(EnergyAsia, March 26 2010, Friday) — There will be a slowdown in global refining investments from 2015 to 2025 due to poor margins, weak demand from developed countries and rising conservation efforts, according to US consulting firm Purvin & Gertz. According to the firm’s latest edition of the Global Petroleum Market Outlook 2010, refiners around...
(EnergyAsia, March 26 2010, Friday) — The Qatar government will likely post a fiscal surplus of 7.4% of GDP by financial year 2012, or more than triple than the estimated surplus of 2% of GDP for the current year. According to a study by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMBA), Qatar’s economy will register strong...
(EnergyAsia, March 26 2010, Friday) — UK’s BG Group said it has signed a liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales contract with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), concluding negotiations announced in May 2009 for the supply of 3.6 million tonnes per year (mt/y) of LNG over a 20-year period. CNOOC will be supplied with...
(EnergyAsia, March 25 2010, Thursday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) is forecasting world oil demand to reach a record 86.6 million b/d this year, beating the previous high of 86.5 million b/d set in 2007 before the global economic meltdown. In its March report, the Paris-based agency raised its growth forecast for 2010 global...
(EnergyAsia, March 25 2010, Thursday) — ITT Industrial Process, a fluid control and monitoring company of US-based ITT Corporation, said that Viet-Tech JSC will represent ITT C’treat offshore products and services in the Vietnamese market. With estimated reserves of two billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, Vietnam has...
(EnergyAsia, March 25 2010, Thursday) — Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd, has received a S$130 million contract for pre-conversion works on the very large crude carrier (VLCC) MT Suva, to be renamed FPSO P62 for Petrobras Netherlands BV, a subsidiary of the Brazilian oil and gas giant. (US$1=S$1.4) The...
(EnergyAsia, March 24 2010, Thursday) — India’s Pune-based wind turbine experts Suzlon Energy Ltd said it has secured an order from Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) to set-up, operate and maintain a 52.5 megawatt (MW) wind farm in the Rajkot and Porbander districts of Gujarat state. Scheduled for commissioning in July 2010, the project involves...
(Energy Asia, March 25 2010, Thursday) — Indian conglomerate Essar Group said its Delaware, US subsidiary Essar Minerals has agreed to acquire West Virginia, US-based Trinity Coal from global private equity firm Denham Capital for $600 million. One of the top 10 US coal producers, Trinity owns and operates six mining complexes in the states...
(EnergyAsia, March 25 2010, Thursday) — Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), India’s third-largest state-owned refiner, is seeking storage tanks to hold more than two million barrels of crude oil in the south. K. Murli, HPCL’s head of refining, said the terminal would make it easier for the company to pump crude from the shore to...
(EnergyAsia, March 25 2010, Thursday) — Sinopec Corp, China’s second largest oil company, has begun building a large oil storage facility near its Maoming refinery in southern Guangdong province. Comprising 15 tanks each with the capacity to hold 125,00 cubic metres of fuel, the terminal is expected to start up in the second half of...
(EnergyAsia, March 25 2010, Thursday) — Australia’s Arrow Energy has accepted a 5.6%-improved takeover bid by a Royal Dutch Shell Plc-PetroChina Co consortium that values the Brisbane-based coal-seam gas company at A$4.70 a share for a total of A$3.5 billion. (US$1=$1.1). The deal price represented a 35% premium over Arrow Energy’s share price on the...
(EnergyAsia, March 24 2010, Thursday) — Singapore-listed Falcon Energy Group Ltd (FEG) has reported making a net profit after tax and minority interest of US$28.1 million for the year ended December 31 2009, up slightly from US$27.6 million for the previous year. Group turnover increased 51% to US$89.2 million from US$59.1 million achieved during fiscal...
(EnergyAsia, March 24 2010, Wednesday) — This article was written by Fawzia Sheikh for OilPrice.com. Nigeria’s controversial oil industry bill is expected to eventually pass but the government may find it tough to later shift gears as international oil firms targeted under the legislation scale back their investments. The Nigerian parliament is debating the Petroleum...
(EnergyAsia, March 24 2010, Wednesday) — Lawmakers in China are calling for further increases in the country’s stockpile of crude oil and oil products. Chen Geng, a senior member of the National People’s Congress, said that the state’s current crude reserves were far lower than what was sufficient for the country. He said the country...
(EnergyAsia, March 24, 2010, Wednesday) — The Chinese government has granted five companies licences to operate in its controlled domestic wholesale fuel and storage markets. The move is part of a long term plan to open up the domesticl fuel distribution market. In a recent notice posted on its website, the Commerce Ministry said the...
(EnergyAsia, March 24 2010, Wednesday) — The merger of Western Australia state’s two biggest independent oil terminals has raised fears that competitors will be locked out and downstream users will have to pay more for storage. Coogee Chemicals, controlled by Gordon Martin, has acquired Gull Petroleum’s Kwinana facilities for A$40 million, but the deal has...
(EnergyAsia, March 24 2010, Wednesday) — Queensland state has laid claim to being the first to host Australia’s first plant to convert coal seam gas (CSG) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a commercial scale under a new deal announced by Premier Anna Bligh. Gas company BOC and CSG exporter QGC have signed an agreement...
(EnergyAsia, March 24 2010, Wednesday) — Australia’s AGL Energy Limited said it has agreed to build the 52.5MW Hallett 5 wind farm at the Bluff Range in the mid-north of South Australia state. Construction will begin in July with completion anticipated in December 2011. It will create more than 120 jobs for the region during...
(EnergyAsia, March 23 2010, Tuesday) — Exxon Mobil Corporation has announced that sales and purchase agreements with liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyers and financing arrangements with lenders are now complete and its affiliate, Esso Highlands Limited, is proceeding with full execution of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) LNG project. Deliveries are expected to begin in...
(EnergyAsia, March 23 2010, Tuesday) — The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Ltd (DME), a leading international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, said it recently achieved two records with the number of new total open interest contracts for its Dubai Oman crude futures reaching 19,867 in February 2010, and physical delivery hitting a...
(EnergyAsia, March 23 2010, Tuesday) — The Yemeni government’s growing conflict with militia linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist group could result in retaliatory attacks on vital energy facilities and vessel traffic along the country’s coastline, analysts said. As the impoverished Arab nation relies heavily on revenues from energy operations of foreign companies, any disruption...
(EnergyAsia, March 23 2010, Tuesday) — Vietnam’s new oil refinery Dung Quat remains under close watch following its two recent unscheduled shut downs since its start-up early last year. The refinery, the country’s first, was shut down in January following a mechanical failure. It resumed operation a few weeks later after the valve in the...
(EnergyAsia, March 23 2010, Tuesday) — Thai state energy firm PTT said it is still considering merging three subsidiaries to cut costs and boost efficiency. PTT president and CEO Prasert Bunsumpun said that it could initially merge two of its three major subsidiaries, PTT Chemical, PTT Aromatics and Refining, and IRPC, and complete the third...
(EnergyAsia, March 23 2010, Tuesday) — Origin Energy Limited, Australia’s leading integrated energy company, said it has raise its stake in an offshore natural gas project, and separately, will proceed to develop a coal seam gas (CSM) project in Queensland state. Origin said it now owns 67% of the Otway gas project following completion of...
(EnergyAsia, March 22 2010, Monday) — Commodities broker Newedge is putting the brakes on the increasingly popular idea that US oil demand and, consequently, OECD demand peaked in 2007. Analyst Antoine Halff reminded analysts that they had before prematurely announced the death of US oil demand growth following the two oil shocks of the 1970s...