■ENERGY
KOGAS, Chevron sign deal
State-owned Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) has agreed to buy 1.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year from Chevron Corp over 15 years in the largest long-term LNG deal ever signed between Australia and South Korea, the vendor said yesterday. The gas will come from the Gorgon gas field that Chevron and its joint venture partners, ExxonMobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell, announced on Monday would be developed off the northwest Australian coast. Under an agreement signed overnight on Tuesday, KOGAS has an option to extend the 15-year agreement for a further five years, Chevron said in a statement. South Korea is the world’s second-largest importer of LNG after Japan.
■BANKING
Senior bankers leave SG
Thirty senior bankers from Societe Generale (SG) have left to set up their own hedge fund business, amid growing pressure on French banks to curb bonuses for top staff, the Financial Times (FT) said yesterday. The team, including the head of SG’s global hedge funds business and several of his most senior colleagues, have left in a move backed by a US equity firm, the report said. The new hedge fund venture will be called Nexar Capital and will be based in Paris with an office in New York, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources. Nexar aims to raise US$10 billion in assets under management, excluding acquisitions, within five years.
■METALS
Rusal mulls HK listing
Russian aluminum giant Rusal is considering listing in Hong Kong in what could be one of the largest offerings on the stock market here, the South China Morning Post said yesterday. Hong Kong is one of two markets the metals company is looking at, the report said, quoting Rusal deputy chief executive Artem Volynets said. “One potential attraction of Hong Kong for us is the big Chinese metals and mining companies listed there,” Volynets said. “Instead of buying mines, the Chinese raw material producers listed in Hong Kong can buy Rusal shares.”
■MEDIA
‘WSJ’ to charge fees
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) plans to start charging as much as US$2 per week to read its stories on BlackBerry and other mobile devices. The mobile fees will be imposed in the next month or two, said Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of the WSJ’s owner, News Corp. Murdoch mentioned the upcoming fees during an investor conference in New York on Tuesday. Unlike most US newspapers, the WSJ has long required a subscription to read most of the stories on its Web site. The strategy has paid off so far, with the paper boasting more than 1 million online subscribers. Now Murdoch is trying to generate more revenue through other channels, to help offset a steep drop in advertising in the print edition.
■SOUTH KOREA
Employment rate rises
The number of South Koreans with jobs rose last month year-on-year, official figures showed yesterday, in another sign the economic downturn may be ending. The number of employed people was 23.62 million last month, up 3,000 from August last year, the National Statistical Office said. Last month’s unemployment rate of 3.7 percent was unchanged from the previous month, but the economy lost 76,000 positions year-on-year in July.
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