ENERGY
ADNOC awards CNPC stake
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) awarded a stake in its largest oil concession to China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC, 中國石油天然氣), as it brings in more foreign investors to raise crude production capacity. CNPC is to take an 8 percent stake in the oil-production joint venture in return for paying a US$1.8 billion signing bonus, ADNOC said in a statement on Sunday. BP PLC joined the project in December for a 10 percent stake after Total SA took the same share in January 2015. Abu Dhabi, with about 6 percent of global oil reserves, aims to boost production capacity to 3.5 million barrels a day by next year, even as it trims current output.
ENERGY
Iraq reserves rise 7 percent
Iraq’s oil reserves have increased to 153 billion barrels, from a previous estimate of 143 billion barrels, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Sunday. Iraq is to ask OPEC to adopt the new figure as the official estimate for its reserves, he said in a statement. The increased estimate is the result of appraisals and exploration carried out at seven oil fields in central and southern Iraq, he said. Iraq’s new proven reserves estimate brings it closer to Iran’s 158 billion barrels. It is OPEC’s second-largest producer, after Saudi Arabia.
WAGES
Rentals show wage gap
Single women cannot afford to rent a small apartment in nearly all of the biggest US cities, but single men could manage to lease in a third of those locations, a reflection of the gender wage gap, research shows. The Midwestern cities of Wichita, Kansas and Tulsa, Oklahoma are the only two of the 50 largest cities where the median income of single women can pay for a studio or one-bedroom apartment, according to research by RentCafe.com, an online apartment search company. Across the US, women working full time are paid 80 percent of what men are paid, according to US Census Bureau statistics.
BANKING
RBS not selling bank unit
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) rose to a one-year high after the bank said it would scrap the planned sale of its Williams & Glyn consumer banking unit. The shares gained as much as 6.4 percent and were up £0.112 to £2.54 as of 8:58am, the highest among British banks in London trading yesterday. Investors are optimistic that RBS is closer to resolving some of the biggest issues that have weighed on the stock, even if it means short-term losses. The bank is to take a £750 million (US$930 million) provision as part of a new plan to address its EU mandate to sell Williams & Glyn. That adds to a fourth-quarter loss that includes a £3.1 billioncharge tied to a US probe into sales of mortgage securities.
SINGAPORE
Measures to spur growth
Singapore’s Minister of Finance Heng Swee Keat (王瑞傑) outlined a set of targeted measures in his budget speech to help the struggling oil industry and spur construction. The government is to bring forward S$700 million (US$494 million) in infrastructure spending and defer levies on foreign workers in the marine and process sectors for a year, Heng told lawmakers yesterday. He also extended rebates on corporate income taxes. The budget seeks to flesh out initiatives outlined by a government-appointed panel two weeks ago aimed at spurring growth to 2 to 3 percent a year over the next decade.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six