11.   The Indonesian government is preparing to offer a tax holiday for investors in refinery projects, especially outside the main island of Java, a senior official said Wednesday.

12.   Hassan said the corporation will raise funds overseas again this year through Yankee bonds to fund a refinery project in the southwestern state of Malacca.

13.   He warned that planned regional refinery projects risked being uneconomical given the market conditions, but they are not alone in feeling the pinch.

14.   It also approved two joint venture oil refinery projects, officials said.

15.   Besides the refinery project, Germany and Brunei also signed an investment promotion and protection accord.

16.   The refinery project with technological help from Germany is expected to put Brunei on the map as an exporter of value-added petroleum products.

17.   Kuwait is studying other joint-venture refinery projects with Thailand, China and Pakistan.

18.   Rabin particularly requested active investment in a joint Israel-Egypt oil refinery project and construction of a natural gas pipeline between Qatar and Israel.

19.   The Belarus leader is scheduled to leave Moscow late Thursday for Siberia, to visit a joint Russia-Belarus refinery project in the Tyumen region.