Qantas unit to start Bali flights<\/p>\n
BRISBANE: Australian Airlines, a budget carrier owned by Qantas
\nAirways Ltd., will start flying a weekly service to the
\nIndonesian island of Bali starting June 27.<\/p>\n
The airline announced on Tuesday that the flights will leave
\nSydney and stop in the southern city of Melbourne before flying
\non to Bali.<\/p>\n
The announcement was good news for Bali's tourism industry,
\nwhich was plunged into crisis after terrorist bombs killed 202
\npeople, including 89 Australians, in the resort town last Oct.
\n12.<\/p>\n
Before the attack, Bali was one of the favorite overseas
\nvacation destinations of Australians.<\/p>\n
Australian Airlines said it will also begin a nonstop service
\nto Bali and then on to Singapore on July 25. That service will
\nfly three times a week. -- AP<\/p>\n
S. Korea's Kogas to sign LNG deal<\/p>\n
SEOUL: South Korea's state-run Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas) said on
\nTuesday that it will sign a contract May 9 to buy 1.5 million
\nmetric tons of liquefied natural gas a year over seven years from
\na Malaysian company.<\/p>\n
The seven-year midterm contract will be signed with Malaysia
\nLNG Sdn. Bhd., an affiliate of state-run oil company Petronas, in
\nKuala Lumpur with Kogas chief executive Kim Myung-Kyu attending,
\naccording to Kim Cha-Joong, a company spokesman.<\/p>\n
The deal will also include the option to purchase an
\nadditional 500,000 tons a year.<\/p>\n
"A characteristic of this midterm deal is that about 80
\npercent of the LNG will be supplied during the winter months,"
\nwhen there is more demand, which will lessen the burden on the
\ncompany's storage tanks, said Kim.<\/p>\n
Delivery may begin as early as May, as negotiations on the
\ndelivery schedule are set to be finished this month.<\/p>\n
Financial terms were not released, said Kim.<\/p>\n
Separately, in March, Kogas signed another seven-year midterm
\ncontract with an Australian firm to purchase 500,000 tons of LNG
\na year.<\/p>\n
Last year, Kogas, the world's single largest company
\npurchasing LNG, bought about 18 million tons of LNG through long-
\nterm contracts with Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar and Oman. -- Dow
\nJones<\/p>\n
Mahathir to open $4.4b Petronas plant<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is expected to
\nopen Malaysia's Petronas 16.6 billion ringgit (US$4.4 billion)
\nliquefied natural gas (LNG) complex in the eastern Sarawak state
\non Borneo island on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The official Bernama news agency on Tuesday described the LNG
\nfacility in Bintulu as the "the world's largest LNG production
\nfacility on a single location."<\/p>\n
Owned by Malaysian state-controlled oil company Petroliam
\nNasional Bhd (Petronas), the facility consists of three plants
\nwith total production capacity of 22.7 million tons a year, it
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Bernama said the complex was complete with storage tanks and
\nloading jetties for the LNG to be stored and exported to overseas
\ncustomers via special tankers.<\/p>\n
The three plants currently employ about 850 people.<\/p>\n
The plant had began operation in 1983. Up to March, 2003, some
\n188 million tons of LNG had been shipped from the complex,
\ngenerating $36 billion in revenue.<\/p>\n
Most of the LNG is exported to Japan, Taiwan and South Korea,
\nwhere Malaysia's share of their LNG markets stands at 25 percent,
\n49 percent and 21 percent respectively. -- AFP<\/p>\n
Mitsubishi to invest in Saudi<\/p>\n
TOKYO: Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy said on Tuesday it will spend up
\nto US$84 million to turn a patch of desert in Saudi Arabia into
\nforest to improve the environment and generate fresh water.<\/p>\n
The Saudi government will take part in the scheme, while China
\nas well as countries in Europe and South East Asia have also
\nexpressed an interest.<\/p>\n
"Thus the desert greening project will begin proceeding as an
\ninternational project," Japan's largest heavy machinery maker
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. will begin drawing up plans
\nto create the greenbelt of about 50 square kilometers (31 square
\nmiles) before next March.<\/p>\n
Construction of facilities to green the sandy landscape around
\nthe Red Sea coast will not start until 2006.<\/p>\n
The area was chosen because surrounding air was very moist and
\nwould accelerate the greening effect, the firm said in a
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
"This is a research project and should lead to developing new
\ntechnologies and new products," company spokesman Chris Gramshe
\nsaid, explaining why the firm chose to embark on the scheme.<\/p>\n
But the true benefits of greening the desert would not be felt
\nfor 10 to 15 years after the project gets underway, he added. --
\nAFP<\/p>\n
Credit Suisse reports profit<\/p>\n
ZURICH: The Swiss banking group Credit Suisse on Tuesday
\nannounced a first-quarter net profit of 652 million Swiss francs
\n(US$486 million) in 2003, reversing a record loss at the end of
\n2002.<\/p>\n
Credit Suisse had ended last year with a loss of 950 million
\nSwiss francs in the last three months.<\/p>\n
That dragged down its result for the year as a whole to a net
\nloss of 3.3 billion Swiss francs, the bank's worst performance
\never.<\/p>\n
The first-quarter profit of 652 million euros by the second-
\nbiggest Swiss banking group was also a big improvement on the
\ncomparable first-quarter profit last year of 368 million Swiss
\nfrancs.<\/p>\n
The group said in a statement that its U.S.-based investment
\nbanking arm Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) also returned to
\nprofit in the first three months of 2003, while insurance unit
\nWinterthur improved its financial results. -- AFP<\/p>",
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