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World Business Quick Take

■ TEXTILES
Jakarta to ask Nike to stay
The Indonesian government hopes to persuade Nike against shifting production elsewhere after the shoe giant halted orders from two local companies citing quality concerns, a senior industry official said yesterday. "We will encourage Nike to stay, and not just move away because it severed contracts with two [Indonesian] companies," Metal, Textile Machinery and Miscellaneous Industry director general Ansari Bukhari told the Detikcom online news portal. Nike has announced it will stop ordering from two Indonesian subcontracting companies -- PT Hardaya Aneka Shoes Industry and Nagasakti Paramashoes Industry -- as they failed to maintain Nike's production standards and export schedules.

■ OIL
Yukos assets to be sold
Russia is to sell off the major foreign assets of bankrupt oil group Yukos at auction next month with a starting price of just under US$300 million, Russia's Federal Property Fund announced on Saturday. The company's Dutch subsidiary Yukos Finance, which controls the assets, will be sold on August 15, the fund said in a statement in the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper. Assets owned by Yukos Finance include a 49 percent stake in Slovak Pipeline company Transpetrol, which transports 21 million tonnes of oil per year, Interfax news agency reported.

■ ENERGY
Iran, Turkey sign gas deal
Iran and Turkey have signed a deal on energy cooperation and agreed to develop part of the giant South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf on a buyback basis, state-run radio reported on Saturday. "It was agreed that Turkey would develop three phases -- 22, 23 and 24 -- of South Pars and offer the gas produced to Iran on a buyback [basis]," state-run radio quoted Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh as saying. Hamaneh said the two sides would sign an official contract on development for the gas field within the next four to six months, after the completion of feasibility studies by Turkey. Iran has a 28-phase plan to develop by 2012 its part of the gas field, shared with Qatar in the Persian Gulf waters, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

■ MEDIA
Viacom mulls China park
Viacom Inc, owner of MTV and the Paramount film studio, has discussed building theme parks in China with government officials. "Very recently, a delegation came from Changsha to discuss the possibilities of a theme park," Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone told reporters yesterday at the annual Allen and Co media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "It's a great business opportunity." The discussions with officials from Shanghai and Changsha are "very tentative," Redstone said.

■ TRADE
Seoul bans Chinese fish
South Korea has banned fish imports from a Chinese farm that used harmful anti-bacterial agents, a news report said yesterday. Seoul's Yonhap news agency, quoting an unnamed maritime and fisheries ministry official, said the ban took effect July 6 when fish from the unidentified Chinese farm tested positive for the toxic substances. The latest case has brought the total number of Chinese fish farms or processors under South Korea's ban to 34, it said.


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