TOKYO: Japanese oil companies are close to signing a
TOKYO: Japanese oil companies are close to signing a
development contract for Iran's Azadegan oil field, Kyodo News
quoted the Iranian state-run news agency IRNA as saying Thursday.
Quoting Iranian Ambassador to Japan Ali Majedi, the news
agency said both parties plan to sign the contract by March 2003.
The oil field, located in southwest Iran near the border with
Iraq, has more than 26 billion barrels of oil in confirmed
reserves, one of the biggest in Iran. Japan hopes the oil field
will provide a steady source of oil supply.
Japan was given priority rights to negotiate a development
contract when Iranian President Mohammed Khatami visited Japan in
October 2000. The Japanese consortium is led by INPEX Corp.,
formerly known as Indonesia Petroleum Ltd.
IRNA said the contract, which would adopt the so-called
"buyback" format, is worth $2.8 billion. Under the buyback
method, a developer receives oil as compensation for the cost of
development. -- Dow Jones
Citigroup to pay $300m-350m fine
NEW YORK: Citigroup Inc will likely agree to pay a fine of
about US$300-$350 million in response to a probe into faulty
stock research by the firm's analysts, the Wall Street Journal
said Thursday.
The company is also expected to spend up to a further $100
million for independent research to settle the inquiry, said the
daily citing people familiar with the matter.
But the firm's Chief Executive, Sanford Weill, is likely to
avoid facing separate charges of misleading investors, it added.
The bank could also be required to publicly apologize as part
of a broad regulatory inquiry into whether the nation's big
brokerage firms misled small investors with overly optimistic
research on investment-banking clients.
Any settlement will not preclude separate charges against Jack
Grubman, the former star telecom analyst at Citigroup's Salomon
Smith Barney unit who has been at the center of the case.
Regulators have been investigating whether Weill prodded
Grubman to upgrade his rating of ATT Corp, a corporate client, in
late 1999, as well as his involvement with other ratings of such
clients. -- AFP
SingTel carries out 3G trial
SINGAPORE: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) made
its first public person-to-person mobile video call on Thursday
as part of preparations to launch 3G (third generation) services
within two years.
The islands three mobile phone service operators -- SingTel,
MobileOne Ltd. and StarHub Pte. Ltd. -- have been set a Dec. 31,
2004 deadline to launch 3G mobile networks.
Objections by the three companies to the deadline were
rejected by industry watchdog, the Infocomm Development Authority
(IDA).
SingTel, StarHub and MobileOne Asia each paid S$100 million
(US$56 million) a year ago for a 3G licence and argued that
rollout schedules should be commercial decisions for individual
companies.
SingTel completed 3G voice trials in November last year. --
AFP
UOB opens eighth office in RI
JAKARTA: PT Bank UOB Indonesia (UOBI), a subsidiary of
Singaporean banking firm United Overseas Bank (UOB) Limited, has
opened a subbranch in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, its eighth
office in the country.
The company said in statement that the opening of the Kelapa
Gading office reflected UOB's commitment to Indonesia.
UOB has also underlined its commitment to Indonesia by raising
its interest in UOBI to 99 percent from 79.9 percent in September
this year through the purchase of the stake owned by Bank Bali.
UOBI recorded a net profit before tax of Rp 111.5 billion
(US$12.5 million) and total assets of Rp 2.1 trillion by the end
of 2001.
It has offices in Jakarta, Batam, Surabaya, Bandung, Bali and
Bintan. -- JP