BUSINESS IN ASIA TODAY - FEB 1, 2001.

Business in Asia on Feb 1, 2001. A summary prepared by Asia Pulse (http://www.asiapulse.com), the real-time, Asia-based wire with exclusive news, market intelligence and business opportunities:

DROPPING DREAMCAST TO GENERATE LOSS OF US$687 MLN FOR SEGA

TOKYO - Sega Corp. (TSE:7964) announced that it will stop manufacturing the Dreamcast game console in the current business year ending March 2001. The decision will generate an extraordinary loss of 80 billion yen (US$687 million) incurred from offloading 2 million consoles. The loss will be matched by an extraordinary profit of 85 billion yen as Chairman and President Isao Ohkawa plans to donate that amount in personal assets, mostly securities, to take responsibility for Sega's flagging performance. The firm expects to post a consolidated net loss of 58.3 billion yen, more than double the previous forecast of 23.6 billion yen.

AUSTRALIA'S CSR SELLS STAKE IN REFINERY TO ALCAN SUBSIDIARY

SYDNEY - CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) has sold its stake in the Gove alumina refinery and bauxite mine in the Northern Territory to a subsidiary of Canada's Alcan Aluminium. "After final adjustments, including a one-off pre-completion dividend, CSR expects to receive in excess of $US275 million," the company said in a statement. The deal was announced on December 21 after Alcan, a major shareholder in the venture, was given the right to pre-empt an offer for CSR's stake made in July by British mining giant Billiton Plc. The divestment is part of CSR's strategy to focus on its building materials operations.

VIETNAM TAPS OVER 1 MLN TONNES OF CRUDE OIL IN JANUARY

HANOI - The Vietnam-Russia petroleum joint venture enterprise, VietsovPetro, has tapped 1,095 million tonnes of crude oil and brought ashore 145.38 million cu.m of gas in January. The company has pumped more than 38,000 tonnes of crude and between 4.8 and 4.9 million cu.m of associated gas from 150 wells in Bach Ho (White Tiger) and Rong (Dragon) oil fields a day. VietsovPetro has ensured the supply of enough oil and gas to fuel the Ba Ria and Phu My power plants and Dinh Co liquefied gas plant in Ba Ria-Vung Tau coastal province.