Omega notes

HONG KONG Oct 13 (Reuters) - Sinopec Group, Asia’s largest refiner, is on the prowl for more foreign oil and gas acquisitions, chairman Fu Chengyu said on Friday, signalling the importance for China’s state-owned oil majors to secure enough resources to satisfy growing demand by the world’s largest energy consumer.Fu, speaking at a conference in Hong Kong, said he could not give a specific timeframe for future acquisitions that would expand Sinopec’s global presence but would consider opportunities as they arise.”When we see a good a opportunity and one that can give us good shareholder value, we can do it. Right now we are looking for opportunities,” he told a media conference.Earlier this week, the energy giant signed a C$2.2 billion ($2.1 billion) deal to buy Canadian oil and gas explorer Daylight Energy Ltd . It also bought an 18 percent stake in Chevron Corp’s Indonesian deep-water project for $680 million, an official told Reuters on Tuesday.Sinopec Group is the parent of Hong Kong-listed and Shanghai-listed China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) . The group does overseas upstream oil and gas investment and operations via its wholly owned unit, Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corp (SIPC).Analysts expect more deals in coming months because of the deep pockets of China’s energy giants coupled with shriveling stock prices of foreign oil and gas companies.Fu said China’s implementation of a nationwide resource tax on domestic sales of crude oil and natural gas would not have a huge impact on the firm.”For Sinopec the effective resources tax rate is around 3.7 percent rate. The overall impact is not big,” he said.The sales of crude oil and natural gas sales nationwide would be subject for a tax of between 5-10 percent, China’s State Council, or cabinet, said on Monday.Moves to increase the threshold for the windfall tax on domestic oil and gas production was on the government’s agenda.”The government has already said it will raise the threshold,” Fu said.A plan to revamp China’s current fuel pricing scheme and a new scheme for the country’s natural gas pricing have been submitted to the State Council, China’s cabinet, for approval, an industry source with knowledge of the situation said on Wednesday.Fu said the government was looking at further reform of the refined product prices mechanism but could not say whether there will be any changes.Capped domestic fuel prices have weighed on Sinopec’s refining margins in the first half of the year due to high crude prices and the state-owned firm’s inability to pass on higher costs to customers.

The approval requires Teva to sell Cephalon’s marketing authorization of generic modafinil in France. Modafinil, marketed by Cephalon as Provigil, is used to treat certain sleeping disorders.Teva also must grant the buyer of this marketing authorization certain additional rights with respect to the entire European Economic Area, including an agreement not to sue, effective as of October next year.Teva in late September offered concessions in a bid to ease EU regulatory concerns over its plan to buy Cephalon.The company said it plans to close the deal on October 14, now that it has obtained the last regulatory approval it needed.Last Friday, Teva won U.S. antitrust approval to buy Cephalon for nearly $7 billion.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 405,000 from the previously reported 401,000.Nonfarm employment increased 103,000 in September after gaining 57,000 the prior month, the department reported last week. While payrolls last month were lifted by the return of 45,000 Verizon Communications workers, key measures of labor market health showed some improvement.Initial claims stayed close to the 400,000 mark usually associated with some improvement in the jobs market for a third straight week.More signs of improvement in the labor market could further diminish the chances of a new recession, but much of the economy’s fortunes now depend on how Europe handles its debt crisis.A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the state-level data, but noted that claims tended to show large increases at the start of a quarter.The model used by the department to smooth out seasonal variations had expected a large increase in claims last week and since the figure came in close to expectations, there was little change in the seasonally adjusted level.Since Monday was a federal holiday, four states including California and Virginia, gave estimates. But the Labor Department official said these tended to be accurate and he did not anticipate major revisions to the data next week.The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, fell 7,000 to 408,000.The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid dropped 55,000 to 3.67 million in the week ended October 1.Economists forecast so-called continuing claims unchanged at 3.70 million.The number of Americans on emergency unemployment benefits fell 11,412 to 3.02 million in the week ended September 24, the latest week for which data is available.A total of 6.82 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during that period under all programs, down 39,203 from the prior week.