Briefs

 
State-owned electricity company PLN is likely to withdraw its bid to take over two geothermal assets offered for auction by US-based energy corporation Chevron.
PLN claims that Chevron has not provided it with the audited financial reports of its subsidiaries Chevron Geothermal Indonesia and Chevron Geothermal Salak, which operate the two geothermal assets PLN has been eyeing.
PLN is in the running to take over Chevron’s Mount Salak and Darajat geothermal fields in West Java, which are estimated to be worth a combined US$3 billion (Bt105 billion).
PLN director for corporate planning Nicke Widyawati said the company had sent repeated requests to Chevron to send the audited reports, as the auction deadline had been set for Monday.
Putting in a bid for the geothermal assets was seen as risky as PLN needed to have a detailed description of Chevron’s third-party obligations, including its tax extensions. 
PLN claims that the Supreme Audit Agency reported that Chevron still had outstanding tax it needed to pay. – The Jakarta Post

SingPost opens logistics hub in Tampines to grow its regional e-commerce business
Singapore Post has launched a regional e-commerce logistics hub at Tampines Logistics Park.
The 182 million Singaporean dollar (Bt4.6 billion) facility is SingPost’s largest e-commerce logistics investment in Singapore.
The three-storey facility has two warehousing floors, 150 simultaneous loading bays and an office block.
The ground floor of the building houses a fully automated parcel sorting facility with a capacity of up to 100,000 parcels a day, and end-to-end sorting, shipping and returns management capabilities that enable quicker order fulfilment. – The Straits Times

SingPost opens logistics hub 

Singapore Post has launched a regional ecommerce logistics hub at Tampines Logistics Park.
The 182 million Singaporean dollar (Bt4.6 billion) facility is SingPost’s largest ecommerce logistics investment in Singapore.
The threestorey facility has two warehousing floors, 150 simultane?ous loading bays and an office block.
The ground floor of the building houses a fully automated parcel sorting facility with a capacity of up to 100,000 parcels a day, and endtoend sorting, shipping and returns management capabilities that enable quicker order fulfilment. – The Straits TimesPrudential marks start of life insurance sales in Laos 
Prudential Laos is now distributing its products to customers of ACLEDA Bank Lao through the branch network, starting in Vientiane and expanding to the southern region by the end of this year before going nationwide in 2017. 
Prudential has established a strategic and exclusive bancassurance partnership in Laos with ACLEDA Bank Lao, a reputable commercial bank with more than 40 branches across the country. 
Staff from the two companies gathered in Vientiane last week to mark the granting of business licences and the official start of their operations in Laos. 
Prudential opened its representative office in Vientiane in March 2015 and has since received a licence from Laos’ Ministry of Finance to begin business operations. 
Prudential Corporation Asia, part of the UKbased Prudential plc, has now started its life insurance business in Laos. 
Prudential is a leading life insurer that spans 13 markets in Asia, covering Cambodia, Chin a, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. –Vientiane TimesViet Nam’s industrial production growth slows
Viet Nam’s index of industrial production (IIP) rose by 7.2 per cent in the first 10 months of 2016, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The increase was much lower than that of the same period last year (9.8 per cent) due to strong decline in ore mining (5.5 per cent).
In the first 10 months of last year, ore mining production saw an increase of nine per cent and crude oil and gas exploitation saw a reduction of 7.5 per cent, according to economists of GSO.
However, in the first 10 months, growth was seen in processing and manufacturing (10.7 per cent), metal production (17.7 per cent), garments and textile (16.7 per cent), electronics, optical products and computers (14.1 per cent), and electricity production and distribution (11.5 per cent).
Several industrial products registered low growth or a decline. Paper production rose 8.2 per cent, electricity was up 5.9 per cent, leather production and leatherrelated products increased 3.5 per cent and chemical production was up only 2.2 per cent. Meanwhile, crude oil exploitation saw a decline of 8.7 per cent to 12.7 million tonnes, NPK fertiliser production was down 9.9 per cent to 1.85 million tonnes and mobile phones slipped 9.7 per cent to over 170 million units.
According to GSO, consumption of industrial products reached 8.2 per cent in the first 10 months. It was much lower than the same period last year at 13.1 per cent.
It was also attributed to the lower growth of IIP in the first 10 months of this year at 7.2 per cent. —Viet Nam News