shingo2008

 Last week,

towels  I confessed to being a bad traveler

. This week, I confess to something much worse. I resist and resentthe demands made on me by environmental imperatives. I don "t wantto save the planet. I just want to inhabit it as comfortably aspossible for as long as I have.

 Things reached something of a crisis point a few days ago when mywife asked me to read a communique from Greenpeace. (She thought,she told me, that if I read it rather than hearing about it fromher, my unhappiness would be directed at the organization.) It saidthat Kimberly-Clark, the maker of the paper towels, facial tissueand toilet paper we buy, does not use recycled fiber and instead Sgets its virgin wood fiber clear-cut from . . . the NorthAmerican Boreal . . . one of the world "s most importantforests.  And that meant, she told me, that we would have to givethose items up and go in search of green alternatives. But we hadalready done that once before when it turned out that themanufacturer of the paper products we used to buy — Procterand Gamble — engaged in research on animals. That "s when wefound Kimberly-Clark. So it seems that the pure were not so pureafter all, and who "s to say that the next corporation won "thave an ecological skeleton in its closet, too?

 What rankled me most was the toilet paper, but when I protested, mywife smiled at me with a mixture of indulgence and contempt. Someyears ago, I beat back an attempt to eliminate paper towelsaltogether and replace them with re-washable rags. But there aretoo many battles to be fought and I find that I am losing most ofthem. I did retain the right to have a small supply of papernapkins in an out-of-the-way cupboard. (I hate cloth napkins; youalways have to worry about soiling them; paper napkins you justthrow away, which is of course the problem.) But my house is nowfull of environmentally approved lightbulbs. They are dim, ugly andexpensive, but I am told that they will last beyond my lifetime.(That "s supposed to be reassuring?) A neighbor told me today thathe is planning to stockpile incandescent bulbs in the face of aprediction that they will be phased out by 2012.

 Like this post?

Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay up to date. This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of

ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogsare designed to keep us up to date on the Sgreening of hisindustry.

 Pro Towels

 has released a new line of towels made from bamboo. They arelovely and great for any spa or water related business with a greenagenda.

 Bamboo as a woven material is popping up more and more in theindustry. I would say it feels closer to silk than cotton and isbeing used in bags, totes, shirts, the usual suspects.

 The Pro Towel Bamboo Collection advertises itself as a 35 x60 ,heavyweight, twill hemmed and looped finished towel of 100% bamboo.Colors available are Sandalwood, Ivory, Leaf Green and Pure White.

 The pitch is the same as always. Bamboo is “one of theworld’s most prolific and fastest-growing plants making itnature’s most sustainable resources” and 100%biodegradable. Pro Towel also points out they use organic (natural)bamboo so that means it is grown without any pesticides orchemicals.

 These towels are not cheap, running nearly $30 per unit (including8K stitches of embroidery) and certainly fall into the luxurycategory for promotional items. A standard towel would run closerto $18 per unit. Pro Towels also has released robes made of thesame Bamboo material.

 For more information on these towels see the

Pro Towel website at www.protowelsetc.com

 or write?

     D EAR MISS MANNERS: Mysister is hurt because her daughter ;s boyfriend did notinclude her when he asked the dad for their daughter ;shand in marriage. Her boyfriend also asked the dad to go with himto pick up the ring, and he did, and the dad said to everyone, ;We got it ; when they got backhome.    Ourson-in-law asked us to dinner when he asked to marry our daughter.Maybe ours was an unusual situation, but I thought it was nice tobe included.    Whatis the norm? My sister talked to her daughter ;s boyfriendseveral times a week before this happened. She has not talked tohim or returned his phone calls sinceFebruary.    My sisterand niece will be coming in a week, and her fiance lives in ourtown.    GENTLEREADER:  Then perhaps you will have a chance toresolve this ridiculous misunderstanding before it wrecks twofamilies and a wedding. The custom of asking fora lady ;s hand in marriage dates from long before ladieshad the vote, politically or domestically, so the mother was notofficially consulted. Among modern gentlemen who preserve thecustom, some update it to address both parents, and some donot. But it should be remembered that thisprocedure is a mere formality now, when the hand is only too likelyto have been freely given long before, often along with the otherparts. For that matter, it was something of a formality then, wheneven a draconian father was not likely to be able to stand up to adetermined daughter. So the prospectivebridegroom is guilty only of having preserved an anachronisticcustom. If you can explain to your sister that no insult wasintended and get her prospective son-in-law to do the same, youwill have done the family aservice.  A dilemma oftowels DEARMISS MANNERS: A friend lives in an apartment with two bathrooms,only one of which is easily accessible to guests and which servesas the main facility. When she entertains at dinner or a party, shereplaces the bath towel with several hand towels, but ordinarilythere is only one hand towel hanging from a towel ring. She keeps asupply of hand towels on the open shelf of a small table oppositethe wash basin.    Ona casual visit, should one use the hand towel that is obviouslyhers or a fresh one from the shelf?   GENTLEREADER:  Which one is not a matter of great moment,as they were all clearly put out for guest use. What Miss Mannersconsiders inappropriate, not to mention icky, is the guest whoemerges from the bathroom dry-handed, leaving all the towelspristine.;2008 United FeatureSyndicate

 Five thousand years of recorded history confirms that human societyendured before A/C was invented, but that doesn't mean they werehappy about it.

 Mr. Carrier, whose "Apparatus for Treating Air" waspatented in 1906, no doubt occupies a bejeweled throne in Paradise,surrounded by a host of angels and adoring cherubim. Thetemperature there is a celestial 70 degrees.

 There are, of course, a few who actually do without. There are,sadly, some who try to get by without paying the high bills thatair conditioning demands. And there are, incredibly, a few whodon't want it.

 Well, more power to ‘em (so to speak), but they shouldn'texpect a large and enthusiastic crowd at their next house party.

 It's hard not to pick a fight, though, with somebody who not onlydoesn't want to run his A/C, but doesn't want me to run mine,either.

 The sentiments on this topic by Time magazine columnist Joe Kleinwere brought to my attention the other day by local radio talk showhosts Ernie Brown and Jay McFarland, who were pretty much proposingto put the guy in a headlock and slap him senseless.

 The reason: Mr. Klein wrote a column a while back entitled"Kill Your Air Conditioner," in which he says we would bebetter and more virtuous Americans if we, as he does, lived withoutA/C.

 Actually, I have a lot of respect for Mr. Klein, a veteran nationalpolitical writer. His opinions tend to be sensible andwell-reasoned.

 Not this time.

 "[A]ir-conditioning is bad for the planet, and for nationalsecurity, and for our balance-of-payments deficit," he writes.

 "I'd like to see both [presidential] candidates call for animmediate 5 deg.F thermostat adjustment, just to get theconservation ball rolling – and because it would be a‘personal virtue' for each candidate to ask it of us,"he finishes. "And I'd like to wish you all a nice, warmersummer."

 I had the kind of summer he evidently envisions. Once. As a young,typically broke adult, I spent a blistering Austin summer living ina ragged, un-air-conditioned rent house. Every night, we would slapwet towels over ourselves to get to sleep, waking up every hour orso to soak the towels down again. I'm nostalgic about a lot ofthings, but not that.

 Mr. Klein, according to his biography, lives in Westchester County,N.Y., where the expected high temperature on Monday was 85 degrees(for those of you confined to subterranean silos, ours was expectedto reach 108). He does not say whether he intends to endure nextwinter without running the heat.

 I'm not insensible to the need for conservation. We've madevoluntary concessions at our house – sharing rides, usingDART, declining plastic bags, watching our water usage.

 Asking us to pull this particular plug, though, is asking too much.

 They'll get my A/C when they pry my cold, dead fingers off thethermostat.

apple onion chutney Publishers are updating titles and issuing new releases in aneffort to satisfy home canners and food preservers.

 This is great news for the legion of folks concerned about thequality of processed food or for home canners who simply want toreconnect with this most satisfying craft.

 And there are quite a few out there, according to Terri Spezzano ofthe UC Cooperative Extension. Her office publishes brochures oncanning, dehydrating, freezing, etc.

 "A lot of people have been calling me with questions, and I'm herefor their calls," she said about food preserving. She can bereached at 525-6800.

 Interests have shifted from "preserve because we have to" to"preserve because we like to," according to Steve Dowdney in"Putting Up: A Year-Round Guide to Canning in the SouthernTradition" (Gibbs Smith, Publisher, $19.99).

 "The art of 'putting up,' as it is still called in the South,doesn't take a chef. It doesn't take a cook, it doesn't take anyschooling, and there are as many guys as there are gals knockingout the jars," he writes.

 "Putting Up" details home canning basics and has a resourcedirectory, glossary and canning tips. Recipes are divided by monthand include green tomato chow-chow, garlic pepper jelly, greentomato chutney and sweet spreads.

 Dowdney's book was released last month.

 Coming in August is "175 Best Jams, Jellies, Marmalades & OtherSoft Spreads" (Robert Rose, $21.95), by Linda J. Amendt. As doother authors, Amendt lists the equipment needed to get started,tells how to choose ingredients and how to trouble-shoot. But it'sreally the eclectic recipes that are the stars. For example, thereare nearly two dozen recipes using peaches. Imaginativeinterpretations of other fruit include caramel apple jam, cabernetsauvignon wine jelly, candy apple jelly (featuring Red Hotcandies), pineapple rum jam and drunken spreads (Champagne jelly,margarita jelly and mimosa jelly).

 Storey Publishing is riding this "eat local" movement with a halfdozen books. All have been updated to meet stricter USDA guidelinesthat call for the cooked food to be packed into sterilized hot jarsand then "processed" -- or submerged in boiling water -- for acertain amount of time.

 "The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest," by Carol W. Costenbader,begins with how to choose ingredients and handle produce.Illustrated step-by-step directions on canning, drying, picklingand freezing and ample illustrat- ions on techniques make themethods foolproof. At-a-glance charts and illustrated tips provideimportant information.

 Each section also contains more than two dozen recipes, each withnutritional information, that reflect a modern and internationalpalate. There's herbes de Provence, Southwestern spice mix, Asianseasoning blend, corn relish, onion relish, basil-shallot mustard,beef and turkey jerky, tomato leather, and favorite jams andjellies.

 Originally released in 1997, Costenbaders book is $18.95.

 Pick a common fruit, vegetable or herb, and Janet Chadwick willprovide step-by-step instructions for freezing, canning, drying andan alternative method for storing.

 "The Busy Person's Guide to Preserving Food" ($14.95) answers thatage-old question of what to do with all those tomatoes ripening athyperspeed in the garden. Cold storage is the fastest method,followed by freezing tomatoes whole, peeled or unpeeled or as astrained purée or juice; canning as tomato purée or rawpacked whole; drying as slices.

 Chadwick explains the technique and evaluates it for suitability,ease, quickness and results. She also offers ideas on how to makekitchen work space more efficient and how to avoid common mistakesin canning and pickling. Completing this book are reference chartsfor determining yields, blanching times and recipes for pickles,relishes, sauerkraut, jams, jellies and vinegars.

apple onion chutney It is set in a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the early '60s.Lucky Strike and Belle Jolie were big accounts. Cigarette smokesoftened every scene and alcohol lubricated -- or exacerbated --almost every situation. Nixon and Kennedy were debating andstay-at-home wives saw their role as raising children and keepingtheir husbands happy. And that included having dinner on the tableevery night when he walked in the door. Did I mention it was 1960?

 Red meat and seafood dominated the menus. The children were fedfish sticks and put to bed before the adults dined. I am guessingthat somewhere in those kitchens, with their InternationalHarvester appliances, were newly published editions of "BetterHomes and Gardens," "Betty Crocker" and "Joy of Cooking" cookbooks.

 Had I been able to devote uninterrupted attention to the shows, Imight have noted dozens of familiar food references. I listed 10 orso, but some industrious viewers came up with plenty more online atforums.television withoutpity.com. It's worth checking out for the'50s and '60s nostalgia alone.

 I paid more attention to the food in the second season's firstepisode, which opens with "The Twist" and takes place onValentine's Day 1962. Jackie Kennedy talks about state dinnersduring her televised White House tour and elaborate heart-shapedboxes of chocolates make an appearance, as does a large plate ofdeli sandwiches at a copywriters' meeting. (No one eats until theboss shows up.) BLT sandwiches, shrimp cocktails, avocados stuffedwith crabmeat and petite filet also get a mention. Wonder Breadmakes a cameo appearance and the ad men are mad for accounts likePepsi, "for those who think young," and Frosted Flakes. Instead,they have landed the Martinson's coffee account.

 I wouldn't be surprised if this season spawned "Mad Men" partieswith the foods people remember from the early '60s.

 See if any of these menu items bring back memories, and if you areso inclined, share yours at the e-mail address above. Enjoy!

 HORS D'OEUVRES

 (To go with all those Manhattans, Rob Roys, scotches on the rocks,gin and tonics, Harvey Wallbangers and Jack Daniels:

 Deviled eggs.

 Shrimp cocktail.

 Angels on horseback (oysters on toast).

 Anything wrapped in bacon, especially rumaki (chicken livers andwater chestnuts) or scallops.

 Anything wrapped in dough and baked, especially pigs in blankets,made with cocktail wieners or Vienna sausage.

 Anything in a chafing dish (especially those tiny meatballs cookedin chili sauce or ketchup and grape jelly, or cocktail wieners inFrench's mustard and red currant jelly).

 Cheese fondue.

 Bologna wedges (bologna stacked with softened cream cheese, onions,chives and mustard, cut into wedges and decorated with olives).

 Canapes (peanut butter and bacon, chutney and bacon, minced clamsand cheese, caviar, tomato and shrimp, deviled ham, anchovy orsardine, smoked turkey or goose liver pate, hot crabmeat puffs).

 Spreads (cream cheese and chives, cheese-olive-anchovy,horseradish-onion-chives-deviled ham-whipped cream, Roquefort,herring-apple); cheese balls.

 Cheddar cheese or Cheez Whiz on Ritz crackers.

apple onion chutney 100 mL cooking oil

100g onion

20g garlic

100 mL white wine

2 litres crushed, peeled tomatoes

100 mL balsamic vinegar

50g brown sugar

150g bush tomato (dried)*

 Saute onion and garlic until onion becomes transparent, deglaze panwith wine and reduce liquid by about half. Add crushed tomatoes.Turn heat down and cook gently for two hours with lid off. Addbalsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Blitz in a blender or foodprocessor then add bush tomato. Season with salt and pepper. Thiswill make about two litres of nap which can be stored in the fridgeor frozen. Ingredients can be reduced proportionately to make lesssauce.

Sachets of dried bush tomato and other native foods can beordered online from A Taste of the Bush, www.atasteofthebush.com.au

Know your bush tucker

 Quandong

 Sometimes called the desert peach. Very high in Vitamin C.Seabelle's kitchen recommends using quandongs with duck and in jamsand brulees.

  Muntharry berry

 Also called muntries. Allegedly has an apple flavour. Seabelle'skitchen recommends muntharry berries with pork and in fruitcompotes.

  Pepperberry

 From an endemic Tasmanian shrub. Apparently the heat dissipateswhen they're cooked. Seabelle's kitchen recommends pepperberries insauces, aioli and ice-cream.

  Bush tomato

 Also called akudjura. Found in dry and desert areas in many partsof Australia. Has a very strong flavour so go gently. Seabelle'skitchen recommends bush tomato in soups and casseroles, chutney orjam, with red meat and seafood. Also makes a fine bloody Mary.

  Lemon aspen

 Has a sharp citrus flavour. Grows along the east coast fromVictoria to Queensland. Seabelle's kitchen recommends lemon aspenanywhere a lemon might be needed, but particularly with seafood andin butter sauces, cheesecake and pannacotta.

  Rosella

 A member of the hibiscus family. Seabelle's kitchen recommendsrosella in vinaigrettes, jams, sorbets and cocktails or as agarnish.

  Bunya nut

 Has a sweet taste and is high in protein. Seabelle's kitchenrecommends bunya nuts in pesto.

  Wattle seed

 From the Acacia victoriae, a shrub that grows all over Australia.The seed is used dried and ground. Said to have a nutty,coffee-like flavour.

  Seabelle's kitchen recommends wattle seed in ice-cream and bakedgoods, from breads to cakes. For more information:

www.kingfisherbay.com

Wow! Queensland is published by Fairfax Media in conjunction withTourism Queensland. All journalists travelled as guests of TourismQueensland, Virgin Blue and the Queensland tourism industry.Details correct at time of publication and may be subject tochange.

apple onion chutney After eating at Kings Restaurant there really is only one questionto ask: where have its owners been for the past few years? Theycertainly haven't been following the developments on the UK's muchimproved restaurant scene.

 Dining at Kings is like taking a step back in time, and not in agood way. The restaurant's menu features some of the most tragicdishes I've witnessed in a long time: Spanish omelette, porkescalope with a bacon and mushroom sauce and, lord help us, savourypancakes with a chicken and leek filling. I felt as if I was thehapless victim on Beadle's About, not least because the food feelsof the same era.

 Owned and run by Greg Symonds, his dad Bill and brother-in-lawJames McKenna, there are too many ideas going on here without anysemblance of cohesion. There's the usual homily to localingredients with a list of suppliers' names, but when practicallyevery dish comes with a highfalutin sauce or three, diluting thevery ingredients they're shouting about, it becomes a bit of aredundant boast. There are far too many menus - a lunchtimesandwich menu, ?la carte, two-for-one and three-course specials -with meals ranging from scallops with tomato compote to mince anddumplings. Who is their market? The fine-dining brigade or thosewho are struggling to keep their own teeth? They may be trying tocover all bases but this smacks of indecision and desperation.

 Our starters summed up what Kings is about. My haggis (£4.95)was perfectly good, but the plate was a mess; the whole thing wasawash with a damp mix of watery red onion marmalade mixed with acreamy Glayva sauce, the whiskey liqueur adding yet another layerof sweetness. There was no balance, no texture and no effort inpresentation. A dish of rich and spicy black pudding, a crisp pieceof bacon and a perfectly cooked poached egg (£4.95) wasaccompanied by a tomato salsa (described as tomato chutney) with astraight-from-the-jar taste. It not only destroyed the integrity ofthe dish but it was completely unnecessary.

 The dining room, an uplifting egg-yolk yellow with black and whiteprints of our kings and queens, has a wall of windows. However, Ican't tell you what the view was like as we were placed around thecorner along with a handful of other diners. I assumed the windowseats had been reserved. Wrong again. They sat vacant all evening,making the room appear more empty that it actually was.

 Craning our necks to grab someone's attention, we'd been welllooked after up to this point, with charming and friendly service,but the wait between courses was far too long without the excuse ofa really busy kitchen to fall back on. Eventually our main coursesarrived, with an apology from our waitress. Apparently we werewaiting for the duck (£14.95) with black cherry sauce.Personally, if it had arrived ten minutes earlier it would stillhave been overcooked, but it was actually a game old bird and fullof flavour. The sauce, despite my terror of a Black Forest gateauxincarnation, fell between that sweet and slightly sour savouryovertone. The sweet potato rosti was soggy and not thick enough, soit ended up burnt at the edges. The accompanying veggies were verypoor: carrots and broccoli that barely tasted of what they weresupposed to, with neither seasoning nor a hint of butter toalleviate their or my misery.

 My friend's sticky sausage casserole (£9) was far too sweet. Amix of beetroot, apple and red onion, the sauce was weirdlygelatinous, with the sausages lost in the chaos.

 The pudding (£4.25) was no better: an unwieldy puff pastrycase with the proportions of a small country, housing what wasdescribed as a rhubarb and cre fraiche mix but was just rhubarbplonked beneath whipped cream. This had bulk but no substance.

 From the window box stuffed with nothing but fag ends to theschizophrenic menus, Kings lacks direction, confidence and flair.It's a good spot, but whether the owners have the balls to shakethe kitchen up and ditch the 1970s pancakes is another matter.Perhaps a good start would be to invest in a few bedding plants andtake it from there.

 Shotley Bridge, Consett, Mon 5pm to 9.30pm, Wed to Sat noon to 2pmand 5pm to 9.30pm, Sun noon to 4pm. Tel: 01207 590666.www.kingsrestaurant.co.uk

Steel More News

Sports Headlines

Bowling: Zandra keeps top 12 hopes alive

Calveen and Farah live up to their top billings

Squash: Azlan checks into the semis in Cairo

Qabil holds his nerves to book spot in World Cup

Champs Johor bounce back to share points with soldiers

Robbies Keane to join Liverpools No. 7 club

Kedah caught in a fix due to FAM ruling

Smith says Rangers must improve to move up

Gomes emphasises Spurs growing ambition

Gareth Barry can still join Liverpool, says Villa boss ONeill

Trezeguets goal gives Juve win over Gunners

Ferdinand expects Rooney to star this season

Wenger: Adebayor will beat boo-boys

Man Uniteds Campbell ready for Premier League action

Van Nistelrooy: Ronaldo talk bad for team

Stuttgart turn down record bid for Gomez

Drogba ready to pen new deal with Chelsea

Openings are pure kitsch

Kenyas Jelimo poised to complete meteoric rise in the 800m

Evans gets wild card to compete in time trial

The Cheng bids for three perfect landings

Boost for Holland as they win Olympic warm-up event

US show of strength

Thunder, rain forecast for Fridays launch

China fans hail Messi and Ronaldinho

Laid-back archers

Rexy: Malaysian mens pairs have ways to counter Danes

Tan Fook-Wan Wah want to win first title on Chinese soil

Xingfang just wants to cook for Lin Dan after Games

Djokovic snaps Nadals hot streak to show hes still a force

Restless Roddick prays injuries are history

Fighter Safina sets up epic final date with Cibulkova

Heikki claims first win after Massas late misfortune

Captain seals series for South Africa

Fijian Vijay in three-way tie for the lead

McLachlin closes in on first major title

Go

Steel Brooks & Blair will formally submit plans and requirements forfinal approval to the borough in the "very near future," saidDaniel J. Mancosh, one of the company's owners.

Kacin Vice President Bruce Corna said the company is working on afinal plan.

There are two adjacent parcels on the site. Brooks & Blair plans tobuild a residential and retail development on 28 acres. Kacinintends to build an upscale residential community with retail andoffice space on an adjoining 34 acres.

The site is located near the College Avenue and Allegheny Avenue inOakmont.

Gallagher said the bulk of the plans' review was taken care of inthe tentative plan process. In the final approval, the plan will bereviewed for consistency. First the planning commission will reviewplans, then make a recommendation to the borough council. Onlycouncil can give final approval.

Council tentatively approved applications for the developers inSeptember, provided certain conditions were met.

Mancosh, of Brooks & Blair, said the company has been working outsome of the matters that were noted in the tentative approval andrequired further clarification. Essentially, he said, nearly all ofthose issues have been dealt with.

Mancosh said the company wants to begin construction early nextyear.

In April, Kacin was awarded a $7.7 PENNVEST low-interest loan toclean up contaminated soil on the property. The total cost of theproject is $14.8 million, state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park,said in April.

Corna said the loan is for infrastructure. Work cannot begin untilthe borough's final approval, he said.

Mancosh said Brooks & Blair is investigating the possibility ofseeking a PENNVEST loan. He said the company has had meetings withPENNVEST.

Both developers filed lawsuits against Oakmont over issues with theborough's tentative approval of their proposed projects.

Gallagher said those suits are in the process of being resolved.The legal action will have to be resolved before a final approval.

Steel According to the public relations department of Esfahan Steel Mill,on Sunday, 3 August, a board of 13 senior experts from the RussianMMK Company visited Esfahan Steel Mill for the technical evaluationof this mill based on their interest in buying its shares and theapproval of the organization for the privatisation of this mill.MrBahram Sobhani, the managing director of Esfahan Steel Mill saidthat the production capacity of this factory has increased to 2.2mtonnes. He talked about the various development projects of thisfactory and he said that one of its major advantage is its lack ofreliance on gas and electricity energy.

The head of this visiting Russian board said that the reason behindthis visit is to carry out a technical evaluation and prepare areport for the authorities to decide on buying this factory'sshares.

He added that so far their evaluation has been positive and theybelieved that Esfahan Steel Mill has professional experts.

Originally published by Islamic Republic News Agency, Tehran, inPersian 0728 3 Aug 08.

 (c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuestInformation and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Story Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

MANILA, Philippines--Despite having a new investor that is willingto infuse more cash into the company, Petron Corp. may have to stepon the brakes when it comes to new investments due to high steelprices.

Petron chairman and chief executive Nicasio Alcantara said the oilfirm still needed $1.5 billion to bankroll the second phase of itsRefinery Master Plan, which involves the construction of a secondPetro Fluidized Catalytic Cracker (PetroFCC) unit that should comeon stream by 2014.

Steel prices, which had doubled since the company made itsinvestment estimates, were putting pressure on Petron to decelerateits investment program.

"What will likely happen is that we'll be pursuing some projectsahead of others. We have to break it up and pursue the projectsthat will give the highest yields ahead of the others," he said ina briefing.

In an earlier interview, Ashmore Group representative and Petronboard member Craig Webster said Ashmore was willing to pour morecash into the oil firm to enable it to provide better value toshareholders.

"What we want from our investments is for our business to grow andfor our shareholders to benefit. If additional capital is needed todo that, then we'll invest more capital," he said, withoutelaborating on how much Ashmore was willing to shell out and whatprojects it planned to focus on.

Petron this year began producing the petrochemical feedstockpropylene at its Bataan refinery with the start of operations ofits Propylene Recovery Unit (PRU), following the commissioning ofits PetroFCC in mid-February.

From the PetroFCC, the propylene stream is purified in the PRU toproduce petrochemical-grade propylene.

The PetroFCC will not only produce 140,000 metric tons of thepetrochemical propylene, but also allow Petron to convert moreblack products--such as industrial fuel oil--into higher-valuewhite products such as liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, dieseland kerosene.