State-run gas company, Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) is planning to raise the capacity of its Pata petrochemical plant. The capacity would be increased to 800,000 tons in next few years.

The plant has a capacity of 410,000 tons per annum at present. GAIL Chairman and Managing Director, U D Choubey said that the Pata plant in Uttar Pradesh would be expanded by setting up a mega petrochemical plant alongside the existing plant.

Karvy Stock Broking Limited has maintained ‘buy’ rating on ONGC stock with an intraday target of Rs 1080.

According to Karvy, interested traders can purchase the stock between Rs 1030-1040 with a strict stop loss of Rs 1010. If the stock market remains on positive track, the stock pricing becomes more attractive, and reach above Rs 1087.

Vienna -

Nicosia, Sept 4 : China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Asia’s biggest oil and gas company, has signed a three billion dollar agreement to develop and operate Iraq''s al Ahdab oil field under a 20-year service contract.

The agreement is the first major oil deal reached between Iraq, which has about one third of the world’s largest reserves, and a foreign firm.

Iraq’s Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said that time was running out for big western firms to conclude the deals they have been negotiating for many years.

The Minister said that the two sides had renegotiated the terms of an old deal which was signed back in 1997 concerning the development of the Adhab oil field.

Sofia  - The Bulgarian government Wednesday launched the construction of the nuclear power plant at Belene, which Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev described as the "largest project in the last 18 years."

The 5.8-billion-dollar plant with two 1,000 megawatt generators is being built on the Danube 220 kilometres northeast of Sofia. Bulgaria already runs the Russian-built Kosloduy plant some 100 kilometres upstream of Belene.

Bulgaria, a member of the European Union since 2007, awarded the Belene project to the Russian firm Atomexportstroy in late 2006. French and German giants Areva and Siemens were hired as sub- contractors in the project.

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has plunged to its lowest level since early April, according to OPEC data released on Wednesday.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC-produced crude stood at 103.40 dollars Tuesday, 6.62 dollars less than 110.02 dollars on the previous day.

Markets were affected by the fact that Hurricane Gustav had mostly spared oil facilities, as well as by the stronger US dollar against the euro, Vienna-based energy analysts JBC said.