Thomson Financial News
Malaysian shares close higher driven by plantation, energy stocks
05.09.08, 6:50 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Financial) - Malaysian shares closed higher on Friday,
bucking the regional trend, led by plantation and oil and gas stocks following
a rebound in crude palm oil (CPO) futures after crude oil prices hit new highs.
Gains by financial counters and select blue chips further supported the
market.
Crude oil struck a fresh record near $125 a barrel on Friday, even after the
OPEC cartel insisted that the market was well-supplied and that the rise in
prices was driven by speculators.
Analysts said OPEC's view has already been factored into prices.
New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery,
reached a record of $124.70 a barrel in Asian trading hours.
CPO tracks the performance of crude oil as palm oil can be used as
feedstock in the making of biodiesel.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) was up 4.92 points or 0.4 percent
at 1,285.27.
For the week, the KLCI gained 1.1 percent or 13.8 points.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia 30-large cap index gained 45.36 points or 0.6 percent
to 8,356.47 and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia second board index added 7.99 points or
0.1 percent to 5,875.64.
Advancers led decliners 351 to 310, with 299 stocks unchanged and 460
counters untraded.
Trading volume was low at 510 million shares valued at 1 billion ringgit.
($1 = 3.21 ringgit)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
jt/zr
James Arifin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hmmm, kira
oil bisa ke berapa yah dengan situasi ini di masa mendatang???
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Surahman Wiryo
Date: May 9, 2008 11:15 AM
http://www.ftd.de/karriere_management/business_english/:Business%20English%20Russia/352653.html
Business English
Russia starts to pay price for its energy strategy
von Catherine Belton (Moscow)
Tax changes and state takeovers have seen production growth slashed
over the past five years. The problem has become so severe that
Russian politicians and energy executives fear that this year the
world's second biggest exporter may see its first decline in 10 years.
ANZEIGE
Russian oil output in 2003 was increasing at such a swift pace even
Saudi Arabia worried about upstart energy companies - including Yukos
and Sibneft - then posting production gains of more than 20 per cent.
But from 2004 the Moscow government changed its tax regime and began
to take over privately held assets, including Yukos, and so Saudi
Arabia's fears proved short-lived.
As a result of these and other policies, average production growth in
Russia has slowed to 2.5 per cent from a high point of 12 per cent in
2003. The problem has become so severe that Russian politicians and
energy executives fear that this year the world's second biggest
exporter may see its first decline in 10 years.
Output in the first three months fell 1 per cent to 9.76m barrels per
day. For it to increase in the long-term, massive investments are
needed to develop fresh pockets in western Siberia and to tap more
remote provinces in eastern Siberia and the Arctic. Leonid Fedun,
Lukoil vice-president, says Russia needs about EUR190bn during the
next eight years only to keep production at current levels.
Difficult political regime
But many projects are being held back by a difficult fiscal and
political regime that began with the break up of Mikhail
Khodorkovsky's Yukos by the Russian state after the tycoon's arrest in
2003 over tax charges. Another problem is access to new fields, which
is limited by a new law to companies with more than 51 per cent
Russian participation. The process of handing out licences for these
fields has been delayed for years while the state determines how many
of them are to be considered "strategic". The state takeover of Yukos
led to uncertainty about the investment climate as other private
companies were picked off by the state. Russneft had been Russia's
fastest growing oil major until last year, when its owner, Mikhail
Gutseriyev, fell on the wrong side of the authorities and fled Russia
for the UK with a warrant out for his arrest. The company, which Mr
Gutseriyev had develop from scratch in 2002 to produce 300,000 barrels
per day, is now in administrative limbo, allegedly owing more than
$800m in back taxes.
Exxon Mobil's Sakahlin-1 oil and natural gas venture, which had been a
driver of growth, is also facing decline as the state limits its
expansion and Gazprom, the state-controlled energy group, seeks to
take control of its gas exports.
Andrei Illarionov, a former presidential economic adviser who is now a
fierce Kremlin critic, says: "No one in the country is going to invest
in the industry when sooner or later the state is going to take your
assets."
Since Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos' main production asset, was taken over by
Rosneft, the state-controlled oil major, in December 2004, the state's
direct and indirect share of the oil industry has risen to more than
50 per cent from 28 per cent, reckons Chris Weafer, chief strategist
at Uralsib investment bank in Moscow.
State takeovers
The takeovers by Gazprom and Rosneft have used up funds that otherwise
could have been spent developing fresh fields, says Vladimir Milov, a
former deputy energy minister who now heads a think-tank about energy
policy.
Since 2003, direct investment in Russia's oil industry has not kept
pace with the more than three-fold increase in oil prices. Even oil
barons loyal to the Kremlin - including Vagit Alekperov, the Lukoil
president, and Vladimir Bogdanov, president of Surgutneftegaz - warned
last year that state intervention could hamper future investment
growth.
"A lot depends on Rosneft and Gazprom's ability to begin new
developments in east Siberia and the Arctic," says David Fyfe, oil
supply expert with the International Energy Agency in Paris. "But they
have huge amounts of debts and we are now in an environment where
globally credits are scarce."
Production decline
Fears about a production decline have spurred the government to review
the tax regime, which takes more than 80 per cent of revenues of more
than $27 per barrel. Ivan Mazalov of Prosperity Capital Management, an
investment fund, calculates that, with oil prices at $110 a barrel,
oil companies operating in Russia's core production area of west
Siberia see net income of only about $11 a barrel after taxes, export
duties, operating and transportation costs.
An offer by Alexei Kudrin, finance minister, of $4bn in tax cuts per
year "is nowhere near enough in itself to right the problems", says
Ronald Smith, of Alfa Bank in Moscow. Mr Smith reckons the government
could rectify the problem by increasing export tariffs on oil
products, which are set at such a level to send refining margins "off
the charts" while lowering tariffs on crude.
But at fields in east Siberia, such as Surgutneftegaz's Talakan
venture and Rosneft's Vankor, big tax breaks have already been won for
the first oil extracted.
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