Japan ethylene output falls
TOKYO: Japan’s ethylene output in October was slightly lower year-on-year, government data showed, but traders said output would rise due to tight ethylene supplies in Asia and strong demand from China.
Charter deals
LONDON: India’s Petronet LNG has issued bids for three long-term charter deals to ship LNG from Iran and Qatar to its domestic terminals, sources said.
Prices raised
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) has raised the prices for LNG by 2.99 per cent to reflect rising costs of imported gas.
Repairs plan
TOKYO: Japan Energy Corp, the country’s fifth-biggest oil refiner, said it plans to shut a 95,200 barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Mizushima refinery in April 2005 for maintenance.
Listing eyed
HONG KONG: CNOOC Chemical Ltd is seeking to list on Shanghai stock exchange in 2005, a company spokesman said.
Russia output likely to rise
MOSCOW: Russian oil production is expected to rise 9.26 per cent over last year to 460 million tonnes in 2004, Industry and Energy Minister Victor Khristenko said in a report carried by the Interfax news agency.
Lease terms
WASHINGTON: The US interior department has published the terms for two upcoming lease sales that will give energy firms the chance to drill for oil and natural gas in federal waters in the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Capacity hope
PUERTO LA CRUZ, Venezuela: Venezuela’s foreign-financed Ameriven extra-heavy oil upgrading project will reach full capacity of 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) of synthetic crude production in January, a project official said.
Crude plans
LONDON: Nigeria plans slightly higher daily crude export loadings of about 2.26 million barrels per day in November from the previous month’s 2.18 million bpd, trading sources said.
Firm move
HOUSTON: Devon Energy continues to defer 8,800 barrels of oil equivalent output per day because of damage in the Gulf of Mexico, a situation expected to linger for much of the fourth quarter, the company said.
Output resumes
HOUSTON: Apache Corp has resumed production at its Forties Field in the North Sea after output was shut for 27 hours, the company said.
Production on
LONDON: Repsol’s NC-186 D oilfield started up in June and is producing about 4,000 barrels of light crude per day, though a 40,000 bpd plateau flow level would not be seen until 2007, project partner OMV said.
Haldia plans to offer shares
New Delhi: India’s Haldia Petrochemicals planned to enter the capital market to make an initial public offer (IPO) of its shares in December, a senior company official said.
Socar move
BAKU: Azeri state oil firm Socar has tendered to sell two Urals crude cargoes totalling 164,000 tonnes (1.2 million barrels) for loading at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk.
HSFO sought
LONDON: Russian oil firm TNK-BP has issued a sell tender for up to 300,000 tonnes of high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) over the next five months starting in December, traders said.
Cracker restarts
TOKYO: Idemitsu Petrochemical Co has re-started a 623,000 tonne-per-year (tpy) naphtha cracker in its Tokuyama plant, western Japan, and it is now running at full capacity, parent Idemitsu Kosan Co said.
Firm move
TOKYO: Japanese petro-chemical producer Mitsui Chemicals Inc and refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co said they have consolidated vessel chartering for naphtha imports from the Middle East to eastern Japan to cut costs.
Stocks jump
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s onshore stocks of naphtha and gasoline jumped 625,000 barrels to 10.32 million barrels, Inter-national Enterprise (IE) said.
Bids invited
SEOUL: S-Oil Corp, South Korea’s third-biggest oil refiner, has invited bids for its term naphtha supply for 2005, which could be sharply lower than this year’s level, a source said.
Tender issued
LONDON: Russian oil firm TNK-BP has issued a sell tender for up to 300,000 tonnes of high sulphur fuel oil over the next five months starting in December, traders said.
Fuel oil sold
SINGAPORE: Indian Oil Corp has sold two cargoes totalling 50,000 tonnes of 180-centistoke (cst) fuel oil to Vitol Asia, sources said.
Valero revamp on schedule
HOUSTON: Valero Energy Corp said the plant-wide overhaul at its 175,000 barrel per day (bpd) Benicia, California refinery is on schedule and close to completion.
Exports to dip
HOUSTON: Colombia’s state oil firm, Ecopetrol, will decrease its sour crude exports by 1 million barrels for December export, traders said.
Gas oil sought
SINGAPORE: Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Petroleum Corp (Ceypetco) is seeking via tender 180,000 barrels of gas oil and 120,000 barrels of jet fuel for delivery in the first week of December, traders said.
Petron buys
SINGAPORE: Philippine refiner Petron Corp has bought a 100,000-barrel cargo of low-sulphur fuel oil for December delivery from Vitol Asia, industry sources said.
Tender issued
SINGAPORE: India’s Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd has issued a tender to sell 80,000 tonnes of high sulphur fuel oil, industry sources said.
Tupras to sell
LONDON: Turkish refiner Tupras has issued a spot tender to sell a 20,000 tonne cargo of 95-RON gasoline lifting from Izmir November 19-21, Medi-terranean traders and industry sources said.
Firm cuts runs
NEW YORK: Runs have been cut in half since last weekend at a 58,000 barrels per day coker unit at Hovensa’s St. Croix refinery and the unit is expected to be back on line within a few days, a spokesman said.
Tender cancelled
LONDON: India’s largest refiner, IOC, has cancelled a tender to buy late December/early January sweet crude oil, traders said.
Saudi cuts crude prices
LONDON: Saudi Arabia has cut most December crude prices for Asia, Europe and the US, with the exception of Arab Extra Light to Asia, which was left unchanged, traders said.
QP raises rates
SINGAPORE: Qatar Petroleum (QP) has retroactively raised the October official selling price of its light Qatar Land grade to a $3.40-per-barrel premium to Oman crude, a hike of 60 cents per barrel from the September premium, traders said.
Tender issued
SINGAPORE: State-owned Qatar Petroleum has issued a term tender to sell heavy sour Al Shaheen crude for loading between January and March 2005, traders said.
OSP reduced
LONDON: Saudi Arabia has cut the December official selling prices for Arab Light to Europe by $1 to $7.05 under the BWAVE formula basis Ras Tanura, trade sources said.
Prices steady
LONDON: State oil firm Egyptian General Petro-leum Corporation (EGPC) has kept most of its November official selling prices steady versus October, only cutting Ras Gharib by $2.50 to Dated -$16, traders said.
Revenues up
CAIRO: Egypt’s oil exports revenues grew to $226 million in August from $189 million in July, according to the Egyptian Cabinet’s monthly economic bulletin.
Aramco move
SINGAPORE: Saudi oil kingpin Aramco has re-issued a tender to sell a 47,000-to-49,000-tonne cargo of high-sulphur fuel oil for end November-loading, industry sources said.
COMPANY NEWS
Petronet selling shares to investment fund
AHMEDABAD: State-run Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) is selling a 20.5 per cent stake for 900 million rupees ($19.98m) to an infrastructure equity investment fund backed by the federal government, a company spokesman said.
GSPL, a gas pipeline and transportation company promoted by by Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC), will issue 72 million shares with a face value of 10 rupees each to India Development Fund (IDF) at a premium of 2.50 rupees, a GSPC spokesman said.
A number of multinational and domestic energy firms, including BG Group Plc, Royal Dutch/Shell and Gail India had shown interest in picking up a stake in GSPL.
GSPL’s paid-up equity will rise to 3.17 billion rupees after the sale to IDF from 2.45 billion rupees currently.
IDF is promoted by Infrastructure Development Finance Corp, the federal finance ministry, State Bank of India, Life Insurance corp of India, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India.
Crude exports slashed
SINGAPORE: China has slashed its crude oil export quota for 2005 by two thirds from this year to divert more supply to the domestic market, Com-merce Ministry officials said.
Stocks dip
TOKYO: Japan’s kerosene stocks fell to 4.39 million kilolitres (27.61 million barrels) from 4.54 million kl, data from the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) showed.
Petechim sells
HANOI: Vietnam’s state oil marketer, Petechim, has sold 600,000 barrels of medium heavy sweet Bunga Kekwa crude to oil major ExxonMobil Corp for mid-December load-ing, a company source said.
Pertamina move
Singapore: Indonesia’s Pertamina has issued a buy tender for three medium-range sized gasoil cargoes for December loading, a trader said.
Tender issued
SINGAPORE: Indonesia’s oil and gas regulator, BP Migas, has issued a tender to sell 270,000 barrels of light sweet Anoa crude each month for lifting in December 2004, June 2005 and December 2005, industry sources and traders said.
ARC to sell
SINGAPORE: Thailand’s Alliance Refining Co (ARC) has issued tender to sell 230,000 barrels of low sulphur gas oil for loading in mid-November, traders said.
Yukos talks set
MOSCOW: Shareholders of Yukos will vote at a December 20 meeting on whether the oil major should file for bankruptcy after it was hit with back-breaking new tax bills, chief executive Steven Theede said.
Theede said Russia’s largest oil exporting company could not continue to operate normally after being presented with $6.7 billion in tax demands this week.
Meanwhile, Yukos's core owners have written to President Vladimir Putin threatening to sue Russia in international courts if officials refuse to start talks over its giant tax bill, a spokesman said.
Strictly business ...
• LONDON: Spanish utility Union Fenosa would sell its five per cent stake in Spanish oil company Cepsa if it received an offer at current price levels, the company’s chairman said. “Today at the price it is now, we would sell,” Antonio Basagoiti said.
•SAN FRANCISCO: Natural gas distributor Nicor Inc has posted a third-quarter loss after a year-ago profit, citing mainly lower operating results in its gas distribution and natural gas marketing businesses.
• MADRID: Spanish oil and gas company Cepsa reported a 13 per cent fall in nine-month net profit as the strength of the euro offset higher crude prices.
• Nicor Inc’s Gas swung to a third-quarter loss on lower results from its distribution and wholesale gas business, higher interest expense as well as a charge related to derivative contracts.
ENVIRONMENTAL EYE
Japan firm starts low sulphur fuel production
TOKYO: Japan Energy Corp, the country’s fifth-biggest oil refiner, said it has started producing lower sulphur-content motor fuels at affiliated Kashima Oil Co’s 190,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in eastern Japan.
Japan Energy, a unit of Nippon Mining Holdings Inc, installed a 26,000 bpd gasoline desulphurising unit and a 35,000 bpd gas oil desulphurising unit at the Kashima refinery to produce products with a maximum 10 ppm sulphur content.
The company invested a total six billion yen ($56.6 million) for the new desulphurising units.
The refiner also plans to start producing the lower sulphur motor fuels at its 205,200 bpd Mizushima refinery in western Japan by the end of this year.
The maximum sulphur content of motor fuels in Japan must be lowered to 50 ppm by the end of this year, and the country aims to push down maximum sulphur content to 10 ppm by the end of 2008.
Shell upgrade
LONDON: Oil major Shell will finish a 75-million-pound ($138.3 million) upgrade to make ultra low sulphur fuels at its 233,000 barrels per day Stanlow refinery in the UK by mid-2005.
“Work is under way and will be completed by the middle of next year,” a spokeswoman said.
The plant, in central England, will be able to produce gasoline and diesel with 10 parts per million (ppm) sulphur. The European Union requires a limit of 50ppm sulphur by January, and 10ppm by 2009. Sulphur is blamed for acid rain and lung disease.
Cleaner gasoline
SINGAPORE: China’s export refinery, West Pacific Petrochemical Co Ltd started up a reforming unit to produce cleaner gasoline, Chinese sources said.
The 30,000-to-40,000-tonne-per-month unit produces reformate with an octane number of 96, and a sulphur content below 50 ppm, or 0.005 per cent.
The methyl tertiary butyl ether content is below 1 per cent and benzene below 2.5 per cent, a source in China said.
The reforming unit, which processes naphtha into reformate, was restarted after a decision was made at an annual buyer’s meeting in September. The unit had been idle due to high costs of production.
The refiner plans to blend the reformate with gasoline produced from its fluid catalytic cracker to make 93-octane gasoline.
The gasoline could eventually be sold at markets in Japan or Australia, sources said. Wepec has been exporting mostly 91 and 92 octane gasoline produced from fluid catalytic cracker and with a sulphur content of below 200 ppm.
