Airbus plans long-range A350 to fly Singapore-NYC direct by 2018  

AUG 17, 20158:56 PM

[TOULOUSE] Airbus Group SE's airliner unit is working on a new variant of its A350-900 wide-body that would allow Singapore Airlines Ltd to restore nonstop US flights and regain the record for the world's longest airline sector.

Airbus, which began deliveries of the twin-engine model last year, is working on changes to the cabin layout that would reduce its weight and allow Singapore Airlines to reach New York economically by 2018, said Kiran Rao, the planemaker's executive vice president for strategy and marketing.

Singapore Air halted near 19-hour direct flights from its home hub to New York in 2013, adding about five hours to the journey with stopovers. Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong said in June there was no commercially viable jet available and that he was pushing both Airbus and Boeing Co for proposals.

Rao said the A350 should be able to make the trip with 25 per cent less fuel burn than older models, at the expense of a less dense layout than the usual 325-seat, three-class A350-900, which could be available "an awful lot quicker than Boeing." Several other airlines have expressed an interest in such a variant, Rao said, while declining to identify them.

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"I can't go into details on the type of layouts they're looking at but it would be a premium service," he said. When Singapore Air last flew to the New York area directly, it did so with just 100 business class-only seats on a four-engine Airbus A340-500, an arrangement that ultimately proved non-viable.

The route, to Newark in New Jersey, was the longest non-stop commercial air service ever offered at 15,344 kilometres.

Boeing's older 777-200LR - the longest-range jetliner available today - can span about 17,000 km, according to the US company, and will be used by Emirates to fly the 13,821 km between Dubai and Panama from February. That flight will become the longest single sector currently flown, beating Qantas Airways Ltd.'s Sydney-Dallas Fort Worth route by about 20 km.

The 777-200LR entered service in 2006 and the last delivery to an airline was more than a year ago in April 2014.

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Noble Group open to selling core businesses to boost confidence: CEO

Noble Group is open to selling its core businesses, its chief executive said, as Asia's biggest commodities trader pursues options to boost market confidence after a bruising accounting dispute. 

PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

AUG 17, 20157:51 PM

[SINGAPORE] Noble Group is open to selling its core businesses, its chief executive said, as Asia's biggest commodities trader pursues options to boost market confidence after a bruising accounting dispute.

Yusuf Alireza told some 500 attendees at the Singapore-listed company's investor information day on Monday that Noble is evaluating a number of options both internally in terms of shutting down certain businesses, and externally such as working with banks and strategic investors.

"It's our responsibility to review all of those options including potentially selling businesses that in a normal time would be considered core businesses," Mr Alireza said.

He did not specify what businesses he was referring to as core. Noble's senior management made a 140-page presentation at the event as part of the company's attempts to improve disclosure and transparency.

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Noble, already under pressure in a weak commodities market, hit the spotlight in February when blogger Iceberg Research alleged the company was inflating its assets by billions of dollars by not fairly representing the value of its commodity contracts.

Hong Kong-headquartered Noble has rejected the claims, and board-appointed consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers found no wrongdoing in a report published this month. But there's still some uncertainty on the company's unrealised commodity contracts, or mark-to-market.

"The MTM review is only a small part of the issues they face. Their balance sheet has billions in investment in associates, receivables, inventories, etc, where the accounting can have a big impact on the income statement," Mak Yuen Teen, associate professor of accounting at the National University of Singapore Business School, said before Noble's investor day presentation.

"So, they really need a more thorough MTM review and a review of other significant items." With revenues of US$86 billion last year, Noble is one of Asia's largest companies to find itself in a reputational battle over accounts.

On Monday, its shares ended down 7 per cent, not far of seven-year lows hit last month. They are now down some 60 per cent since mid-February. Weak prospects of Noble's main commodities exposures - metals and energy - due to China's sputtering economy, are hitting investor confidence.

"I must also say that I've listened to some pretty wild stories about Noble during the last 25 years," Richard Elman, Noble's founder and chairman, said at the event.

"Some of the characterisation of Noble in recent times by people who have no knowledge of our industry, often have no professional qualifications to be commenting on areas they are not commentators on, has gone a little bit too far."

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Oil falls near six-year low as US, Opec keep pumping amid glut   

Oil resumed its decline as Iran said Opec production may rise to a record after sanctions on the country are lifted and as US drilling activity increased. 

PHOTO: REUTERS

AUG 17, 20155:23 PM

[TEXAS] Oil resumed its decline as Iran said Opec production may rise to a record after sanctions on the country are lifted and as US drilling activity increased.

Futures slid as much as 2 per cent in New York to trade near a six-year intraday low reached on Aug 14. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may boost output to 33 million barrels a day after Iran's international export restrictions are removed, according to the nation's Opec representative. The number of rigs seeking oil in the US rose by two to 672, the most since May, Baker Hughes Inc data show.

Oil has slumped more than 30 per cent from the June closing peak this year amid speculation the global surplus will be prolonged. While US crude stockpiles fell a third week through Aug 7, supplies remain more than 90 million barrels above the five-year average for this time of year.

"One overall big fundamental thing is the market is still heavily oversupplied, with Opec still flooding the market," Andy Sommer, an analyst at Axpo Trading AG in Dietikon, Switzerland, said by phone.

West Texas Intermediate for September delivery fell as much as 86 cents to US$41.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at US$41.82 at 9:52 am London time. The contract gained 27 cents to US$42.50 on Friday. The volume of all futures traded was about 30 per cent above the 100-day average. Prices have decreased 22 per cent this year.

Brent for October settlement dropped as much as 84 cents, or 1.7 per cent, to US$48.35 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of US$6.18 to WTI for the same month.

Prices also declined as the dollar strengthened following China's shift to a more market-oriented exchange rate. The dollar was stronger against most peers by 9:17 am in London. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell to an almost four-year low after China's shock devaluation of its currency last week focused investors on the vulnerability of other emerging economies.

"If the Chinese economy is really so weak, and weakens further and takes with it other Asian economies, then the demand recovery forecast in the third quarter is adrift," said Axpo's Sommer.

Drillers in the US, the world's biggest oil consumer, have added rigs to fields for the fourth straight week, Baker Hughes said on its website on Friday. While the number of active machines has climbed to 672, the total count is still down almost 60 per cent since December.

The US agreed to allow some crude to flow to Mexico in the latest step toward easing a 40-year ban on most domestic exports.

Producers including Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips have called for an end to US export restrictions after the drilling boom boosted the nation's output. Up to 100,000 barrels a day of light oil and condensate will be exchanged for heavy Mexican crude, according to state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos.

The global oil market is already in surplus by about 3 million barrels a day, with Saudi Arabia and Iraq responsible for Opec's oversupply in the past six months, Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Sunday, citing the nation's Opec representative Mehdi Asali.

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