Archive for September, 2006

US oil inventories are already brimming

By bo, 27 September, 2006, No Comment

Oil fell toward US$61 on Tuesday on robust US inventories ahead of the winter heating season, but producer group Opec said the price slide from peaks this summer had gone far enough. US crude CLc1 fell 44 cents to US$61.01 per barrel, reversing Mondays rebound from a six-month low below US$60. London Brent LCOc1 slipped 68 cents to US$60.12. Oil prices have had their steepest decline since the Gulf War in 1991, falling from Julys peak of US$78.40 a barrel, on easing Middle East tensions, ample fuel stocks and slowing US economic growth. Opec President Edmund Daukoru told Reuters on Tuesday the slide in prices was harming investment and that “something needs to be done.” “We are already talking among ourselves in the Opec fold. The price is very low, and its not good for investors,” he said after a meeting with diplomats in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps a third of the worlds oil, expects the global oil supply to be a “colossal” 1.8 million barrels per day above demand by the second quarter of next year, he added. “The general sentiment is that, if prices fall further, Opec might decide to come in and cut its quota,” said Andrew Harrington, an industry analyst at ANZ. “Given the language that some Opec members are using, the market is interpreting that a price below US$60 would be a trigger point for the group to act,” he added. Opec has avoided setting a target oil price to defend. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, who steers the policy of the worlds biggest exporter, said last week, when prices were above US$62 a barrel, that prices were “reasonable.” Adding downward pressure to prices, BP said it was increasing production at its Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska and was on track to hit 400,000 barrels per day of production by the weekend — just 50,000 bpd below full capacity. Output from the field, the largest in the United States, was cut sharply in early August after BP found a spill from a severely rusted line. US oil inventories are already brimming. A Reuters poll ahead of Wednesdays US government data found that US stocks of distillates, which include heating fuel, were projected to rise by 2.3 million barrels last week. Inventories already stand at their highest level since January 1999. Crude oil supplies were forecast to decline by 1.7 million barrels last week, while petrol stocks edged higher by 500,000 barrels, according to the survey. REUTERS

RETAILING / ACQUISITION & EXPANSION

By bo, 27 September, 2006, No Comment

RETAILING / ACQUISITION & EXPANSION Singaporeans take over Jungceylon After having expanded into Thailands telecommunication, property and hotel businesses, Singaporean investors are moving into retailing, with the takeover of the Jungceylon shopping complex on Phukets famous Patong Beach. Suchad Chiaranussati, director of Phuket Square Co, said yesterday that he had bought a 95% stake in Phuket Square Co, the operator of Jungceylon, from Manit Udomkhunnathum, the former developer (53%), and Thanit Rattanakamchai, the plot owner (42%). Tesco, 7-Eleven and Watsons opt out of outlet freeze Seven big retailing chains _ notably not including Tesco Lotus, 7-Eleven and Watsons _ agreed yesterday to freeze outlet expansion for 30 days to ease current tension between small local shopowners and large, mainly foreign chains. Executives of Big C, Makro, Carrefour, Boots Retail, Foodland, Family Mart and Tops Supermarket told the Commerce Ministry they were ready to co-operate with its request. ECONOMY / COMPETITIVENESS Thailand slips two spots in WEF poll Thailand has declined two places, to 35th from 33rd place last year, in the annual Global Competitiveness Report issued by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland, Finland and Sweden were the most competitive in the survey of 125 economies released yesterday by the WEF, based in Geneva. Rounding out the top 10 in order were Denmark, Singapore, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. THE WEEKLY Link Countdown for airport supply chains Over the past five weeks, we have discussed various aspects of airport logistics and aviation security. Yesterday, we drove around the new airport facility at Suvarnabhumi and were amazed at the feat of engineering and construction activities that have been undertaken in readiness for tomorrows opening. GEN investor dumps shares Throngpol Chantarapun, the largest shareholder of General Engineering Plc reduced his holding from 11.03% to 3.97% last Thursday after having invested in the company for only one month. GEN is engaged in the production of concrete products and the distribution of railway products. BANKING / POST-COUP ASSESSMENT Local bankers still optimistic about lending targets this year Local bankers expect to meet their lending target this year, despite shaken foreign investor confidence after the coup. Apisak Tantivorawong, the president of Krung Thai Bank, said KTB had maintained its lending growth target of 7% or 70 billion baht as there had been growing demand from large corporations in the energy sector in the third quarter. INVESTING / SHIFTING OF CASH Rates take toll on mutual funds The local mutual fund industry is expected to grow by 30% this year, down sharply from 60% last year, as investors shifted their funds to take advantage of higher bank deposit rates in the first half, according to UOB Asset Management. E-VISION A better way to log in One thing I find annoying about using the Internet is the varying degrees of authentication required from site to site. Each site applies some constraints so that I cannot use the same password for all of them. Some require that the password be an obscure word, some passwords must be significantly different from the user name, some require passwords of a certain length. PETROCHEMICALS PTT Phenol plant funded by syndicated 13-year loan PTT Phenol Co, a subsidiary of PTT Plc, yesterday signed a 13-year syndicated loan agreement with five local commercial banks for 8.32 billion baht to finance a local phenol-plant project aimed at reducing imports. The plant, the first of its kind, with a total investment of 10 billion baht, would produce 200,000 tonnes per year of phenol and 124,000 tonnes per year of acetone. Industrial parks hit hard as inflows ebb Local industrial-estate developers have been hard hit by political uncertainty and the coup, particularly Amata Corporation Plc which has revised down its land sales target for the third time in three weeks. ECONOMY / FISCAL POLICY 2007 budget likely to be disbursed from January The Budget Bureau expects disbursements from the fiscal 2007 budget to start in January, according to Wuthipant Wichairat, the bureaus director. IN BRIEF Diesel price falls again ENERGY :Local oil companies are reducing diesel prices by 40 satang per litre, effective today, in line with the decline of global oil prices. The new price of diesel is 24.04 baht per litre. Premium petrol remains unchanged at 25.99 baht and regular petrol at 25.19 baht. Trouble on new airports horizon? Passengers passing through Suvarnabhumi Airport in the near future should not anticipate an entirely hassle-free experience, according to aviation experts. Experts warned of inevitable glitches as the countdown began to the official opening of Bangkoks 125-billion-baht airport in the early hours of tomorrow, and the closure of the 92-year-old Don Muang airport tonight. Brand MATTERS And it was all yellow: the power of colour On the morning after Thailands quietest coup, I couldnt resist taking a drive around Government House. It was certainly good coup weather _ a leaden sky made the drab war paint of the tanks and armoured personnel carriers look all the more foreboding. But what really stuck in my mind, on that greyest of days, were the ubiquitous splashes of bright yellow: yellow bands wrapped around soldiers arms; yellow flowers being handed out and stuck into the barrels of the tanks; and the sunny shirts of the onlookers, whose curiosity had overcome their fear. HEALTH / TECHNOLOGY Philips Medical eyes Thai market Tokyo _ Philips Medical Systems, one of the worlds leading suppliers of medical devices, is studying the introduction of new high-technology equipment in Thailand. Philips is already a leading medical equipment provider in Thailand. Business has grown rapidly over the past few years as the country has attracted more health tourists. STOCKS / INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING Construction firm debuts on MAI tomorrow Thai Industrial and Engineering Service Plc (TIES), a local construction company, projects revenue to increase 20% to 1.13 billion baht this year from 985 million baht last year as a result of its remaining backlog, according to a company executive. TIES shares will debut on the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) tomorrow after the first trading day was postponed from Sept 22 because of last weeks coup.

Page 1 of 512345»