Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
TSE TESTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NUMBER of TSE tests carried out on sheep and goats annually within the European Union is to soar from 164,000 to 560,000, with the idea being approved by the EU’s Standing Veterinary Committee. From April 1, the minimum number of sheep and goats which must be tested annually for TSE’s in Member States slaughtering large numbers of adult sheep, will increase from the present level of 18,000 to 66,000 animals.…
PETRONAS
BY MARK ROWE
PETRONAS NGV, a unit of Malaysia’s state oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd, plans to spend at least RM22 million (Pounds 4 million) this year to double the number of its service stations selling natural gas to fuel cars to 44 outlets.…
THAI PETROCHEMICAL
BY MARK ROWE
CREDITORS of Thai Petrochemical Industry have refused a request by Thailand’s largest loan defaulter for an extra year in which to raise US$200 million from asset sales. Two of the company’s creditors vetoed a request for an extension until the end of 2002, said an official at creditor-appointed manager Effective Planners Ltd.…
THAIOIL
BY MARK ROWE
THAIOIL Plc, which has debts of US$2.3billion, has called for its parent firm, PTT Plc, to take control of the company and rescue it from further losses. Thaioil vice-president Chainoi Puankosoom said the company was in talks with PTT for the latter to increase its stake in the company to between 75 per cent and 100 per cent from 49.9 per cent currently.…
PERTAMINA
BY MARK ROWE
THE INDONESIAN state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina is to cut its workforce by more than 33 per cent as it moves towards privatisation. Up to 10,000 jobs will go, reducing the workforce to 16,000. Some 2,000 employees will be let go every year even though the company admitted the action was ” a drastic step” with a high social cost.…
SRI LANKA
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE SRI Lankan government has struck a deal with multinational Mundogas Ltd to supply LPG to customers on the island from May. With retail prices for a 12.5 kg cylinder being between Rs. 325 and Rs.350, Columbo has claimed the agreement will help ensure supplies of reasonably priced fuel in the country.…
ILO REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation has released a report detailing how employment in the global oil and gas sectors has “shrunk dramatically” over the past 25 years. Citing “changing corporate structures and privatisation” as key reasons for the change, the Geneva based UN agency says that in the US alone, worker numbers slumped from a peak of 1.65 million workers in 1982 to roughly 640,000 by 2000.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A HEALTHY market in the use of waste oil as a fuel to generate electricity is being promoted in the European Union through excise duty exemptions, erected in the face of official EU environmental policy, a new European Commission report says.…
OIL - DUNG
BY MONICA DOBIE
RESEARCHERS in Alberta, Canada, have discovered a way to simultaneously sanitise two environmental hazards common to all oil producing regions that are also home to extensive beef industries: cattle excrement and hydrocarbon contaminated earth.
By mixing the two pollutants together they cancelled each other out.…
FRANCE AND PORTUGAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has approved an application from France to extend for another seven years its right to reduce by up to half the rate of excise duty applied in mainland France to traditional rum from the French Caribbean and Indian Ocean departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and Guyane.…