(EnergyAsia, May 25, Friday) — China’s Ministry of Commerce said it has awarded Sichuan Ludi Oil Sales Co Ltd and Wuhu Erhuan Oil Co Ltd licences to operate oil product storage business. The two CNOOC subsidiaries will also be allowed to trade oil products on the domestic wholesale market. In a statement, the ministry...
(EnergyAsia, May 25, Friday) — Shanghai’s municipal authorities have announced plans to build a tank farm to store up to 30,000 tons of refined oil products for its emergency use. Shanghai Fuel Co, a Bailian Group subsidiary, will build the facility inside the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, located about 50 km southwest of the...
(EnergyAsia, May 25, Friday) — China expects to fill up its second strategic oil storage facility at Zhejiang province’s Aoshan island by end May. Despite high oil prices, the government had poured two million barrels of Middle East crude into the first facility of the 33-million-barrel terminal earlier this month. Earlier, it had also...
(EnergyAsia, May 25, Friday) — Concerns over greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired electricity plants will see a rebirth of nuclear energy in North America and continue to drive the price of uranium to record highs, said Canada’s CIBC World Markets. In a recent report, CIBC said that environmental opposition has already forced TXU, the...
(EnergyAsia, May 25, Friday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) said it has been selected by state Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to lead in a national fast breeder reactor (FBR) development initiative being promoted by the Japanese government. Seeking to accelerate development of a world-leading FBR, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — Finland’s W’rtsil’ Land & Sea Academy (WLSA) said it has taken another major step forward in the development of its training services by opening a new training centre in Jisa, near Pusan in South Korea. The new training centre supports the growing use of W’rtsil’ engines and propulsion equipment in...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — Several Japanese companies are aiming to work with Chinese firms on using new energy-savings technologies. The Japanese firms recently presented a range of projects that would help them tap into China’s vast market for energy-savings and related technologies. The companies are looking at 16 projects in fields such as upgrading...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — Hong Kong-listed CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd will become China’s fourth-largest oil producer once it completes its proposed US$1.035 billion acquisition of the Kazakhstan oil assets of its parent, CITIC Group. Citic Resources has conditionally agreed to acquire from CITIC Group the shares in several companies engaged in the exploration,...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has chosen SunGard’s Kiodex to help it better manage earnings volatility due to changes in fuel prices. Kiodex Risk Workbench provides consumers of energy, such as airlines, with a business process to help manage energy-price risk, design financial strategies and comply with best practice financial reporting and...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) – As prices and world demand for crude oil continue to rise, the North American oil sands market is “poised for remarkable growth,” said consultants Frost & Sullivan. Recent technological developments have considerably reduced the extraction and upgrading costs of bitumen. This, along with high crude oil prices, has made oil...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — The Russian government is considering plans to build an oil refinery and storage terminal in the Philippines, said the Russian ambassador in Manila. Speaking to foreign correspondents, Vitaly Vorobiev said the project could position Russia as a vital oil supplier to Southeast Asia. The region can only benefit as an...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — Barring any severe economic shocks, Asian oil refiners can expect to continue to enjoy strong margins for at least the rest of the decade, and probably beyond. Delays to the construction of many proposed plants and expansions, especially in the Middle East, will also help the operations of existing refineries,...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — Japane’s Marubeni Corp said it and Norway’s Fred. Olsen Production ASA have formed a strategic alliance for identifying and executing floating production storage (FPSO) projects in Asia, in particular in Vietnam, China, Thailand and Cambodia. FPSOs are used for developing offshore oil fields located in deepwater marginal areas. FPSOs...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — The Chinese government will license 15 private companies to import crude oil this year, breaking the stranglehold on this lucrative trade held by five state firms. The move is aimed at increasing competition and boosting the country’s energy security. The five state companies to face greater competition are China National...
(EnergyAsia, May 24, Thursday) — Japan’s Nippon Oil and trading house Mitsui & Co expect to reap significant benefits from new energy alliances with China’s oil companies. Nippon Oil signed a cooperation deal with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to work on joint overseas oil and gas developments. The deal could cover projects in the...
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — US state agency Energy Information Administration has predicted world marketed energy consumption to grow by 57% between 2004 and 2030. In its International Energy Outlook 2007, the EIA said that the most rapid growth in energy demand will take place in nations outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development...
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — Iran’s government has assured India that it remains committed to building the controversial Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) natural gas pipeline project. The assurances came even though a 2005 deal for five million tonnes/year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India still remains to be implemented as the two countries are in dispute...
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — Oil storage levels in industrialised countries have fallen sharply in the first quarter of the year and may drop further in the coming months, the International Energy Agency said. The oil watchdog, which represents the world’s leading 26 industrialised countries, has forecast the world to consume around 85.8 million...
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — Jurong Shipyard, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore’s SembCorp Marine, has secured two conversion contracts worth a total of US$88 million. The first contract involves the conversion of the 188,697 dwt tanker, the ST Polar Alaska, into a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for Norway’s Aker Contracting FP AS....
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — China should dedicate a large part of its $1.2 trillion foreign exchange reserves to building up its stockpile of gold, oil and strategic metals, a Chinese central banker urged. Xiang Junbo, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said diversifying out of buying low-risk foreign bonds, mostly...
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is planning to add some 1,600 retail stations during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. Over the last three years, India’s largest downstream company opened over 3,800 new outlets. IOC owns about half the country’s 32,000 retail outlets....
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — Chinese oil companies and businesses in Africa realise they are no longer immune from Africa’s violence and troubled political reality following the killing of nine Chinese and 65 Ethiopian workers in an attack on an oil facility. The raid was launched by the Ogaden National Front, a separatist group...
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — Australian upstream company Santos has announced an off-market buy-back tender for approximately A$300 million of ordinary shares. (US$1=A$1.26). “This initiative reflects our solid balance sheet and cashflow position, combined with the board’s view that the company’s shares are being undervalued by the market,” said managing director and CEO John...
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — China has told its state planners and enterprises to make every effort to cut back on emissions and improve on energy conservation and environment protection measures. In a speech, Premier Wen Jiabao said the government has set the 2006-2010 period as a vital phase in its attempt to reduce greenhouse...
(EnergyAsia, May 23, Wednesday) — Korea will aim to complete the construction of its largest photovoltaic plant in SinAn city, southwest of Seoul, by year end. Leading construction company Dongyang Engineering & Construction Corporation has commissioned Germany’s SunTechnics, a subsidiary of the TecDax listed Conergy AG with the planning and implementation of the Û90...