Oil Prices Fall on Supply Report

By PABLO GORONDI

Oil prices fell further Thursday after dropping by more than a dollar in the previous session on larger-than-expected increases in U.S. crude and gasoline supplies.

Prices were still not far from Tuesday's record close of $100.88 a barrel as the U.S. dollar traded at fresh lows against the euro. Worries about the American economy is driving more money into energy futures as a hedge against inflation.

The report by the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration showed that country's crude oil inventories rose by 3.2 million barrels, or 1 percent, to 308.5 million barrels.

Although that number is slightly lower than levels a year ago, it is well ahead of the 2.4 million barrel gain analysts had been expecting, according to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires. It was the seventh straight week the report showed a rise in crude inventories, suggesting the U.S. at least has more than enough oil to meet demand.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery lost 39 cents to $99.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midday in Europe.

The contract fell $1.24 to settle at $99.64 a barrel Wednesday after surging as high as $102.08 a barrel, a trading record. On Tuesday, the contract jumped $1.65 to settle at a record $100.88 a barrel.

In London, Brent crude fell 7 cents to $98.20 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The EIA data showed gasoline inventories also jumped more than expected — by 2.3 million barrels to 232.6 million barrels; analysts had expected a more modest rise of 400,000 barrels. Refinery activity also increased much more than expected.

The weakening U.S. dollar also helped prop up prices. The 15-nation euro jumped to a record $1.51 against the greenback, meaning that crude remains a relative bargain for buyers overseas. Gold — another commodity seen as a hedge against inflation — also struck a record Wednesday.

In his testimony to the U.S. Congress Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned of sluggish business growth ahead, and signaled a willingness by the central bank to cut interest rates again. But Bernanke also noted that the Fed must keep a close watch on inflation given the sharp rise in energy prices and other costs.

Heating oil futures lost 1.16 cents to $2.7595 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline futures dropped 1.32 cents to $2.4645 a gallon.

Natural gas futures rose 4.5 cents to $9.105 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Associated Press writer Gillian Wong in Singapore contributed to this report.

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Oil prices fall back from $100 barrel

updated 3:29 p.m. ET Jan. 4, 2008(A.P)

NEW YORK - Oil futures retreated further from their record levels above $100 a barrel Friday after the government reported lower-than-expected job growth in December, adding to fears of a recession that could crimp demand for oil. Gas prices, meanwhile, rose 2.2 cents a gallon overnight, following crude’s recent rally.

The Labor Department said employers created just 18,000 jobs last month, far less than the 70,000 analysts expected and the smallest increase since August 2003. The government also said the unemployment rate jumped to 5 percent in December from 4.7 percent in November, more than the 4.8 percent analysts expected and the highest level since November 2005.

While energy traders could have interpreted that data positively — in the past energy investors have seen reasons to buy in any economic news likely to prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates — traders are becoming more concerned that record high energy prices are helping to push the economy into recession.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell $1.27 to settle at $97.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday.

Gas prices, meanwhile, jumped overnight to a national average of $3.074 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices have risen in recent weeks, following oil’s rise into record territory. Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, said gas prices are likely to add another 5 cents over the next week or so, but will likely then slide as demand ebbs in January and February.

Indeed, the Energy Information Administration on Thursday reported that gasoline demand rose a tepid 0.1 percent over the last four weeks.

“It’s just a terrible time of the year for demand,” Kloza said.

But in the spring, when demand picks up and refiners start cranking out gasoline to meet expected strong summer driving demand, gas prices will likely rebound and could set new records. The EIA predicts gas prices will peak over $3.40 a gallon this spring, well above the record price of $3.227 set last May.

Of course, while demand is a factor in the cost of gasoline, much of the price Americans pay at the pump is based on the price of crude oil. In recent months, oil prices have often moved higher after the government reported dismal economic data because traders believe signs of economic weakness raise the chances that the Fed will cut interest rates. Lower interest rates also weaken the dollar, whose decline has contributed to more expensive oil.

“Oil is in a Federal Reserve induced oil bubble,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., of Chicago, in a research note. “The Fed’s response to the housing crisis been essentially to aggressively cut rates but that has come at the expense of the dollar and has fed directly in to commodity price inflation.”

But traders will only stick with that investment strategy for so long. A recession is seen as much more important to long-term energy prices than the easy money that is a byproduct of lower interest rates, Kloza said. Reflecting this, oil prices reacted little Friday afternoon to the Federal Reserve’s plans to increase the amount of money available to banks under the auction process it created to try to ease the credit shortage.

Other energy futures also fell Friday. February heating oil futures fell 3.56 cents to settle at $2.6835 a gallon on the Nymex while February gasoline futures dropped 3.04 cents to settle at $2.511 a gallon.

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Petronas to purchase Italian lubricant maker

By Denise Kee / Bloomberg News

SINGAPORE: Petroliam Nasional, the state oil company in Malaysia, plans to borrow €800 million, or $1.1 billion, to buy Italian lubricant maker FL Selenia from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, according to a banker familiar with the deal.

Petronas, as the company is known, has hired its adviser, Dresdner Kleinwort, the investment-banking unit of Allianz, to arrange the 364-day loan, according to the banker, who declined to be identified before a public announcement. Petronas will decide on the longer term funding plan later, the banker said. Azman Ibrahim, a spokesman for the firm, did not return telephone messages.

Petronas is getting the one-year loan instead of committing to longer-term funding as the cost of borrowing euros for three months held near the highest in more than six years. The European Central Bank said Friday in its quarterly survey that banks were likely to remain unwilling to lend in the next quarter.

Dresdner Kleinwort is selling the loan to other banks, offering them an all-in pricing, including fees and interests, of 22 basis points, according to the banker. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

"The absolute yield they are paying is not high," said Jeffrey Yap, a credit trader at Rabobank International in Hong Kong. "It is quite prudent of them to get a bridge loan and decide on the longer term funding later given the uncertainties in the credit markets now."

Petronas will pay an interest margin of 7.5 basis points more than the Euribor for the first four months. The interest margin will increase to 10 basis points for the next four months and to 12.5 basis points for the last four months, according to the banker. Three-month Euribor, or the Euro interbank offered rate, and a benchmark for borrowing costs, was at 4.775 percent on Friday.

Investors demand a premium of 114 basis points on Petronas 7.75 percent bonds maturing August 2015 more than the U.S. Treasuries of similar maturity or a yield of 5.5 percent, according to Deutsche Bank. Petronas has a total debt of $10 billion comprising loans and bonds, according to Bloomberg data.

KKR bought the maker of lubricants from Vestar Capital Partners, a buyout firm, for €835 million at the end of 2005. FL Selenia has more than 15,000 customers with product ranges including transmission and engine fluids for trucks, automobiles and tractors. The sale to Petronas was announced on Sept. 20.

The loan will be by a unit of Petronas butMalaysian oil company has spent more than $1.4 billion buying assets in Europe and Australia this year. Petronas is rated A- by Standard & Poor's and two levels higher at A1 by Moody's Investors Service.

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Petronas reports record annual profit

KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd reported a record annual profit Thursday.

Petronas said its net profit rose 7.7 percent to 46.4 billion ringgit (US$13.3 billion; euro9.9 billion) in the financial year ended March 31 from 43.1 billion ringgit in the previous year.

Revenue rose 10 percent to 184.1 billion ringgit (US$52.6 billion; euro39.1 billion) from 167.4 billion ringgit, said Petronas, Malaysia's only Fortune 500 company and the country's most profitable firm.

With global oil prices remaining high, Petronas said in a statement that it sold Malaysian crude oil at an average of US$68.50 per barrel during the fiscal year, up 11.2 percent from US$61.60 in the previous year.

Petronas Chief Executive and President Hassan Marican declined to forecast crude oil prices for this year but said "the consensus is that prices will remain firm in the short term.''

Hassan also warned that if demand in Malaysia continues to grow at four percent annually, the country will be a net importer of crude oil by 2010.

As at Jan. 1, 2007, Malaysia had 5.36 billion barrels of crude oil and condensate reserves.

As a state-owned enterprise, Petronas' earnings help boost government coffers.

For the just-ended year, Petronas paid 48.3 billion ringgit (US$13.8 billion; euro10.3 billion) in taxes, royalties, dividends and export duty, making it the single biggest tax payer in Malaysia. - AP

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Fortune Global 500

Petronas
Rank: 121 (Previous rank: 120)
CEO: Mohamed Hassan Marican
Employees: 33,439
Address: Tower 1, Petronas Twin Towers
Kuala Lumpur 50088
Malaysia
Phone: 60-3-205-15000
Website: www.petronas.com.my

$ millions % change from 2005
Revenues 50,987.5 15.1
Profits 12,862.8 11.2
Assets 85,200.6 --
Stockholders' Equity 49,424.5 --

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Petronas posts 50% profit rise

By Stephanie Phang Bloomberg News

FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2005
KUALA LUMPUR Petroliam Nasional, Malaysia's state oil and gas company, posted a record full-year profit Thursday, up 50 percent from a year earlier because of the surge in crude oil prices.

Net income for the year that ended on March 31 rose to 35.6 billion ringgit, or $9.4 billion, from 23.7 billion ringgit a year earlier. Sales gained 41 percent to 137 billion ringgit.

"The year under review proved to be a good year for integrated oil and gas companies," the chief executive, Hassan Marican, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. "Sustained global economic growth driven by China and the U.S. contributed to the upward pressure on oil demand."

Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, and bigger rivals including BP and Exxon Mobil, are benefiting from oil prices that have risen 55 percent in the past year as demand for oil has grown faster than the increase in supply.

Oil futures, which reached an all-time high of $60.95 a barrel in New York on June 27, traded at $57.29 a barrel on Thursday. The average price for Malaysian crude oil rose 46 percent in the past year, to $45 a barrel, Hassan said.

For the company's second half, Petronas profit rose 28 percent to 18.8 billion ringgit from 14.7 billion ringgit a year earlier.

"The search for strategic oil reserves by China and India will disproportionately benefit companies like Petronas," said Michael Preiss, director of the Asian Bond Market Forum, which advises on bond-market issues and infrastructure development. "It gives Petronas an advantage that they are where others are not going."

Hassan expanded oil and gas production by increasing exploration in countries like Egypt and Chad to make up for stagnant Malaysian output. Hassan said June 13 that the company was in talks to explore for oil and gas in Iraq and that it would begin producing oil in Turkmenistan by the end of the year.

By volume, Petronas's sales of crude oil and condensate rose 6.6 percent to 194.2 million barrels in the year through March 31. Condensate is a hydrocarbon mixture similar to light oil.

Revenue from the oil company's international operations and exports from Malaysia rose 40 percent to 106 billion ringgit, accounting for 77 percent of total sales. Malaysia is the largest oil and gas producer in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.

Total assets grew 18 percent to 239.1 billion ringgit while borrowing fell 8.3 percent to 52.9 billion ringgit. Petronas's international operations involve 59 ventures in 26 countries.

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Malaysia's Petronas posts record profit of $12.9 bil

(Kyodo) _ Malaysia's state-owned oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd. announced Thursday another record profit for the financial year that ended March 31, on the back of higher sales and rocketing oil prices.

Better known as Petronas, Malaysia's biggest company recorded a 13.2 percent increase in net profit to $12.9 billion from a revised figure of $11.4 billion a year earlier.

The Petronas Group saw its revenue rose 14.9 percent to $51.0 billion from $44.4 billion in the previous year.

The group also controls several listed units such as shipping firm Malaysia International Shipping Corp. Bhd., retail gasoline station operator Petronas Dagangan Bhd. and gas distributor Petronas Gas Bhd.

"This year saw crude oil prices remaining high as global demand, particularly from the transportation sector, continued to increase on the back of strong economic growth especially from China and India," Petronas said in a statement.

During the financial year under review, Malaysia's benchmark Tapis crude rose 11.2 percent to $68.50 per barrel.

Against this positive backdrop, Petronas Chief Executive and President Hassan Marican told a press conference the 2006-2007 year had also been challenging as costs escalated and there was still a lack of engineering and construction capacity to meet demand coupled with a shortage of skilled workers.

"It was a tough year for the industry. However, we managed to swim the tide," he said.

The high demand and soaring oil prices of the last few years have not only brought windfalls to Petronas but also to the government, as Petronas is the single largest contributor to government coffers.

For this financial year, it paid a total of 48.3 billion ringgit ($14.0 billion) in taxes, dividends, royalties and export duties, making up 35.4 percent of the government's total revenue.

Petronas is one of the few well-run, government-linked companies, and the most international. It has presence in 33 countries and 36.7 percent of its revenue was derived from its overseas operations as domestic production declined by 2.7 percent to 1.13 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Malaysia's total reserves of crude oil, condensates and natural gas, as of Jan. 1, stood at 20.18 billion boe, up from 19.91 boe a year earlier.

Petronas Sumbang RM48.3 Bilion Kpd Kerajaan

KUALA LUMPUR, 28 Jun (Bernama) -- Sumbangan perbadanan minyak nasional, Petronas, kepada kerajaan dalam tahun kewangannya yang berakhir 31 Mac, 2007, meningkat kepada RM48.3 bilion daripada RM41.7 bilion sebelum ini.

Pembayaran di segi duti merupakan sumbangan tertinggi, yang berjumlah RM21.8 bilion, diikuti dividen sebanyak RM16 bilion, royalti sebanyak RM8.5 bilion dan duti eksport sebanyak RM2 bilion, kata Presiden Petronas Tan Sri Hassan Marican kepada pemberita di sidang media di sini.

Dividen itu tidak termasuk dividen interim kedua sebanyak RM6 bilion dan dividen akhir sebanyak RM10 bilion bagi tahun kewangan 2007 dan yang akan dibayar dalam tahun kewangan 2008, kata Hassan.

"Sehingga ini, kami telah memulangkan RM336 bilion kepada kerajaan," katanya.

Petronas kekal sebagai penyumbang terbesar tunggal kepada perolehan kerajaan, yang meningkat 35.4 peratus bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Mac, 2007, berbanding dengan 34.4 peratus dalam tahun sebelum ini.

-- BERNAMA

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Petronas, Gasunie consider gas infrastructure partnership

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

LONDON, Apr. 26 -- Petronas has expressed an interest in becoming involved in the proposed Gate LNG terminal in the Netherlands, said Marcel Kramer, chief executive of NV Nederlandse Gasunie. "We are in discussions about the supply side for Gate LNG, which is at an advanced stage, and any further involvement," he told OGJ.

The companies signed a memorandum of understanding Apr. 25 at the LNG15 conference in Barcelona in hopes of forging a relationship to develop gas infrastructure in the Netherlands and exchange knowledge and expertise on technology and experience in the gas chain.

In an exclusive interview with OGJ, Kramer said Petronas's experience as a major international LNG producer and supplier and Gasunie's experience as a gas infrastructure developer in Europe had brought the companies together to explore other avenues for accessing gas markets in Europe.

"Petronas is looking at other LNG options in Europe; it is involved in the Dragon regasification terminal in the UK," he added. "There are also seasonal underground storage proposals in the Netherlands, and Petronas has an interest in becoming involved in that too." He declined to give details, stating that there are "various options under discussion."

Gasunie and Dutch utility Nuon are constructing the €350 million Zuidwending underground gas storage facility that is expected to start operations in 2010. The four planned subterranean gas storage caverns in the province of Groningen will have a capacity of 180 million cu m.

"This isn't suitable for seasonal gas storage, but we are getting useful experience from it," Kramer said. "We are interested in doing larger gas storage projects, and the Dutch government has also said on a number of occasions that security of supply is very important, and they also want to make the Netherlands a gas hub; storage would be an important way to do that."

Earlier this month, Shell Energy Europe BV agreed to take at least 4 billion cu m of capacity rights in Gate LNG regasification terminal under a heads of agreement signed with project operator Gate Terminal BV. The Gate terminal will have a regasification capacity of 8-12 billion cu m/year, depending on initial market demand, and could later expand to 16 billion cu m/year. It is expected to start operations in mid-2010.

Kramer declined to say when the collaboration with Petronas could start, stressing that negotiations continue between the parties. "I'm sure we'll have fruitful discussions," he said. "Europe needs additional gas supplies."

Contact Uchenna Izundu at uchennai@pennwell.com.

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What Would Be the Fuel for Tomorrow?

Engineers and scientists see a transformation to totally electric vehicles by the middle part of the 21st Century. Much like carriages and steam engines are exhibited, internal combustion-powered vehicles will be consigned to museums, parades and shows.

Today's present vehicles make use of state-of-the-art technologies to attain the low level of emissions requested by government regulations and public health. For some vehicles, advanced and sophisticated computer software is being used to make it run smoothly and consistently reliable for thousand of miles while maintaining its peak condition.

Nevertheless the vehicles of today are 140 times cleaner than those of the pre-emissions era of the late 1960s. The impressive accomplishment in emission reduction gives right to the industry to be proud of this success, but there are is much pressure for the industry to search for other alternative technologies to activate the vehicles in the future.

For the industry, issues like global warming, petroleum supplies and energy dependence, international trade, world population among others are the key areas in which solutions should be drawn. Any substitute merchandise that goes in the marketplace must also please the expectations of the consumers regarding the sector for safety, comfort and economy. Reasonable prices should benefit the consumers as well as quality auto parts like VW cabriolet parts which would ensure them of top vehicle performance.

About the Author
Benjamin Hudson works as a supervisor at one of the top engineering firms in the business district of Louisiana. He is also a freelance journalist and has passion for anything automotive.

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Petronas Twin Towers

INFO: Petronas Twin Towers

Petronas Towers, twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that are the world's tallest twin towers. Standing 1,483 ft (452 m) high, they were designed by the Argentinean-American architect Cesar Pelli. Completed in 1997, they surpassed Chicago's Sears Tower as the record-holding tallest structure; they themselves were surpassed by Taipei 101 in 2003. The twin towers house Petronas, Malaysia's government-owned oil company, as well as associated Malaysian firms and multinational companies. Part of a large burst of construction that marked the country's 1990s economic boom, the buildings stand at the northern end of a projected high-tech business zone, the Malaysia Multimedia Supercorridor. Built of steel-reinforced concrete columns clad in stainless steel and glass, with a design based on geometric patterns originating in ancient Islam, the 88-story buildings are connected at levels 41 and 42 by a double-decker pedestrian skybridge, and each tower is surmounted by a 242-ft-high (74-m) pinnacle. At the lower level, the Petronas Towers also include a concert hall that is home to the Malaysian Philharmonic and a business reference library.

See C. Pelli and M. J. Crosbie, Petronas Towers (2001); M. Thomas, The Petronas Twin Towers (2001).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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