BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)
A team of U.S. experts has approved an oil pipeline linking the Romanian port of Constanta with Trieste in Italy as �viable and safe,� a local news agency reported Saturday.
Amid tough competition from neighboring countries, Romania is pushing forward a plan to build a pipeline through its territory to transport crude oil from the Caspian Sea to Western Europe.
�The United States is interested in helping Romania become an important center of energy corridors,� U.S. Ambassador to Romania James Rosapepe said in a statement quoted by the official news agency Rompres.
The U.S. experts said the pipeline, designed to transport crude from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Russia to Western Europe, would be able to carry competitively priced high quality oil through politically stable countries, according to Rosapepe.
Romanians see the route to Italy by way of Hungary and Slovenia as the straightest and the cheapest, although Bulgaria and Turkey are also in the running for the pipeline.
The United States previously supported a pipeline through Turkey, but failed to garner international support.
According to the U.S. study, the pipeline would start working in 2002, and 10 years later would be able to transport 47 million tons of crude oil per year.
Caspian reserves are believed to be the richest in the world besides those in the Middle East, and there is fierce competition to access them.
BEIJING, Sept 10
(Asia Pulse)
China produced only 120,000 tons of crude oil when New China was founded in 1949 and was regarded as a country with poor oil resources.
Fifty years later, it is the world�s fifth-largest oil producer, turning out an annual oil output of 164 million tons.
Before 1949, the nation had three oilfields. Now there are 460, plus 350 gasfields in 25 provinces and autonomous regions as well as in Bohai Bay, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, according to the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).
China has turned out a total of 3.5 billion tons of crude and 400 billion cu m of gas over the past 50 years. The country�s oil, gas and refining production capacities have reached 168 million tons, 25 billion cu m and 250 million tons, respectively.
Petroleum and gas use now accounts for over 20% of China �s energy consumption, compared to merely 0.07% in 1949, the CNPC source said.
China has built 20,000 kilometers of pipeline, including more than 10,000 kilometers of oil pipeline and 9,100 kilometers of gas pipeline, which transport some 71.5% of the country�s crude oil.
China�s oil sector started from scratch when the country�s first large-sized oilfield was discovered in Karamay, in northwest China�s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in 1956.
Since 1959, a large group of major oilfields, including Daqing, Shengli and Dagang, have been found in succession in China.
The country�s total oil output increased at an annual average rate of 23% during the first three decades after 1949.
And in 1978 China became the world�s eighth largest oil producer, producing 100 million tons.
Since China adopted the reform and opening-up policy in 1978, the country�s oil sector has soared to a new level. Between 1978 and 1998, China invested 258.7 billion yuan to develop its oil and gas industry, as compared to 7.16 billion yuan between 1949 and 1978.
Investment in oil and gas exploration has increased at an annual average 11.1% over the past 20 years.
Official statistics show that the Daqing Oilfield has maintained an annual output of more than 50 million tons for 24 consecutive years.
Other newly-developed oilfields such as Tarim and Turpan-Hami have also shown steady growth in the past 20 years, providing additional oil and gas reserves topping one billion tons and one trillion cu m, respectively.
Meanwhile, long-distance gas pipelines linking Beijing, Xi�an, Sichuan and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region have emerged, which ensures gas supply in energy-short cities.
China has dramatically readjusted its oil industrial system since it adopted the reform and opening policy, such as the introduction of the public bidding system in the 1980s.
In 1998, China reshaped its oil and petrochemical industry by reorganizing two major group enterprises, the CNPC and Sinopec, in a bid to integrate upstream with downstream production.
CNPC has so far signed 47 contracts with 44 overseas oil companies, attracting foreign investment worth more than US$1 billion.
Moreover, the China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has signed more than 130 exploration contracts with 70 foreign oil companies from 18 countries and regions, absorbing nearly $7 billion in foreign investment.
Through Sino-foreign cooperation, China has drilled around 400 oil wells and found over 100 oil-bearing structures in its coastal waters.
More significantly, China has successfully squeezed into the international oil markets amid fierce competition, and has undertaken a large group of oil projects in Sudan, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Peru and Canada.
Week volume of transactions for USD on KASE � $73.600 million (statistics, tendency)
/IRBIS, Sep.17, 99, Elena Korpusenko, Andrey Tsalyuk/ - For US dollar within the 38th week (September 13 - 19) on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) 1,187 transactions totaling $73.600 million were made at average session volume of $14.720 million.
Tenge devaluation, calculated at the average weighted market rate, is evaluated by the one week trend of 22.4% p.a.
In the previous week 930 deals totaling $57.460 millions at average session volume of $17.492 million were made. During that period tenge devaluation rate has made 107.9% p.a.
Devaluation of tenge towards US dollar, calculated at average weighted market rate on September 17, is 86.8% p.a. � from the beginning of the current year and 34.2% p.a. � for the last 30 days.
For deutsche mark 18 transactions totaling DEM155,000 were made. The deutsche mark rate has fallen by 0.73%, that corresponds to 37.8% p.a. of the week average rate of tenge revaluation.
For Euro 7 deals to the amount EU215,000 were made. The Euro rate has fallen by 1.5%, that corresponds to 76.4% p.a. of the week average rate of tenge revaluation.
The past week has following characteristic features.
Unusual for the last time smooth and unidirectional change of dollar rate against tenge with approximately constant annual rate of 22.4% is the first feature. For the first two week�s trades it was caused by an objective ratio of demand (mainly from the importers) and supply (mainly from the exporters). On the last trades the National Bank support it at the expense of its own resources. Exporters� currency has disappeared from a platform and could not compensate pressure of tenge, which was remarkable stronger than during the previous week.
Absence of the export proceeds is the second feature.
The third feature consists in high activity of the trade participants. The sharp decrease of a turn-over in the sector of State Securities primary market testifies to redistribution of banks� limits to the currency sector. It is possible to tell, that the National Bank actively tried to change this situation by restraining growth of dollar and increasing of the securities yield. However, an appreciable result was not achieved. The banks prefer currency to all other financial tools.
At the same time, dealers mark: demand for dollars exceeds supply insignificantly. It is not visible on the KASE�s trades. There is an impression, that now banks prefer to purchase dollar on the Exchange, and to sell it outside under a higher price.
Opinion of the IRBIS� analysts and banks� dealers concerning currency market of the future week are identical. Under pressure of demand the dollar rate will continue to growth approximately with the same speed.
At KASE exporters� earnings have appeared, but demand from the banks of the second tier does not decrease
/IRBIS, Sep.20, 99/ - The next trades with US dollar, Deutsche mark and Euro were held at KASE. 25 banks participated in the trades.
Today the trades were opened with the US dollar at 135.53 tenge per unit of the currency. After reaching 136.10 almost at the very beginning of the trades, the dollar exchange rate slipped down to 136.08 tenge per unit of the currency under a growing influence of supply. Further, till the mid of the session the trades went on within 136.08-136.09 price range.
In the second half of the trades a new surge of dollar supply brought up further decrease of its price with higher paces. At 34th minute of the session it reached 136.05 tenge. At this level demand and supply equalized each other, and it went on almost till the end of the session.
The trades were closed at � 136.05/06
152 deals were made with US dollars. Weighted average dollar exchange rate made 136.08 (+0.19). Volume of the session - $6.260 mln (-$7.770 mln). Exchange rate fluctuation during the trade was0.04%.
One hour after closing of the trades at over-the-counter market of Kazakhstan dollar was quoted at 136.07/20 tenge per unit of the currency. Two hours later � 136.00/10.
Market conjuncture has changed drastically today. Noticeable volume of exporters� earnings have emerged on the trade floor, which by IRBIS analysts opinion, did existed three previous trades. Quite great supply of dollars evoked their sell by other traders who do not deal with exporters. As a result, supply of dollars certainly exceeded demand for them. However, demand was also high on the trades. Seven out of 25 participants dealt only with the purchase of American currency. It does not mean that the banks began to fix profits on previously opened long positions.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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