(EnergyAsia, March 6) — Singapore-listed China Petrotech Holdings Limited (CPHL) said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Xi’an Cenozoic Tech Corp, has been awarded the API Specification Q1 and ISO/TS 29001 certifications from the American Petroleum Institute (API) for design, production and service of petroleum exploration systems.             The certifications cover activities such as well logging, geological survey...

(EnergyAsia, March 6) — The Malaysian economy could suffer a sharp blow from last week’s surprising move by the government to raise fuel prices by between 18.5% and 23.5%. All grades of gasoline and diesel were raised by RM0.30 a litre, and LPG by RM0.30 a kg.   Gasoline was raised by 18.5% to RM1.92...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — New Zealand upstream company Austral Pacific Energy Ltd will focus its activities exploring the gas and condensate reservoirs of the Kapuni formation in the country’s Taranaki basin. Newly appointed CEO Rick Webber has made a number of announcements concerning the company’s current and planned activities. He said: “We will look to...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — The following is an excerpt of the speech by Mr Attiyah, also Qatar’s Deputy Premier at the recent 1th International Middle East Gas Summit held in Doha.   “The conference is taking place at a time when the world has witnessed steadily higher oil prices during the last two years and...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — China Aviation Oil Singapore Corporation Ltd (CAO) said it returned to profitability last year after suffering huge losses related to trading oil derivatives. Its net profits for the year to December 31 2005 were S$12.67 million, compared with losses of S$864.96 million the year before. (US$1=S$1.6).             Gu Yanfei, head of...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — Singapore-based transportation and logistics company Neptune Orient Lines said it earned net profit of US$804 million for 2005, representing a third consecutive year of strong performance despite significant cost pressures, particularly from fuel purchases.             The 2005 net profit before non-recurring items of US$796 million was 3% lower than the 2004...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) —– Leading petrochemical companies in the Middle East have signed a memorandum of understanding to form the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association, the first voluntary non-profit association of its kind in the region. The GPCA said its main role is to identify, address and manage the common interests of its members by...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — Singapore-listed PEARL Energy Limited said it has completed drilling of the exploration well in the Sebuku Production Sharing Contract in Indonesia’s Makassar Straits-2. The Sebuku PSC covers an area of approximately 8,773 sq. km and is located offshore east of Kalimantan.             The company had announced last month that it had...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — Indian upstream company ONGC and several companies have jointly incorporated the Mangalore SEZ Ltd as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to develop the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (SEZ).             ONGC is the lead co-promoter of this SEZ. Its partners include the state government of Karnataka, Kannara Chamber of Commerce and Industry...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL,) one of the largest electric utilities in India, will use Triple Point’s Commodity XLTM for Power next-generation software solution to manage its physical and financial trading, risk management, and electricity and transmission scheduling. US-based Triple Point Technology is a leading global supplier of cross-industry software...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — State Thai energy company PTT and its subsidiaries have reported record profits and sales for 2005. Net profit from normal operations increased by 28% to Bt80.1 billion (Bt28.63 per share), while sales revenue surged 44% to Bt929.72 billion. Earning before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 44% to Bt114.05...

(EnergyAsia, March 3) — China will invest US$17.4 billion over the next five years to improve its airports and build new ones, the Wall Street Journal reported.   On an annual basis, the planned outlay is more than three times the average yearly investment in airports between 1990 and 2005, when a total of US$14.9...

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — The Vestas Group of Denmark said it will establish a combined factory for the assembly of nacelles and hubs for use in wind power plants in Tianjin city in China. The factory will be built in connection with the blade factory which is already under construction in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development...

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — China’s red-hot economy is taking steps to reduce its dependency on oil. While the economy expanded by a blistering 9.9% rate last year, Chinese oil products use crept up by a mere 2.5% to 253.8 million tons, according to official data.   Analysts mulling over the split trends offer a variety...

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — Australian upstream company Santos more than doubled its net profit to a record A$762 million last year, up 115% from A$355 million in 2004 and eclipsing the company’s previous highest annual profit of A$487 million achieved in 2000. (US$1=A$1.33).   The company said the profit milestone was driven by a 64%...

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — The Australian Gas Light Company (AGL) has reported a 15.4% rise to A$234.1 million in underlying after-tax profit from continuing operations for the six months to December 31. (US$1=A$1.33).   However, the reported profit result of A$282.2 million was down 69.9% from 2004’s A$936.7 million which included a profit of A$624.2...

(EnergyAsya, March 2) — Emerson Process Management said it has been awarded a US$13 million contract to install its PlantWeb ¨ digital plant architecture in Units 3 and 4 of the Yonghung Thermal Power Plant in Korea.   Yonghung, which is owned by Korea South East Power Co. (KOSEP), serves the Seoul metropolitan area and...

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — Repeated attempts to keep WTI crude futures submerged below US$60 a barrel have failed. Last month, traders kept trying to spur a sell-off, encouraged by reports that the US oil and gas inventory were bursting at the seams amid a warm winter in North America and slowing demand growth in China....

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — As North Americans experience their most expensive winter on record in terms of energy consumption, many industry observers and participants:as well as consumers:have concluded that higher natural gas prices are here to stay. Many now believe that high natural gas prices are no longer spurring a supply response, and that the...

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — Partnerships and cooperation among local communities as well as communities of nations must be strengthened if Asia and the Pacific is to achieve sustainable development, a senior ADB official told an environment summit in New Delhi last month.   The region’s natural resources and environment will increasingly be the focus of...

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — Nearly a decade after the Asian financial crisis, Southeast Asia appears on the verge of a new meltdown. The latest challenges since September 11 2001 have been terrorism, political instability and high oil prices, with the latter having the potential to inflict on the region far greater devastation than the financial...

(EnergyAsia, March 2) — Thai state energy company PTT Public Company Limited has unveiled a five-year investment plan to 2010 worth Bt238.79 billion. (US$1=40 baht).   Its key investments include the third natural gas pipeline, the Sainoi-North and South power plant gas pipeline, the Wangnoi Kaengkoi gas pipeline, upgrades to gas separation plants unit 2,...

(EnergyAsia, March 1) — Malaysia-listed UMW Berhad is a ‘buy’, said MayBan Securities, citing the ‘pleasant surprise’ of contribution from the company’s oil and gas earnings. The engineering firm reported above-expectations for 2005, with net profit 21.3% above MayBan’s estimates of RM227.6 million and 14.4% above consensus estimates of RM241.5 million. (US$1=RM3.7).   UMW will...

(EnergyAsia, March 1) — US-based Delta Mutual Inc, a specialist in energy recovery and construction services through environmentally-friendly technologies and products, said it has started up the company’s first permanent oil sludge processing facility in Indonesia through its Delta-Envirotech subsidiary’s local joint venture, PT. Tryhuda-Envirotech.   The initial unit is processing oil sludge under a...

(EnergyAsia, March 1) — GAIL India Limited said it is examining an opportunity to build and operate a gas processing facility and associated pipeline system for transporting and marketing coal seam gas and coalbed methane (CBM) to customers in Queensland in Australia.   Australian Stock Exchange-listed Arrow Energy has asked GAIL to set up a...