chai Songyue, chairman of China’s newly-established State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), led a delegation to New Delhi last week for discussions with his Indian counterpart AK Basu. The two sides discussed power tariffs, regulations, and legal and institutional systems in the two countries, according to a Press Trust of India news agency report. The...
Gail (India) Ltd’s monopoly to lay natural gas pipelines is to end, paving the way for private companies to enter the lucrative sector, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has told the Press Trust of India. Oil and gas producers like Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will be allowed to lay pipelines from gas fields to...
Indonesia’s state-owned oil company PT Pertamina has given an assurance that there will be no fuel shortages during Ramadan (Muslim fasting month) even though consumption usually rises by 10% to 15% from normal consumption of 62,000 kiloliters a day. There are enough stockpiles to meet surges in demand, said a Pertamina general manager, Tjandra...
Taiwan’s foreign ministry has agreed to provide a NT350 million aid package to Chad after the central African ally threatened to sever ties with the island, the Taipei-based China Times Express reported. (US$1=NT34). The report cited unidentified sources as saying that Taiwan’s foreign ministry officials had been divided over whether to grant Chad the...
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (FPCC), an oil subsidiary of Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Group, will invest NT$10 billion to expand its oil-refinery capacity to 600,000 barrels/day from the present 450,000 b/d, according to the China Economic News business service (CENS). (US$1 = NT$33.9). The company decided on the investment after projections showed that earnings from oil...
Two of the UAE’s four main oil retailers have warned that they will shut down all their combined 165 fuel stations by end-October if the government does not help them with increased subsidies. The retailers have been reeling from losses in the face of rising world oil prices as they are forced to sell fuels...
Asian product prices for Oct 19 down on profit taking Openspec Naphtha C+F 2 month – 470.25 (-5.25) Jet kerosene barrel FOB Singapore – 61.00 (-1.65) Gasoil barrel FOB Singapore – 56.80 (-1.65) LSWR barrel FOB Indonesia – 41.00 (-0.35) HSFO 180cst tonne FOB Singapore – 207.00 (-4.75) HSFO 380cst tonne FOB Singapore – 202.25 (-4.00)...
South Korea wants to take a bigger role in Vietnam’s oil exploration projects, said Yi Ok-su, chairman of the Korea National Oil Company (KNOC), who accompanied his country’s President Roh Moo-hyun on a recent official visit to Vietnam. Mr Yi told the Lao Dong newspaper that Vietnam is the first choice in his company’s...
The UAE may have to import natural gas from its neighbours to meet its fast-growing demand for power generation, said Ahmad Ali Sayegh, chief executive of Dolphin Energy Limited. The UAE’s demand for gas will surge to 13.5 billion cubic feet per day by 2030, Mr Sayegh said during the recent Abu Dhabi International...
Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd said it has signed a “pioneering” agreement to supply 37 million tonnes of LNG over a 20-year period to Shell Eastern Trading Ltd for export to North America. This represents the first sales of Russian natural gas to North America. “The landmark deal marks the beginning of Sakhalin Island...
Openspec Naphtha C+F 2 month – 475.50 (-1.10) Jet kerosene barrel FOB Singapore- 62.65 (-0.80) Gasoil barrel FOB Singapore – 58.45 (-0.65) LSWR barrel FOB Indonesia – 41.35 (-0.05) HSFO 180cst tonne FOB Singapore – 211.75 (-0.75) HSFO 380cst tonne FOB Singapore – 202.25 (-0.75)...
Energy engineering firm J. Ray McDermott has completed the fabrication, integration and onshore mechanical completion of the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel Ð Belanak Natuna Ð for use in Indonesia. J. Ray’s Indonesian operations, P.T. McDermott Indonesia (PTMI), won the contract from P.T. Brown & Root Indonesia, (PTBRI) in July 2001 to...
A buoyant oil and gas sector coupled with a well-executed expansion strategy have propelled Singapore’s offshore support and marine services provider Ezra Holdings Limited’s net profit to S$15.2 million for the 12 months ended August 31 2004, up 145% from the previous financial year. (US$1=S$1.7). Ezra said its shareholders will be rewarded with a...
Dolphin Energy Ltd (DEL) expects to award the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the third stage of its multi-billion project by end-2004, reported the Khaleej Times. The third stage involves designing and construction of the facilities at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi to receive natural gas from Qatar for re-distribution to the other...
The Hong Kong Union International Group and the Penglai Jinchuang Group are jointly investing US$109 million in a denatured fuel ethanol production plant in China’s northeastern Shandong province. According to the Xinhua news service, the Hong Kong firm will provide US$103 million of the investment for the 900,000 tons/year plant. The plant will...
China’s Huaneng Power International, Inc. said it generated 80.81 billion kWh of electricity for the first three quarters of 2004, up 22.35% over the same period last year. It reported “significant increases” in power output at its plants in Jining, Nantong, Fuzhou and Dandong. Huaneng said the growth in its power generation was due...
China Power International, a unit of China Power Investment Corp, rose sharply on its trading debut in Hong Kong last week. The company, headed by CEO Li Xiaolin, raised US$321.1 million in the initial public offering (IPO), reported the China Daily. Shares of China Power surged 16.6% above its IPO price of HK$2.53 each...
IndianOil plans to invest around Rs 560 million over the next two years to expand its retail network in Gujarat, reported the Press Trust of India. In addition, IndianOil’s subsidiary, IBP Ltd, intends to invest a further Rs 250 million in the state, touted as the India’s second largest consumer of the company’s oil products....
BP and its partners in the Tangguh Liquefied Natural Gas Project have signed a long-term sales and purchase agreement with Sempra Energy LNG to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Indonesia to markets in Mexico and the US. Developed with BP Migas, Indonesia’s state agency for oil and gas, the agreement represents the first long...
Indonesian state-owned electricity company PLN will pay a coupon rate of 12% to 12.5% for its Rp1.5 trillion bond to be issued by year-end, reported the Bisnis Indonesia newspaper. (US$1 = Rp 9,100). Satino, chairman of the pension fund association, said he expected strong investor interest for the 10-year bond as the company has...
LSWR barrel FOB Indonesia – 41.40 (+0.20) Jet kerosene barrel FOB Singapore- 63.45 (-0.55) Gasoil barrel FOB Singapore – 59.10 (-0.30) HSFO 180cst tonne FOB Singapore – 212.50 (+0.75) HSFO 380cst tonne FOB Singapore – 203.00 (0.25) World crude reached a new record high later in New York, with WTI rising to US$55/barrel....
Pakistan is determined to encourage oil and gas exploration investment in the country and reduce its dependence on oil imports, according to the Khaleej Times newspaper. Minister of Oil and Natural Resources Aman Ullah Khan Jadoon headed a delegation to the recent Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference and also met oil ministers...
Qatar National Bank (QNB) has started talks on raising financing for the US$900 million Ras Laffan power and water generation project, reported the Al Sharq newspaper. QNB is negotiating with seven international banks for syndicated financing expected to be concluded by end-October. The financing is to be for a 20-year tenure, according to the...
Thailand plans to keep gasoline and diesel prices unchanged until next March when it expects to float fuel prices, according to a Business Day report. Diesel is subsidised by as much as 5.57 baht a litre after the government fixed diesel prices earlier this year at 14.59 baht a litre. (US$1 = 41 baht)....
About 50 international oil and gas companies have expressed interest to bid for exploration contracts in the offshore Phu Khanh sediment area. According to Vietnam News New, state Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) issued the invitation to the companies last week. Located on the continental shelf of the two central provinces of Phu...