Japanese refiners may cut imports
TOKYO: Japanese refiners are likely to cut crude oil imports as part of a global effort to ease US shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina, as a tight domestic market is making it hard for them to commit further fuel exports, industry officials said.

Refiners will use crude oil stocks in their private tanks to offset the reduction, said an official at the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ), the country’s largest oil industry group.
Japan imports about 4.1 million barrels of crude oil per day.

$1bn assets for sale
SINGAPORE: Nigerian oil firm South Atlantic Petroleum Ltd has attracted interest from Chinese and Indian oil companies for an asset worth up to $1 billion, a person familiar with the situation said.
Chinese refiner Sinopec Group is among the companies that have examined the exploration and production asset in the African country.
“South Atlantic Petroleum owns an asset in Nigeria. It is a single-asset company. All they own is one asset in Nigeria, and it is on the market now,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.

China starts output
TOKYO: Japan has confirmed that China has started output at a gasfield near a disputed sea border, Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa was quoted as saying, the latest twist in a continuing row over energy resources.
Japan and China, which both rely heavily on energy imports and are anxious to secure new sources, have been at odds over China’s exploration for natural gas in the East China Sea near areas that Japan claims are within its exclusive economic zone.