Samsung wins Bapco lube deal
DUBAI: South Korea’s Samsung Engineering has won a $314 million contract to build a unit at a 400,000 tonne-per-year lubricants plant in Bahrain, the Gulf state’s official news agency BNA reported.

The plant, in which Finland’s Neste Oil owns a 45 per cent stake, is expected to cost a total of $430 million and produce high viscosity lubricants, it said.
State oil firm Bahrain Petroleum Co (Bapco) owns a stake in the project.
China eyes steady oil, more gas
BEIJING: China aims to maintain largely steady oil production through 2030 but hopes to more than triple its natural gas output in the next two decades, official media reported, citing a government survey.
By 2030, annual oil production could be maintained at 200 million tonnes while natural gas output would reach 250 billion cubic metres (bcm), reported the China Land and Resources News, a newspaper run by the Ministry of Land and Resources.
Iraq to sign $1.2bn China deal
BAGHDAD: Iraq will soon sign its first big international oil deal since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a $1.2 billion oil service contract with China, oil minister Hussain Al-Shahristani was quoted as saying.
The deal covers a small field producing just 90,000 barrels per day and replaces an earlier deal signed under Saddam. But the terms described by Shahristani give a clue to the tough line Baghdad is likely to take in deals with other foreign firms.
Petrobras July oil output flat
SAO PAULO: Crude oil output in Brazil from state-run oil company Petrobras averaged 1.867 million barrels a day (bpd) in July, unchanged from June but up 2.9 per cent from the 1.815 million bpd a year ago.
Thai Oil to run at full tilt
SINGAPORE: Thai Oil, the country’s top refiner, will continue to run at full tilt as it is still earning margins, ahead of a major maintenance at Star Petroleum refinery, a company source said. This is in contrast to some oil refiners in Asia, which have cut or are planning to trim crude runs, following moves by Western peers as margins were hit by weakening fuel demand.
“We are not cutting runs because we are still making margins,” said the source who declined to be named. A company spokesman could not be immediately reached for comments.
China petrol imports soar
BEIJING: China’s July gasoline imports soared to a new record of 606,123 tonnes, keeping the country a net buyer of the product for the third month in a row, as firms continued to stockpile ahead of the Olympics.
Diesel imports also rose further last month to 970,000 tonnes, a new decade high and almost double traders’ earlier estimates, preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
Hefty stockpiling by state refiner Sinopec Corp and PetroChina started last December and was aided by tax rebates. The move boosted the firms’ inventory levels to record highs in June, an industry publication has reported, prompting slower purchases in the following months.
COSL has 98.8pc of Awilco
OSLO: China Oilfield Services said that it had acceptances for its $2.5 billion bid for Norwegian Awilco Offshore from shareholders with 98.8 per cent of the stock.
China Oilfield Services Ltd (COSL) launched its bid of 85 Norwegian crowns per share for all outstanding Awilco Offshore shares on July 7 with the backing of Awilco management.
COSL said in a statement that the condition for completing the offer had been met.
It is the first takeover by a Chinese company of a Norwegian oil rig group and comes amid a booming market for oilfield services as oil companies scramble to replace waning reserves and to produce at record-high prices.
China firms in Petro-Tech bid
BEIJING: China’s CNPC and Sinopec Group have put in a joint bid with a price tag between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion for Petro-Tech Peruana, a private US firm with oil and gas assets in Peru, a Beijing-based industry official said.
The Chinese firms, teamed up under Beijing’s coordination, expected Petro-Tech to announce the result by about late September, the source familiar with the bid told Reuters.
The source, who requested anonymity, said Petro-Tech currently produces close to 22,000 barrels per day of oil offshore Peru.
CPC idles naphtha cracker
SINGAPORE: Taiwan CPC Corp shut down its 450,000 tonne per year (tpy) No 3 naphtha cracker for a 40-45 day maintenance period, traders familiar with the company’s operations said. 
CPC operates two other crackers with a total capacity of 610,000 tpy, but weak petrochemical margins have forced to the company to run these units at a reduced rate of around 90 per cent, one of the traders said. 
“Downstream polymer margins are still healthy, but not styrene monomer,” he said. These have affected demand for feedstock ethylene. 
CPC’s No 3 cracker is expected to resume operations in late September.
CNPC strikes new oil, gas
BEIJING: PetroKazakhstan, majority-owned by China’s top energy group CNPC, struck oil and gas in two exploration blocks in the central Asian producer, the Chinese firm said on its Website.
The Kazakh-Chinese firm struck daily oil output of 203 cubic metres (cum) at Karabulak-2 well in block Karaganda, the first discovery there with commercial value, said a report.
At block Doshan, well Doshan-14 yielded oil and gas flow equivalent to 109 cum of oil a day; and well Doshan-15 showed 34 cum of oil flow and 173,100 cubic metres of gas a day, the report said.
Idemitsu to shut CDU, naphtha
TOKYO: Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan will conduct maintenance work from October 2 to November 23 on the 120,000 barrels per day crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Tokuyama refinery in western Japan, an industry source familiar with the matter said.
Japan’s third-biggest oil refiner will also shut the 623,000 tonnes-per-year naphtha cracker at the same facility from September 25 to November 26 for scheduled maintenance, the source added.
The total budget for the planned maintenance is estimated to be 20 billion yen ($181.6 million), part of which is to be used for energy-efficient remodeling at the refinery, the source said.
LG Chem restarts cracker
SINGAPORE: South Korea’s LG Chem restarted its 760,000 tonnes per year (tpy) naphtha cracker at Daesan, following an unplanned shutdown, a trader familiar with the company’s operations said.
However, the brief shutdown has limited impact on the already bearish naphtha market, traders said.
Azeri oil exports halted
LONDON: BP said that exports of Azeri oil by rail to Georgia had stopped after the line was damaged in Georgia, which accused Russian troops of blowing up a railway bridge.
The halt further limits BP’s options in shipping oil from Caspian Sea fields it manages. But the main route, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) link to Turkey, may reopen in a few days, Turkey’s energy minister said. “Rail exports have stopped from Azerbaijan to Georgia,” BP spokesman Robert Wine said. “There’s been some damage along the line in Georgia.”
BTC oil flow can resume
ANKARA: Oil flows through the fire-damaged Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline should resume within a few days, Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler told a news conference, earlier than previously expected.
“In the shortest time, in a few days petrol will be flowing on the BTC,” said Guler. An official from Botas, Turkey’s pipeline company, initially said repairs could take one to two weeks. The closure of the pipeline, nearly two weeks ago, after an explosion on the line in eastern Turkey, caused members of the BTC pipeline consortium to declare force majeure, freeing them from contractual obligations.
Codelco agrees to supply deal
SANTIAGO: Chile state copper mining giant Codelco said it reached a 10-year fuel supply  agreement with a consortium led by the state oil company ENAP and Royal Dutch Shell valued at up to $3 billion.
Codelco, which is working to guarantee energy supplies in a tight market, said the contract was worth about $275,000 a year, including amortisation of investments in storage facilities.
Codelco said the contract was put out for bid in 2007 to supply fuel to four of its copper mines, including the Codelco Norte mines Chuquicamata and Radomiro Tomic, Salvador and Gaby.
Ecuador to meet Chevron
QUITO: Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said he plans to meet with Chevron officials and lawyers for 30,000 jungle residents who are suing the US oil giant for up to $16 billion over environmental damages.
Chevron, which calls the case a “judicial farce” plagued by government interference, said it was open to reaching an amicable solution to resolve the suit after Ecuador said it was willing to mediate an out-of-court settlement..
Torrance back to normal
HOUSTON: ExxonMobil said operations were normal at its 150,000 barrel-per-day Los Angeles-area refinery in Torrance, California, after a unit restart.
 The company declined to disclose the unit that restarted.  
Fairborne Energy shares rise
CALGARY:  Fairborne Energy shares rose 14 per cent after the company detailed a prolific natural gas discovery in Alberta.
Shares of the junior oil and gas producer climbed C$1.42 to C$11.61 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Volume was 1.87 million shares, more almost four times the 90-day average. The shares have risen 62 per cent over the past 12 months, against an 11 per cent  gain for the exchange’s main energy index for the same period.
Fairborne said a horizontal well drilled at its Harlech property in Alberta produced up to 13 million cubic feet of gas per day while being tested and would be tied into infrastructure by the end of September. 
Forest to buy Texas properties
NEW YORK: Oil and natural gas company Forest Oil said that it would buy about 118,000 gross acres of producing assets in two of its core regions in Texas for $892 million in cash and stock.
The company is buying the properties, located in the Greater Buffalo Wallow and East Texas regions, from Cordillera Texas for about $708 million in cash plus 3.5 million shares of common stock.
The new assets produced about 34 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day in the first half and have estimated proved reserves of 350 billion cubic feet equivalent. 
Europe refinery margins slip
LONDON: European refining margins edged lower over the last week as a rise in profits on gasoline production failed to counterbalance a drop in distillate margins.
A complex refinery in the Rotterdam area saw its margins over the last week fall to $7.31 a barrel, from $7.86 in the previous week, according to Reuters data. Despite the fall, European margins remain above the average over the last year of $6.44.  Gas oil cracking margins fell to a new four-month low of $22.56 a barrel on ample supply as a result of rising diesel imports from the US and gas oil shipments from Asia.
Newfoundland, Chevron in deal
CALGARY: The government of Newfoundland is set to finalise a deal with Chevron to develop the C$6 billion ($5.7 billion) offshore Hebron oil field, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported.  
 The signing of formal terms of the agreement would come a year after Premier Danny Williams and Chevron and its partners agreed to a memorandum of understanding that gave Newfoundland a 4.9 per cent stake in the field for C$110 million.
Crescent in Iraq JV
ISTANBUL: Turkish energy company Turkerler and UAE Crescent Petroleum have formed a joint venture to export Iraqi gas, the companies said in a statement.
The venture, Inci Gaz, initially plans to obtain 3.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually in Iraq from 2011, increasing that volume gradually to more than 10 bcm. “The Inci Gaz companies plan to make the necessary infrastructure investments to transport and supply the natural gas to the Turkish market and potential foreign consumers,” the statement said.
No oil from Iraq: DNO
OSLO: Norwegian oil firm DNO said it would get no oil from its Tawke field in north Iraq as the Kurdistan regional authorities have put production on hold during a review of licencing and other procedures.
“According to (the Kurdistan Regional Government) it is expected that these formalities will be completed during August, with oil production resuming by late August/early September,” DNO International ASA said in a statement.
Qatar, Indonesia fund
DUBAI: Gas exporters Qatar and Indonesia have set up a $1 billion fund to invest in energy and infrastructure, Indonesia’s ambassador to Qatar said in remarks.
Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), while Indonesia is the third-largest. LNG is gas chilled to its liquid form for export. Qatar will contribute 85 per cent of the funds for the new fund and Indonesia the remainder, the Qatar daily newspaper the Gulf Times quoted ambassador Rozy Munir as saying.
$9bn KPC-Sinopec JV
KUWAIT: A planned refinery joint venture in southern China between state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and Sinopec Corp is expected to cost up to $4 billion above initial estimates, state news agency Kuna cited KPC’s head as saying.
The Kuwait-Chinese refinery and petrochemical project is expected to cost between $8 billion to $9 billion, Saad al-Shuwaib, chief executive of KPC told Chinese magazine Finance and Economy, Kuna reported.
Qatar Vinyl stake sold
OSLO: Norwegian aluminium group Norsk Hydro said it completed the sale of its 29.7 per cent stake in Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) for $136 million to Qatar Petroleum.
Norsk Hydro ASA said it would book a 100 million Norwegian crowns ($18.50 million) gain on the sale in the third quarter. QVC was part of Norsk Hydro’s petrochemical operations, most of which were sold to UK group Ineos in 2007.
Jubail JV to start exports
RIYADH: Saudi-based Jubail Chevron Phillips petrochemical company said it plans to export its first shipment next month.
The firm, based in the eastern Saudi city of Jubail, will produce an annual 750,000 tonnes of styrene and 150,000 tonnes of polypropylene, Saudi Industrial Investment Group (SIIG) said. SIIG holds a 50 per cent in Jubail Chevron Phillips. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company holds an unspecified stake in Jubail Chevron Phillips which was built at a total cost of 4.5 billion riyals ($1.2 billion).