With an extraordinary meeting looming on Tuesday which, if successful, could see control of the company going to a Canadian company, many shareholders of Carpathian Resources have not heard from the man who called the meeting to spill the board, former chairman Des Luplau.
The LNG sector is hotting up as an official with Total Philippines Corp confirmed that the company is conducting negotiations with the Philippines government on the development of a LNG facility in Bataan.
Nearby Singapore will consider using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative fuel for electricity generators in order to diversify the country's fuel supply and to improve energy security, even if it costs more, said the Energy Market Authority (EMA).
On the export front, the Indonesian government is hoping to complete a contract that will see it supplying China with up to five million tonnes of LNG per year. The contract to supply gas to the Jiangshu Province is expected to be worth billions of dollars and could commence as early as 2007.
An Indonesian minister has announced that Indonesia and Japan have agreed to enhance cooperation in the oil and gas sector in order to strengthen business ties between the two countries. The country’s decision to enact a law on oil, geothermal energy and electricity has been mooted as a good way to facilitate Japanese investment. Indonesia will also hold more talks with Sempra Energy and Marathon Oil Corp on supplying LNG to the American West Coast next month after having already signed an MOU with Sempra in early September.
In NZ news, the Pohokura partners did not appeal against any Commerce Commission conditions imposed on the joint marketing and selling of gas from their offshore Taranaki field, as the deadline expired during the week.
Indo-Pacific Energy has sold all its assets in Petroleum Mining Permit 38148, including the Goldie-1 well and the Ngatoro fields, to Greymouth Petroleum for an undisclosed sum.
In health, safety and environmental news, the Scottish Health and Safety Executive has confirmed that two oil workers who were killed in a release of gas on Shell's Brent Bravo platform in the North Sea two weeks ago, died as a result of suffocation.
A fire caused by last Friday's earthquake that rocked Japan's Hokkaido Island has forced Idemitsu Kosan Co to shut down its 140,000 barrel a day refinery. The quake hit just before dawn off the northeastern coast of the island and registered an 8.0 on the Richter scale.
Keeping to the Asian region, CNOOC has begun Phase I development of its Dongfang field. The DF1-1 field, with an estimated 90 billion cubic metres of reserves, will see the drilling of up to 12 wells and the construction of a central platform, a production platform and an onshore processing terminal.
Forum Exploration Inc and Premier Oil will be awarded oil exploration contracts by the Philippines' Department of Energy (DOE), as it also processes applications by Russian and Chinese exploration and mining companies to engaging in mining and oil depot storage activities in Nonoc Island, Mindanao.
Malaysian and international analysts are at loggerheads as to what effect the cut in production by OPEC will have on the local industry. Some Malaysian analysts believe that OPEC's decision to trim global output by around 900,000 barrels a day will benefit Petronas in the short term, while international analysts believe that any short-term gain could give rise to long-term problems.
Santos and Cue Energy Resources have continued their Indonesian exploration with the spudding of the Mangga -1 well last Saturday.
PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia will begin to lay off over a quarter of its workforce come October – around 6,700 workers - as part of a "rationalisation program".
An unnamed source has revealed to Reuters that the Malaysian government may select Ranhill Bhd Jawala Corp Sdn Bhd, Petra Perdana Bhd and Crest Petroleum to lead the mooted second consortium that will complement Petronas by seeking and developing marginal offshore fields. Until now, Petronas has been the only company allowed to drill for oil in resource-rich Malaysia.
