VietNamNet Bridge – The Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has long considered entering into regional co-operation by joining a trans-Asia gas pipeline, the chairman of its gas arm has said.
Do Khang Ninh, head of PV Gas Corporation, told the annual 18th Gasex Expo and Conference held for the first time in Ha Noi last Friday that participating countries would need to make further studies though the co-operative initiative was conceived quite a long time ago.
He did not reveal more details about PetroVietnam's pipeline plan.
He spoke about its current efforts to build a domestic gas pipeline that would link Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province and natural gas wells in the Nam Con Son basin with the southernmost province of Ca Mau.
This should help balance the demand between the two regions and facilitate gas transport within the country, he said.
Viet Nam's gas reserves were less abundant than regional countries', he said, adding the country was likely to face a shortage and had to import the fuel in the next few years given its current consumption of billions of cubic metres a year.
More than 30 billion cu.m of gas had so far been channelled ashore to generate electricity, produce liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), nitrogenous fertilisers, and other products, he said.
By 2012 Viet Nam is expected to import 4-5 billion cu.m of gas a year and PetroVietnam has already begun negotiations.
With suppliers demanding a prohibitively high US$20 per million British thermal units, PV Gas can only import enough LPG to meet 65 per cent of demand.
The company has signed a deal with China's Sinopec Co to develop a clean energy cluster in Nghi Son in the central province of Thanh Hoa.
The complex will include a liquefied natural gas repository that will supply gas to urban areas and industrial parks.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
PetroVietnam may join Asia gas pipeline
Forecast: more money to be put in stocks
VietNamNet Bridge – Recent forecasts have all predicted that more money will flow into the stock market in the time to come. And the main reasons for the conclusion? Bank interest rates have been decreasing and stock prices have decreased to the point where they are attractive to investors.
Interest rates believed will drop further
The HCM City Securities Company (HSC) believes that the VND basic interest rate will decrease by another 2% by the end of January 2009. This means that the basic interest rate would decrease to 10%, which also means the maximum lending interest rate would be 15% per annum. In fact, the lending interest rates currently applied by big banks are below 14%, for certain clients, while the popular rates are between 14.5-16%.
Vietcombank’s Securities Company’s (VCBS) report also said that following a series of measures to loosen monetary policies, deposit and lending interest rates both have been decreasing, which it believes will revitalise the stock market.
“Deposits will become less attractive as an investment channel. Therefore, it is likely there will be a big volume of money injected in the stock market as stock prices have decreased so deeply,” VCBS’ report reads.
The Saigon Securities Incorporated (SSI) also believes that the basic interest rate is now under pressure to decrease further in the context of the economic development slowdown and the interest rate cuts all over the world.
If interest rates are cut further, this would help make the stock market more attractive as money would be injected in stocks which are considered reasonably-priced.
In a newly-released report analysing Vietnam’s economy in the first nine months of the year, Eurocapital cites four factors it believes are responsible for making bank interest rates go down: 1/ the usable capital and liquidity of banks has improved 2/ banks have to cut deposit interest rates to make profit 3/ banks have cut lending interest rates to boost disbursement and 4/ banks have to lower interest rates to become competitive.
Interest rate cuts benefit stock market
Securities companies have also pointed out that lower interest rates would create good conditions for listing companies to access bank loans and reduce production costs.
Statistics released by Eurocapital show that in the first two quarters of the year, high lending interest rates pushed finance costs higher. 163/209 (78%) surveyed enterprises had higher finance costs in the first two quarters of 2008 compared to the first half of last year. 120/209 saw their finance costs up by over 50%.
Experts, agreeing with VCBS and SSI, say that when depositing money becomes less attractive, investors will inject their money in stocks which have reasonable prices.
Reports by some foreign institutions which have been released recently say that Vietnam’s stocks are now less attractive than those of many other markets. However, idle domestic money is believed will still flow into Vietnamese stocks as it cannot ‘cross the border’ to go to places where the stocks are more attractive.
Study: Vitamin C or E pills do not lower risk of cancer
Taking vitamin C and E pills does not lower the risk of cancer, according to a latest study involving nearly 15,000 men in the U.S., media reported Monday.
"After nearly 10 years of supplementation with either vitamin E or vitamin C, we found no evidence supporting the use of either supplement in the prevention of cancer," said Howard D. Sesso, Sc.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "While vitamin E and C supplement use did not produce any protective benefits, they also did not cause any harm," he added.
The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health and several vitamin makers, tracked cancer risk in 14,641 male U.S. doctors who took either 400 IU of vitamin E every other day or a placebo, or 500 milligrams of vitamin C daily or a placebo. Their average age was 64 at the start of the study and they were followed for eight years on average.
The participants experienced a total of 1,929 cases of cancer, including 1,013 prostate cancers. Overall, 490 men taking vitamin E developed prostate cancer compared to 523 in the placebo group. Similar results were seen for vitamin C. The overall risk of cancer generally was also not statistically significant between the two groups.
"Well-conducted clinical trials such as this are rapidly closing the door on the hope that common vitamin supplements may protect against cancer," said Marji McCullough, nutrition chief at the American Cancer Society. "It's still possible that some benefit exists for subgroups that couldn't be measured, but the overall results are certainly discouraging."
The public has been whipsawed by good and bad news about vitamins. Previous laboratory research and observational studies in which people who reported eating a diet rich in vitamins E and C were found to have a lower risk of cancer, had suggested that taking these vitamins as individual supplements may offer some protective benefits.
"The American Cancer Society recommends getting these and other nutrients by eating a mostly plant-based diet with a variety of vegetables, fruits and whole grains. A bonus is that this type of diet helps to prevent obesity, which increases the risk of several cancers," said McCullough.
Viet Nam preps for Indoor Games
Viet Nam is revving up for the third Asian Indoor Games to be held in provinces and cities nation wide next November.
Ha Noi will be the main venue for 11 sports, along with HCM City, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, Phu Tho and Dong Nai.
In a meeting with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in June, Viet Nam agreed to pay US$2.5 million for the right to host the biggest indoor sports event in Asia, which is expected to attract over 4,000 athletes, coaches and officials from 45 countries and territories.
Viet Nam is currently making preparations to construct an indoor sports centre to house the event.
The 24 official sporting events include athletics, short course swimming, finswimming, dance, archery, petanque, wushu, boxing, shuttlecock kicking, sepak takraw, aerobics, chess, Chinese chess (Xiangqi), futsal, Thai muay, traditional Vietnamese martial arts (Vovinam), billiards, kurash (central Asian wrestling), bowling, mountain climbing, kick boxing, hockey and a demonstration of the martial art jejitsu.
At the 2nd Indoor Games in Macau, China last October, which attracted 4,500 athletes from 45 countries and territories to participate in 135 events, Viet Nam ranked 13th in the medals tally - with two golds, five silvers and eleven bronzes.
At the 1st Asian Indoor Games in Thailand in 2005, Viet Nam, who sent a 15-member squad to compete in six of the 15 sports, finished in 21st place with one silver and one bronze medal.
The Asian Indoor Games is a biennial competition held by the Olympic Council of Asia for its 45 National Olympic Committee members and is designed to encourage young Asians to participate in a wider range of sports at top levels.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Phú Yên: Chậm trễ trong xây dựng các khu tái định cư để thực hiện các dự án lọc, hoá dầu
Ngày 14/11, ông Hồ Văn Tiến- Chánh văn phòng UBND tỉnh Phú Yên khẳng định có sự chậm trễ trong xây dựng khu tái định cư Phú Lạc rộng 45 ha và khu trung tâm hành chính mới- khu dân cư mới Hoà Tâm (gọi tắt là khu tái định cư) rộng 90 ha để phục vụ các dự án lọc, hoá dầu.
Ông Tiến cho biết: Tổng kinh phí đầu tư xây dựng Khu tái định cư Phú Lạc khoảng 130 tỷ đồng và Khu tái định cư Hoà Tâm khoảng 900 tỷ đồng. Hai khu tái định cư nói trên sẽ giải quyết nơi ở mới cho 1.428 hộ dân với gần 5.100 người thuộc xã Hoà Tâm và Bãi Chính, Bãi Ngà, Bãi Lách (xã Hòa Xuân Nam) của huyện Đông Hòa. Do ngân sách khó khăn nên tỉnh đã kêu gọi các nhà thầu ứng vốn đầu tư xây dựng, tỉnh sẽ thanh toán sau. Theo đó, đầu tháng 9/2008 Công ty xây dựng công trình giao thông 5 (CIENCO 5) đã chấp thuận thực hiện trọn gói toàn bộ từ khâu lập dự án đến thiết kế, thi công nhằm đảm bảo tiến độ theo yêu cầu của dự án và tỉnh sẽ thanh toán trong vòng 3 năm sau khi đưa vào sử dụng. Tuy nhiên, khoảng nửa tháng sau CIENCO 5 phải thông báo không thể thực hiện dự án do không vay được tín dụng. Gần đây hai doanh nghiệp là Công ty TNHH xây dựng- thương mại-du lịch Cát Phương Nam (thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) đã đề nghị được xây dựng Khu tái định cư Hòa Tâm và Doanh nghiệp tư nhân Nam Ngân (tỉnh Bình Định) thực hiện dự án Khu tái định cư Phú Lạc. Hiện Sở Kế hoạch- Đầu tư đang thẩm định năng lực hai doanh nghiệp trên và trong vòng một tuần nữa UBND tỉnh sẽ có quyết định chính thức về việc có chấp thuận để hai doanh nghiệp trên xây dựng các khu tái định cư hay không. Nếu được, dự kiến đến đầu năm 2009 sẽ xây dựng giai đoạn 1 Khu tái định cư Phú Lạc rộng 10 và Khu tái định cư Hoà Tâm khoảng 20 ha để kịp thời di dời dân.
Theo kế hoạch cuối năm 2008 tại Khu kinh tế Nam Phú Yên sẽ khởi công Nhà máy lọc dầu Vũng Rô công suất 4 triệu tấn/năm, trị giá 1,7 tỷ USD do Công ty TNHH Dầu khí Vũng Rô gồm liên doanh giữa Công ty Technostar Management Ltd (Vương quốc Anh) và Công ty dầu khí Tetttoil (Cộng hòa Liên bang Nga) làm chủ đầu tư. Đầu năm 2009 sẽ khởi công Khu công nghiệp hóa dầu Hòa Tâm và Tổ hợp hóa dầu Naphtha Cracking trị giá 11 tỷ USD do Công ty SP Chemical Ltd (Xin-ga-po) làm chủ đầu tư. Do đó, tỉnh Phú Yên cần khẩn trương xây dựng các khu tái định cư để sớm giao mặt bằng cho nhà đầu tư. Tuy nhiên, cho đến thời điểm này các khu tái định cư mới hoàn thành quy hoạch tỉ lệ 1/2000 và phương án đền bù tổng thể.
