(EnergyAsia, March 8 2011, Tuesday) — Australia has lost an estimated A$7 billion worth of coal and farm export revenues from the recent massive floods and cyclone that hit the eastern and central parts of the country, said Deputy Prime Minister and financial minister Wayne Swan. (US$1=A$0.99). In turn, the reduced exports could trigger a...
(EnergyAsia, March 8 2011, Tuesday) — India’s state-owned miner Coal India Limited (CIL) is looking to buy a stake in US-based Peabody Energy Corp’s assets in Australia. CIL chairman Partha S. Bhattacharyya said it may offer Peabody US$100 million for a 15% stake in its Australian assets. Mr Bhattacharyya said CIL has allocated 60 billion...
(EnergyAsia, March 8 2011, Tuesday) — China’s coal deficit widened sharply in 2010 as its imports rose 31% while exports fell more than 15%, according to the state planning agency National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). To meet its surging domestic demand, China’s coal imports rose to a record 164.83 million tons while its exports...
(EnergyAsia, March 8 2011, Tuesday) — Follow us on www.Twitter.com/EnergyContents. Derrick Services Ltd (DSL), a UK-based oil and gas industry construction firm, said it has appointed Ryan Moore as regional manager of its newly established offices in Southeast Asia. DSL supports drilling contractors and operators worldwide by providing a range of services covering derrick inspection, (more…)
(EnergyAsia, March 8 2011, Tuesday) — South African petrochemicals group Sasol Ltd appears to be retreating from its ambitious plans to build large coal-to-fuels (CTF) projects in Asia. The company is postponing work on a 94,000 b/d CTF plant in China, shortly after walking away from plans to build a 80,000 b/d plant in Indonesia....
(EnergyAsia, March 8 2011, Tuesday) — www.Twitter.com/EnergyContents Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) said it and ExxonMobil Chemical affiliates have advanced their proposed elastomers project joint venture into the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase. SABIC and ExxonMobil have selected the Saudi Arabian industrial city of Jubail as the site for the new manufacturing units following (more…)
(EnergyAsia, March 7 2011, Monday) — The following is an edited version of the minister’s speech delivered at the 6th LNGA 2011 conference entitled “Current and Future LNG Markets: Surplus, Deficit or Balance, and When?” The political uncertainty in Egypt, Tunisia and other parts of the Middle East has pushed crude oil prices well past...
(EnergyAsia, March 7 2011, Monday) — The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing loans to Vietnam for the construction of its Nghi Son Coal-fired Power Plant II project under the agency’s energy building programme. JICA has also agreed to provide the Vietnamese government loans for poverty reduction and the construction of a bridge. The (more…)
(EnergyAsia, March 7 2011, Monday) — US business and security leaders are expected to meet their Chinese counterparts sometime this month to discuss and expand cooperation energy issues, according to retired Navy Admiral and former director of national intelligence Dennis Blair. The meetings between the members of the private-sector Energy Security Leadership Council and Chinese...
(EnergyAsia, March7 2011, Monday) — Most of Queensland state’s coal mines in Australia are either operating partially or not at all after being hit by massive floods between last October and February, the worst in over a century. According to the Queensland Resources Council, only 15% of the state’s coal mines were operating at capacity...
(EnergyAsia, March 7 2011, Monday) — SinoCoking Coal and Coke Chemical Industries Inc, a Nasdaq-listed vertically-integrated coal and coke processor, has reported a net loss of US$6,989,723 for the quarter ended December 31 2010, down sharply from a net income of US$4,736,299 for the same period in 2009. The loss, due largely to the rising...
(EnergyAsia, March 7 2011, Monday) — Despite the loss of production from the recent floods in Queensland state, Australia’s metallurgical coal export earnings are forecast to increase by 39% to A$34 billion for the current fiscal year to June 30 2011, said the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. (US$1=A$0.99). Metallurgical coal export volumes are...
(EnergyAsia, March 4 2011, Friday) — Afghanistan’s unstable political situation has not stopped its economy growing at a rapid 8% clip although it must watch out for runaway inflation, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which sent a study team to Kabul last month. Led by Enrique Gelbard, the team was in Kabul from February...
(EnergyAsia, March 4 2011, Friday) — Coal exports through the Port of Prince Rupert doubled and rose by 25% through Port Metro Vancouver last year, thanks to Pacific Gateway, a major Canadian initiative to boost trade between British Columbia (BC) province and Asia. According to the province’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, its container traffic...
(EnergyAsia, March 4 2011, Friday) — Puda Coal Inc, a Chinese supplier of high grade metallurgical coking coal, said that 90%-owned subsidiary, Shanxi Puda Coal Group Co Ltd, recently completed acquiring coal assets under phase II of a project to consolidate nine mines in Yuncheng City and four coking coal mines Linfen City, both in...
(EnergyAsia, March 4 2011, Friday) — The Paris-based International Energy Agency has rejected speculation that Chinese state oil companies are investing abroad to serve their government’s political ambitions overseas. Instead, Chinese state-owned firms are operating for commercial purposes and move at arm’s length from the state, the IEA said. The agency, which advises developed nations,...
(EnergyAsia, March 4 2011, Friday) — Germany’s TUV SUD has big plans to grow its testing, inspection and certification businesses in the Asia Pacific region in 2011, including its service offerings for the energy, petrochemical and marine sectors. At a lunch briefing yesterday, Chong Weng Hoe, the chief executive of Singapore-based subsidiary TUV SUD PSB (more…)
(EnergyAsia, March 4 2011, Friday) — Singapore’s shipping sector is confident of weathering the negative impact of oil at US$100 a barrel brought on by political unrest spreading across the Middle East, said a panel of industry executives this week. Singapore is naturally hedged, said Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore chief executive Lam Li (more…)
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2011, Thursday) — A coalition of US environmental groups said several coal-ash dumpsites in Indiana and Virginia could potentially jeopardise human life and pose a serious threat to the environment. The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), Earthjustice, and the Hoosier Environmental Council issued this warning a few days after the US Environmental Protection (more…)
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2011, Thursday) —- The World Bank has described the violent unrest and protests spreading across the Middle East and North Africa as a watershed event that will provide “a unique opportunity” for the regions to undergo a democratic transition from long-standing authoritarian rule and weak political and economic governance. Motivated by the...
(EnergyAsia, February 21 2011, Monday) — Singapore Exchange-listed EMS Energy Ltd said its subsidiary, Engineering & Marine Services Pte Ltd (EMS), has been awarded several American Petroleum Institute (API) certifications that will facilitate its expansion in the oil and gas industry. EMS Energy said EMS won API certifications Q1, 4F for substructures at PSL 1...
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2011, Thursday) — While world attention has been focused on Libya’s fledging civil war, Oman, which exports around 750,000 b/d of its much desired 860,000 b/d light crude oil output, has reported its first fatalities after violent clashes between civilians and security forces. Even an affluent fairly liberal regime isn’t sufficient to...
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2011, Thursday) — Saudi Arabia produced 8.4 million b/d of crude in 2010, exceeding its OPEC-assigned quota of 8.051 million b/d by 4.3%, according to the US government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). Including natural gas liquids and other fuels that are not under the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ quota system, Saudi...
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2011, Thursday) — Saudi Arabia is preparing to raise crude oil sales to China for the third consecutive year. Term sales to China, soon to overtake the US as the biggest buyer of Saudi crude, are expected to rise to 970,000 b/d from around 920,000 b/d last year and just under 900,000...
(EnergyAsia, March 2 2011, Wednesday) — China’s ambition to surpass the US as the world’s largest economy later this century may be challenged by its heavy dependence for oil on politically unstable regimes in the Middle East, said a senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. Writing in the Japan...