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World Business Quick Take

■ STEEL

Hyundai may build furnace

Hyundai Steel Co, South Korea's second-largest steelmaker, may spend 2.3 trillion won (US$2.4 billion) to build a third blast furnace by 2015 as demand for steel used in cars and ships soars. The plant, which burns iron ore and coal, may produce 4 million tonnes of steel a year, Kim Soo-min, executive vice president of the Incheon-based company, said on Friday. Output from its first two blast furnaces under construction will start from 2010.



■ OIL

Exxon reports flaring

Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest oil company, reported a jet vent gas compressor tripped and caused flaring yesterday at its refinery in Baytown, Texas. The incident at unit C901 didn't affect production and all customer needs are being met, Exxon Mobil said in a filing to the Texas Commission on the Environmental Quality Web site. The event began yesterday at 3:03am and was expected to continue until 9:03pm, the report said. The Baytown refinery, the largest in the US, has an oil-processing capacity of 586,000 barrels a day and accounts for about 3.3 percent of the US' total refining capacity.



■ AUTOMOBILES

Honda to build new plant

Honda Motor Co will spend US$485 million to build a new factory complex in Japan to produce small vehicles as consumers are shifting to less fuel-hungry models, a report said yesterday. The carmaker will build the complex in the western city of Yokkaichi at a cost of some ?50 billion (US$485 million), the Nikkei Shimbun said without naming sources. Honda plans to start operating an engine factory next year and assembly lines around 2010 with an annual output capacity of 240,000 vehicles, it said. The group aims to cut its production and distribution costs by at least 30 percent at the new complex, it said.



■ GOLD

Mine tax reviewed

Chile's government said Argentina has yet to agree to all the terms of a tax treaty that will allow Barrick Gold Corp to develop a gold project that straddles the border of both countries. The Argentine government is "still studying" a clause agreed to in a 2004 cross-border mining accord that it won't tax mineral Barrick smelts on its side of the border, the Chilean Internal Tax Service known as SII said in an e-mailed statement on Saturday. Argentine Mining Minister Jorge Mayoral said on Wednesday that Barrick would start construction of the mine-site in September. Barrick will spend 7.44 billion pesos (US$2.36 billion) developing the Pascua Lama project, which contains both gold and silver.



■ BANKING

Trader to undergo tests

The French trader charged in a 4.9 billion euro (US$7.1 billion) scandal at Societe Generale has been ordered to undergo psychiatric tests by investigating judges, a legal source said on Saturday. Jerome Kerviel, 31, has been in custody for the last month suspected of what Societe Generale says were unauthorized trades worth at least 50 billion euros -- more than the bank's own capital. He is charged with breach of trust, fabricating documents and illegally accessing computers, but escaped the more serious charge of fraud. His examination by a psychiatrist is aimed at determining if Kerviel's judgement was affected during his actions.
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