SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Indonesia has awarded the Tanjung Aru

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Indonesia has awarded the Tanjung Aru block, located offshore Kalimantan in the Makassar Straits, to Malaysia's state oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas, the company said in a statement released Tuesday.

Petronas said its exploration unit Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd. will hold a 50 percent stake in the block. The remaining 50 percent will be held by Amerada Hess Corp., which will act as the block operator.

Petronas said it will drill three exploration wells in the block shortly.

Tanjung Aru block is located in the Kutei Basin - the site of large oil and gas discoveries made over the past few years, Petronas said. The block encompasses 4,160 square kilometers with water depths from 150 meters to 1,700 meters.

;AFP; ANPAf..r.. bizbrief-China-Saudi Aramco plans US$3b JV JP/11/Colbox

BEIJING (AFP) : Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia's national oil company, plans to invest in a south-eastern China petrochemical joint venture valued at US$3 billion, state media reported Tuesday.

The joint venture, one of the largest ever in the petrochemical field in China, will also receive investment from China's number one petrochemical producer Sinopec and Exxon Mobile, the China Daily said.

Once completed, the joint venture, to be located in Fujian province near Taiwan, will produce 600,000 tons of ethylene every year, the paper said.

Sinopec will control half of the joint venture while Saudi Aramco and Exxon Mobil will share the rest, the paper said.

;AFP; ANPAf..r.. Bizbrief-Philippines-jobs RP jobless dips to 10.1% JP/11/colbox

MANILA (AFP): About 10.1 percent of the Philippines' labor force were unemployed in July, down from 13.3 percent in April, the National Statistics Office said Tuesday.

The figure was also lower than the unemployment rate of 11.2 percent in the same month last year. The government issues the figures every three months.

The labor force rose 6.7 percent from a year earlier to 32.6 million people, the National Statistics Office said in a statement.

Agricultural employment rose 11.4 percent to 11 million, while industrial jobs rose 6.1 percent to 4.7 million and the services sector added 6.3 percent to 13.6 million.

The underemployment rate, measuring people who worked less than 40 hours a week, also fell to 17.7 percent of the labor force, compared to 21.2 percent in July last year.

;AP; ANPAf..r.. Bizbrief-Singapore-U.S. S'pore bank recalls NY staff JP/11/colbox

SINGAPORE (AP): Singapore's central bank has recalled some staff from New York and temporarily shut its offices there because of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the bank said Tuesday.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement that four of the bank's six Singaporean staff and their families returned to the city-state on Sunday.

"The tragic events in New York have meant the temporary suspension of operations out of New York, and relocation of activities to our head office and London office," it said.

The bank said its New York office and staff apartments were "a few blocks from the World Trade Center" and some of the apartments remain inaccessible.

;AP; ANPAf ..r.. Bizbrief-Singapore-Flanders Singapore, Flanders tie up JP/11/colbox

SINGAPORE (AP): Leaders from Singapore and Flanders - Belgium's Dutch-speaking northern half - signed a pact Tuesday agreeing to cooperate in the fields of industry, technology, research and education.

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Patrick Dewael, head of the Flemish regional government, signed the pact, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

"The two leaders exchanged views on a broad range of topics, for example, on innovation and enterprise, development of information technology and e-government services, and how to use technology for higher productivity in port operations," the statement said.

The pact said Singapore and Flanders enjoy "close links through their companies and research institutes" and that there is "wide scope" to build upon existing ties.

;AFP; ANPAf..r.. Bizbrief-Germany-bank Dresdner may cut 1,300 jobs JP/11/Colbox

FRANKFURT (AFP): Germany's third-largest bank, Dresdner Bank, is preparing to cut an additional 1,300 jobs over the next two years, bringing the total to 7,800, a source close to the bank told AFP late Monday.

The decision is expected to be made at a meeting on Tuesday.

There was no immediate confirmation of the report.

Dresdner, which is in the process of being taken over by insurance giant Allianz, had earlier announced job cuts as part of a restructuring of its investment banking activities.

It said it would shed 5,000 jobs, mostly in its retail division, by the end of 2003 and another 1,500 in its investment banking unit Kleinwort Wasserstein.