S-Oil Corp., the nation’s third largest refinery, released an upbeat blueprint yesterday, aiming to more than double its operating income to 2 trillion won ($2.1 billion) by 2010.

On the 30th anniversary of its foundation, the Seoul-based company said it expects to see 20 trillion won in revenue on the ongoing facility expansions, up more than 60 percent from last year’s return.

“In 2010, when the No. 2 BCC Project is completed, we’ll have a refining capacity of over 1 million bpd, retain our No. 1 ranking in the upgrading facilities ratio, and become a star oil refiner that acts as a global market leader with the largest exports of petroleum products among Korean refiners,” CEO Dr. Samir A. Tubayyeb said.

“Furthermore, we’ll emerge as a world-class oil refiner with 20 trillion won in sales and 2 trillion won in income.” Read more » »

Lions Petroleum Inc. has leased 1,119 acres located in Southern Saskatchewan, in the Williston Basin.

The Williston Basin is a large sedimentary basin situated along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in Western North Dakota, Eastern Montana, and South Saskatchewan. The basin is characterized by thick sequences of sediments that underlie an area of over 285,000 sq. kilometers (110,000 sq. miles). Light to medium crude oil is produced in this area and natural gas, which is dry (low in liquid hydrocarbons) and sweet, (low in sulfur) which requires limited processing. Read more » »

Oregon’s statewide average gasoline price continues to fall.

In the past week, the price dropped an average of 4 cents, to $2.98. In three of the four measured metropolitan areas in the state, the decline was more than a nickel a gallon, AAA Oregon reported.

The national average is $2.85 per gallon.

“The heaviest traveled holiday of the year, the Fourth of July, is right around the corner,” said Elliott Eki, AAA Oregon public affairs director. “This year, many families likely will take a four-day weekend, giving them more time to travel. That certainly will impact overall fuel demand and, quite possibly, current pump prices.” Read more » »

Malaysia’s national oil and gas company Petronas said Thursday its full-year net profit surged 22.6 percent to a record high, thanks to higher oil prices and increased output.

For the year through March, Petroliam Nasional Bhd.’s net profit rose to a record 43.59 billion ringgit ($12.1 billion), compared with 35.6 billion ringgit a year earlier.

Petronas is Malaysia’s most profitable company and only Fortune 500 company. It is also among Malaysia’s largest bond issuers. Read more » »

EnCana Corporation and the province of Nova Scotia have reached an Offshore Strategic Energy Agreement that establishes the framework for the potential development of the Deep Panuke natural gas field located about 250 kilometres southeast of Halifax, off Canada’s East Coast.

“This is a very good first step in restarting the development of the Deep Panuke gas field. We are pleased to have established a framework with the province for royalties, employment and industrial benefits, plus funding for research and education. However, we have plenty more work to do to make Deep Panuke production a reality. For Deep Panuke to go forward, it will take the constructive efforts of all parties involved as we seek regulatory approval, tender the work and consider this major investment decision,” said Dave Kopperson, EnCana’s Vice-President, Atlantic Canada. Read more » »

Limited operations of the Minnesota Pipeline System resumed Thursday according to company officials.

Operations were interrupted Tuesday, June 27, when the common carrier system experienced a crude oil leak near Little Falls, Minn. The leak occurred in a right-of-way containing two parallel pipelines, affecting one of the two pipelines. Both pipelines were shut down by pipeline control center operators within minutes and the affected section was isolated within 20 minutes. There were no injuries. Read more » »

Members of the Scottish parliament are calling for an inquiry into North Sea safety regulators, alleging they have failed to properly monitor the operations of Shell.

The move comes ahead of a report being published by Aberdeen’s sheriff court into an accident on Shell’s Brent Bravo platform in 2003 when two men died.

It follows revelations in this newspaper that a senior Shell consultant, Bill Campbell, told the oil company as far back as 1999 that employees had been falsifying maintenance documents relating to North Sea platforms. Shell rejects the allegations of tampering with paperwork.

SYSTEMSgroup, Inc., an operating business unit of SAFEguard Security Holdings, Inc. (OTC: SSYH), and a provider of security service personnel and electronic security systems, announced today that it has entered into a new real estate lease agreement to expand its business operations in Houston, Texas.

R. Michael Lagow, President, SAFEguard Security Holdings, Inc., stated, “Our new operations center in Houston will enhance service to our existing customer base by providing a full suite of electronic security services, security staffing services and patrol response services. This facility will house our new video monitoring center and will provide redundancy to our monitoring center currently under construction in Dallas, Texas. Read more » »

JSE-listed mining services company Scharrig Mining, which acquired Africa’s largest exploration drilling operation, Geosearch, as well as Transbor, said that these companies were trading strongly and that the demand for exploration drilling continued to be “exceptionally” strong.

The company also recently acquired Benicon, following the unconditional approval from the Competition Commission.

In its financial results for the year ended March 31, Scharring Mining said that the demand for drilling and blasting services continued to be strong and that it would invest around R42-million in drilling equipment in the first quarter of the 2007 financial year. Read more » »

Local waste-materials-handling equipment manufacturer 600SA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the 600Group, has partnered with a Brazilian-manu-facturer, Usimeca, to manufacture and import a new range of materials-handling equipment. Usimeca, a Latin Ameri-can company specialising in the segment of waste-collection equipment and conveyance, invests strongly in research, new product development, manufacturing resources and people. Prior to the agreement between 600SA and Usimeca, 600SA manufactured the E-Z Pack range as the company’s brand name. Read more » »