Unocal Corp. set for first Asian listing

Unocal Corp. set for first Asian listing

SINGAPORE (AFP): U.S.-based energy giant Unocal Corp., ahead
of its maiden listing in Asia, said yesterday it will pour
billions of dollars into new oil, natural gas and geothermal
exploration projects in the region.

"The projects on the pipeline will cost billions of dollars.
To use stock market terminology, we are very bullish on Asia,"
Unocal chief executive officer Roger Beach told reporters.

Apart from new on- and off-shore natural gas projects eyed by
Unocal in China, Vietnam and Cambodia, the company would extend
its presence in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar,
Beach said.

"For competitive reasons, I can't go into specifics at this
time," he said after signing an agreement with the Stock Exchange
of Singapore for Unocal to make a secondary listing on the
bourse.

"We expect the listing on the exchange in Singapore will
heighten our profile in the region and expand the opportunity for
investors in Southeast Asia to participate in our growth," Beach
said.

Trading here of the company's shares, which has primary
listings in the United States and Switzerland, will begin today.

Beach said Unocal's gas production in Thailand was expected to
increase to between 900 million and 950 million cubic feet (25
million and 27 million cubic metres) a day by the June quarter
when a second pipeline to shore comes on stream.

Unocal at present operates eight gas producing offshore fields
in three contract areas in Thailand -- the company's largest
development project outside the United States -- with production
averaging more than 700 million cubic feet (19.8 million cubic
metres) a day.

Unocal would also begin exploration work with French firm
Total later this year on "significant" additional gas projects
near the giant Yadana gas field offshore Myanmar, he said.

The US$1 billion Yadana project is a joint venture among
Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, the Petroleum Authority of
Thailand, Unocal and Total, which serves as an operator.

Unocal's oil and gas reserves totaled two billion barrels of
oil-equivalent at the end of 1994. Almost half its gas reserves
are in Southeast Asia, where Unocal has invested nearly $8.6
billion so far.

In Indonesia, Unocal is exploring three additional geothermal
energy prospects in the Sarulla field off Sumatra island after
its first discovery in May, Beach said.

Last year, the first 100 megawatts of power generation came on
line at Unocal's Salak project south of Jakarta and Beach said
the second phase of development would increase generating
capacity to 330 megawatts by 1997.

Unocal's projects in Indonesia together with those in the
Philippines account for 70 percent of its geothermal reserves.