Print

Mail

wiki links

World Business Quick Take

■ENERGY

Shell ups Chinese LNG deal

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell 2 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to PetroChina under a 20-year contract, state media reported yesterday. The gas will come in part from the proposed Gorgon gas project off the coast of Western Australia, the Shanghai Securities News said, citing unnamed Shell officials. The Anglo-Dutch company has a 25 percent stake in the development. Shell signed an agreement in September last year to supply 1 million tonnes of LNG to PetroChina over 20 years. But the final LNG amount doubled in size from the previous announcement, the report said.



■TELECOMS

Phone sales likely to fall

Worldwide mobile-phone sales will decline next year as economic growth slows, researcher Gartner Inc said. Shipments will decline by a “low single-digit” percentage next year, the Connecticut-based market research firm said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Sales will rise 8 percent this year after rising 6 percent in the third quarter, Gartner said. Nokia Oyj raised its third-quarter market share by unit sales to 38.2 percent from 37.8 percent a year earlier, while Samsung Electronics Co increased its share to 17.1 percent from 14.4 percent. Motorola Inc fell to 8 percent from 13 percent, slipping to a fourth place. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd moved to third spot even as its market share fell to 8.1 percent from 8.7 percent.



■SINGAPORE

PM to take salary cut

President SR Nathan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) will take a 19 percent salary cut next year, leading a civil-service-wide downward salary adjustment to offset the impact of the global financial crisis, media reports said yesterday. Nathan and Lee would earn S$3.14 million (US$2.07 million) and S$3.04 million respectively with the cuts next year. Salaries of ministers and senior permanent secretaries would be reduced by 18 percent and allowances for members of parliament would be reduced by 16 percent.



■AVIATION

Indochina Airlines launched

Vietnam’s first privately owned airline began flights yesterday, aiming to tap rising demand for air travel in the country. Indochina Airlines, owned by a group of Vietnamese businessmen, is operating four daily flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, company spokeswoman Nguyen Thi Thanh Quyen said. The company, chaired by Ha Hung Dung, a well-known Vietnamese pop music composer and businessman, also offers two flights daily between Ho Chi Minh City and Danang.



■TRAVEL

HK residents still want trips

The people of Hong Kong are cutting travel costs but not abandoning their holidays as they economize on luxuries during the global economic slump, a survey released yesterday found. A survey found people were looking at making their winter breaks cheaper rather than staying at home. Forty-eight percent of people interviewed said they would be more flexible on travel dates, 40 percent said they would consider taking shorter trips and 35 percent said they would cut holiday budgets. A surprisingly large 78 percent of respondents in the survey by the online travel firm Zuji said they still planned to go on holiday early next year despite the economic downturn.


This story has been viewed 661 times.