Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will invest at least US$1 billion to develop Iran’s South Pars field, converting the gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export to India. IOC will have access to nine million tonnes of LNG annually, with Ennore, off Chennai, as a possible location for a new receiving terminal, the Economic Times...

Indonesian state-owned oil company Pertamina raised the price of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by around 41% and those of its Pertamax and Pertamax Plus high-quality gasolines by over 60%, Indonesian news agency Antara reported.   “The price of LPG is to be raised from 3,000 rupiah (32 US cents) per kilogram to 4,250 rupiah...

Japanese engineering firm Chiyoda has signed with the Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited II a contract for engineering, procurement and construction of the onshore facilities with the world’s two largest LNG trains. The US$4 billion contract will be executed by a joint venture of Chiyoda Corporation and Technip of France.   Each train will produce...

Openspec naphtha tonne C+F Japan – US$ 414.00 (-US$10.83 from Dec 21 closing) 95 ron unleaded gasoline barrel FOB Singapore  – 43.85 (-1.63) 43.85 Jet kerosene barrel FOB Singapore – 52.90 (-1.60) 52.90 Gasoil barrel FOB Singapore – 51.50 (-1.76) 51.50 LSWR barrel FOB Indonesia – 23.30 (-0.03) 23.30 HSFO 180cst tonne FOB Singapore – 185.25 (-4.67) 185.25 HSFO 380cst tonne FOB...

China’s CNOOC Limited said it has completed its acquisition of an equity interest in the North West Shelf (NWS) gas project in Australia.   The transaction was previously announced on May 15, 2003. The company acquired a 25% stake in the China LNG joint venture, a new company established within the project. Under the terms of...

Canada-based oil and gas exploration company Pacific Tiger Energy Inc has announced the completion of an analysis of its oilfield operations. This included the 2004 drilling programme carried out by a previous management and the joint venture partner, Australia’s Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd.   Pacific Tiger Energy said that after further review by Navigator Resource Management...

Caltex Australia said it is no involved in any way in the case involving petroleum distributors and retailers and individuals that was decided recently in the Federal Court in Melbourne, according to a company release. The company issued the statement after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) won a landmark case against petrol companies that...

High and volatile oil prices will continue to restrain economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region next year, a UN agency said in a report. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said the region’s economic growth would fall to 6.2% in 2005 from an estimated 6.9% in 2004 and 6.2% in...

Indian state-run gas utility, Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), is eyeing a 10% stake in China Gas Holdings Ltd, which has exclusive rights to set up city gas distribution projects in 42 cities in China. “China Gas has offered us equity to bring value to their city gas distribution projects,” Gail chairman and managing...

Openspec naphtha tonne C+F Japan – US$ 424.83 (-US$5.07 from Dec 20 closing) 95 ron unleaded gasoline barrel FOB Singapore  – 45.48 (-0.40) Jet kerosene barrel FOB Singapore – 54.50 (+3.05) Gasoil barrel FOB Singapore – 53.26  (+1.02) LSWR barrel FOB Indonesia – 23.33 (-0.12) HSFO 180cst tonne FOB Singapore – 189.92 (-0.06) HSFO 380cst tonne FOB Singapore – 172.31 (+2.55)...

Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil Corporation said they have jointly begun work on a number of “significant activities” to advance the US$12 billion Qatargas II project,which will supply LNG from Qatar to the UK by the winter of 2007/8. Qatargas II is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (70%) and ExxonMobil (30%). The announcement was...

US greenhouse gas emissions rose by 0.7% from 6,891 million metric tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) in 2002 to 6,936 MMTCO2e last year.   According to “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2003“, a report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy, the rise is well below the...

Leading Australian law firm, Gadens Lawyers, has pulled off a major recruitment coup, hiring premier energy projects specialist Susan O’Rourke as a partner in its Sydney office. Ms O’Rourke is a former partner of Mallesons and Clayton Utz and has spent the past two and a half years heading the energy and resources practice of...

Petroleum ministers from major producing and consuming countries will meet in New Delhi on January 6 to discuss the issue and challenges posed by surging global oil prices, said Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.   “Petroleum ministers from West Asian and South Asian countries will meet here on January 6,” he was quoted as...

Some 60 Japanese business groups recently staged a strong protest in Tokyo against the Environment Ministry’s proposal to impose new taxes on fossil fuels. Led by heavyweights Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the groups adopted a resolution declaring their opposition to the environmental tax and handed it...

Finland’s W’rtsil’ Corporation has appointed two new executive vice presidents and a vice president from January 1.   Raimo Lind, group vice president and chief financial officer, and Mikael M’kinen, group vice president for ship power, will be promoted to executive vice presidents, while Mikael Simelius has joined the company as vice president for marketing,...

UK’s Intertek Group PLC will open a NT$50 million laboratory in Taiwan next year to test and certificate special-purpose chemical products for the island’s information-technology and textile industries. (US$1=NT$32). According to China Economic News Service, Intertek, which also tests and inspects oil cargos, is the world’s second-largest testing organization, with revenue reaching 470 million British...

Singapore’s Jurong Shipyard, a subsidiary of SembCorp Marine, has secured a rig building deal worth US$131 million with Petrojack AS for the construction of a Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 deep drilling offshore jack-up rig.   Work on the new rig is expected to start in the first quarter with delivery scheduled in the second...

India’s petroleum ministry is seeking Cabinet authorisation to “lead” in negotiations with Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries regarding the laying of cross-borderl pipelines to import gas, according to the Statesman newspaper.   A leading issue at present is the proposed construction of a pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan.   Iran has about 15%...

The management of dismembered Russia’s Yukos Oil Company is continuing to resist Moscow’s push to sell off the oil giant’s most lucrative assets.   Yukos management said it will pursue every legal and commercial remedy available to recover the corporate value that will be unjustifiably destroyed with the auction of its largest production unit, Yuganskneftegas,...

The recently released International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast of Russia’s crude production is “unjustifiably optimistic”, says US based energy consultants ESAI. The IEA projected Russia’s 2005 crude production to average 9.64 million b/d, implying annual growth of 420,000 b/d relative to 2004. ESAI, however, sees incremental crude output in 2005 growing by a maximum of...

UMW Holdings Bhd expects its oil and gas division to contribute 10% to 15% to group earnings in three to four years as it expands into China and other countries in the region, managing director Abdul Halim Harun said.   “Oil and gas is still a small contributor to our profits right now, but that...

TL Offshore Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of SapuraCrest Petroleum, has been awarded a RM144 million (US$38 million) procurement and installation services contract by Brunei Shell Petroleum, making it the largest overseas contract secured by the company so far, Malaysia’s Bernama news agency reported.   TL Offshore Sdn Bhd specialises in the transportation and installation of...

South Korea will gain access to 10 million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from two additional sites near the country’s first commercial LNG field in the East Sea, the Korea Herald quoted government sources as saying.   From one site, located about 5km south of the field, officials from the Ministry of Commerce,...

Japanese trading house Toyota Tsusho has teamed up with with Hokkaido prefecture and other organisations to launch a research project into commercial production of biodiesel fuels (BDF) from rapeseeds and other plants.   Aiming for the commercialisation of a new type of eco-friendly and recyclable fuel, Toyota Tsusho and the Hokkaido prefecture government will carry...