(EnergyAsia, May 27) — India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corp are competing against oil majors Shell, ExxonMobil and China’s Sinopec for a stake in Saudi Aramco’s proposed Yanbu oil refinery on the Red Sea coast. The Indian Telegraph said the 20-million-tonne-per-annum oil refinery will require an investment of $3 to $3.5 billion.  ...

(EnergyAsia, May 27) — IBP Company Limited, a downstream subsidiary of IndianOil, has reported a 28% rise in revenue to Rs136.335 billion for the financial year ending March 31 2005. It sold a record high volume of 5.74 million kilolitres of oil products compared with 5.19 million kl the previous year, said Sarthak Behuria, IBP...

(EnergyAsia, May 27) — Singapore-listed upstream company Pearl Energy Limited recently awarded the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contract for the main production facility for the Mengoepeh oil field development in the Tungkal Production Sharing Contract contract area on Sumatra island in Indonesia.   The EPCI contract was awarded to Indonesian contractor, P.T. Kelsri,...

(EnergyAsia, May 27) — Australia’s Good Shepherd Youth and Family Service and Origin Energy have launched a new interest-free loan program to enable Victorians living on low incomes to purchase energy efficient appliances at a lower than market price cost.   The ‘Better Energy Appliance Loan’ is an interest and fee free loan funded by...

(EnergyAsia, May 27) — A Liberian-registered oil tanker and a Panama-registered bulk carrier collided about 3.5 km southwest of St John’s Island along the Singapore Strait on May 25 at about 2003 hours. There was no report of casualty or oil spill, said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).   The 42,058-gross tonne...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — MayBan Securities has placed a ‘hold’ rating on Petronas Gas, the gas subsidiary of state energy company Petronas.   The company reporteda 36% rise in net profit quarter-on-quarter to RM224.7 million. (US$1=RM3.8). On a year-on-year comparison, turnover rose 3.5% while net profit improved 28.2%. Cumulative earnings per share (EPS) came to...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — China has appointed National Development Reform Commission (NDRC) Minister Ma Kai as director of a new ministerial-level office to develop national energy policy, according to a Hong Kong Standard report. The new office, which reports to the State Council, will oversee the entire energy industry covering oil, natural gas, coal and...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — Caltex Australia Limited said it will start offering unleaded gasoline with a 10%-ethanol blend at its retail outlets after concluding what it said were successful trials of sale of its new E10 fuels. Caltex general manager (marketing) Mark Burrowes said E10 unleaded will become part of its range of fuels offering...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — With oil prices stuck at near record high levels, India’s petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is encouraging private companies to team up with local authorities to cultivate the jatropha crop on a mass scale to produce biodiesel. “We currently import over 70% of our oil needs and this could go up...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — Korean oil trader SK Energy Asia Pte Ltd (SKEA) said it supports China Aviation Oil’s (CAO) latest scheme to pay off its huge debts proposed on May 12. CAO lost more than US$550 million from trading oil derivatives last year.   Earlier, SKEA had sought the Singapore High Court’s postponement of...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — US-based GlobalView Software Inc, a leader in providing fully integrated, Internet based, real-time and historical energy information solutions, said it has been selected as the technology provider to ConfirmHub, LLC, a joint venture among ICAP, Amerex Energy and Prebon Energy. “After an exhaustive search for a partner for this important initiative,...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — The Hangzhou Gas (Group) Company Limited, Shell (China) Limited, Shell China B.V. and The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) recently signed a joint venture contract to construct, operate and manage a high pressure natural gas pipeline system in China’s Hangzhou city. The new joint venture will invest $91...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — Dubai-headquartered Emirates National Oil Company Ltd (ENOC) LLC has refuted a media report that it is in talks to sell off of its holding in Dragon Oil Plc to Russian oil giant LUKOIL. Dragon Oil, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company, is listed on both the London and...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — US energy consultant ESAI believes gasoline imports into the US will become increasingly expensive.   In a research note, it said: “Approaching the annual switch from winter to summer grade gasoline, the primary cause of relatively high inventory has been the imported blendstocks needed to make summer grade gasoline. This reliance...

(EnergyAsia, May 26) — BP said yesterday’s inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline marks a major step in its continuing long-term strategy of delivering growing volumes of oil and gas from new hydrocarbon provinces around the world.   The 1770-km pipeline has the capacity to carry one million barrels of oil a day from...

(EnergAsia, May 25) — The Azerbaijani government and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) have signed a credit agreement in Baku that will see Japan allocate funds for energy projects in the Central Asian country.   According to Azerbaijani news agency Turan, JBIC will help finance the construction of a second steam-and-gas energy unit...

(EnergyAsia, May 25) — PetroChina Company Limited and Shell China Exploration and Production Company Limited have agreed to jointly develop the Changbei natural gas field which lies in Shaanxi province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Shell, the operator of the project under a Production Sharing Contract with PetroChina, recently signed drilling contracts and Letters...

(EnergyAsia, May 25) — Mitsubishi Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary, Sound Energy Solutions (SES), and US energy company ConocoPhillips have agreed to jointly develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in California’s Port of Long Beach in the US.   The proposed 5-million-ton/year terminal would be capable of supplying clean-burning vehicle-grade LNG to the local...

(EnergyAsia, May 25) — Thailand’s oil imports are expected to fall this year on weaker domestic demand after the recent cutbacks in diesel subsidies, according to the Bank of Thailand. In its recent Inflation Report, the central bank said the government’s decision to allow retail diesel prices to move closer to market prices would help...

(EnergyAsia, May 25) — Malaysia’s Shell Refining Company (SRC) Berhad said it has secured from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi a syndicated term loan facility of US$140 million to prepay in full the outstanding balance of an existing syndicated term loan facility of US$360 million. The new facility will enable Shell Malaysia’s only public-listed company to...

(EnergyAsia, May 25) — UK’s Wood Group said its Heavy Industrial Turbines business has won a six year contract with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), Thailand’s national power utility, to supply spare parts for its fleet of General Electric Frame 9E gas turbines in operation at power stations throughout the country.   The...

(EnergyAsia, May 25) — Dubai-based oil trader Tropicana Trading DMCC is investing US$4 million in new oil storage tanks to serve the fast-growing port of Cochin and the neighbouring southwestern and central regions of India. The tanks, with a total capacity of 45,000 cubic metres, are expected to become operational 15 months after the start-up...

(EnergyAsia, May25) — French engineering firm Technip said it has signed a Letter of Intent – effective May 11, 2005 – with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for the construction of a large-scale ethylene and propylene production plant at the Yansab complex in Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia.   The...

(EnergyAsia, May 25) — Indian Oil Petronas Pvt Ltd, (IPPL), an equal joint venture between Indian Oil Corp and Malaysia’s state oil and gas company Petronas, has announced plans to set up a second LPG storage terminal at Chennai port. IPPL already owns and operates a terminal at Haldia port.  The proposed new terminal is...

(EnergyAsia, May 25) — The Indian government has approved the construction of crude oil storage tanks at three locations to hold the country’s strategic petroleum reserves of five million metric tonnes. The proposed tanks at Mangalore will hold 1.5 million tonnes, Vizag one million tones and Mangalore or a nearby location 2.5 million tonnes.  ...