(EnergyAsia, April 25 2011, Monday) — One of Australia’s leading upstream companies, Woodside Petroleum, has warned that the country’s thriving liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector could face a drastic slowdown if it does not overcome the worsening shortage of skilled workers. CEO Don Voelte has told the government and trade groups to allow for greater...
(EnergyAsia, April 25 2011, Monday) — Australian Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said his country is well-placed to help meet any increase in demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Japan which has lost a significant portion of its nuclear power capacity following the March 11 quake and tsunami disaster. Japan is increasing the use of...
(EnergyAsia, April 25 2011, Monday) — Soaring bunker costs are starting to hurt shipping firms particularly those that trade more of their vessels on the spot freight market and on short intra-Asia trade routes. One of them, MCC Transport, Maersk’s container line subsidiary in Asia, said some shippers are struggling to continue unless customers agree...
(EnergyAsia, April 21 2011, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is promoting the use of electric vehicles in the Philippines as a cost-effective and energy-efficient mode of transportation. Last week, Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III transferred 20 ADB-funded electric tricycles (e-trikes) to the City of Mandaluyong, marking an important first step towards a (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 21 2011, Thursday) — The upstream oil and gas industry will face a major shortage of petrotechnical professionals (PTP) with the impending global loss of 5,000 experienced workers by 2014, according to France-based Schlumberger Business Consulting (SBC). In its 2010 Oil & Gas Human Resources Benchmark Report, the company said the “big crew (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 21 2011, Thursday) — The small and mid-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) market has grown considerably in recent years, with a number of new terminals starting up in 2010, and will gain even more popularity and importance in the near future, according to UK-based industry advisors, ActOn LNG consulting. Tony Acton, principal of (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 21 2011, Thursday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has kept unchanged its forecast for world oil demand to grow by 1.4 million b/d to 89.4 million b/d for 2011. Despite oil staying above US$100 a barrel since early February, the Paris-based agency expects post-earthquake Japan’s increased oil use for power generation and...
(EnergyAsia, April 21 2011, Thursday) — Crude oil prices could skyrocket to US$200 or even US$300 a barrel if Saudi Arabia succumbs to political unrest, said former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani. However, that’s an extreme scenario and Mr Yamani doesn’t expect this to happen, at least not yet, unless the protests calling for...
(EnergyAsia, April 21 2011, Thursday) — Shell Australia said it plans to convert its 75,000 b/d Clyde oil refinery and Gore Bay Terminal in Sydney into a fuel import terminal. If accepted by the company’s relevant boards, the proposal would see the end to refining operations at the site, with Clyde converted to a competitive...
(EnergyAsia, April 20 2011, Wednesday) — With plenty of help from friends and enterprising traders, Iran has succeeded in getting around the supposedly tough trade sanctions imposed by the West. Punished for pursuing its nuclear energy programme which the West alleges is for military purposes, Iran has continued to import as much as 150,000 tonnes...
(EnergyAsia, April 20 2011, Wednesday) — Post-quake Japan is being forced to adapt to regular blackouts and prolonged periods without electricity as the government is directing Tokyo’s major power users to reduce their peak summer power consumption by 25%. Everyone is affected including households as the country is still struggling to come to terms with...
(EnergyAsia, April 20 2011, Wednesday) — Having breached US$100 a barrel since late January, world oil prices are likely to remain high on account of production constraints and strong demand growth in emerging markets, particularly China, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In an analysis released as part of its World Economic Outlook (WEO), the...
(EnergyAsia, April 20 2011, Wednesday) — On the back of strong economic growth, Singapore’s electricity demand grew nearly nine percent to a record 5,008MW average demand per hour worth a total of nearly S$8 billion last year, said Energy Market Company (EMC), the operator of the nation’s wholesale electricity market. The average annual uniform price...
(EnergyAsia, April 20 2011, Wednesday) — Swiss-based engineering giant Foster Wheeler AG said it has been awarded a contract by Bahrain National Gas Company (BSC) or BANAGAS to undertake a feasibility study to revamp and expand its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) facilities in Bahrain. The contract, won by a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler’s Global Engineering (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 20 2011, Wednesday) — Germany’s Siemens Energy said it has received a follow-up order from the emirate of Abu Dhabi to build a 1,600 megawatt (MW) turnkey combined cycle power plant approximately 260 km west of the capital city. The company said it will build the Shuweihat S3 plant together with its Korean (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 19 2011, Tuesday) — China has started work on the third phase of its long-term project to raise the national strategic oil stockpile to 85 million tons by 2020, equivalent to 90 days’ crude oil import volume. It will soon select the site to hold the third set of stockpile from several locations...
(EnergyAsia, April 19 2011, Tuesday) — China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) expects to start up its 12-million-barrel commercial crude oil storage terminal in Maoming port in southern China this week, according to its parent China Petrochemical Corp. The company said it completed building the 1.7-billion-yuan facility in Guangdong province one month ahead of schedule,...
(EnergyAsia, April 19 2011, Tuesday) — PetroChina and the Fujairah government are looking to jointly invest in oil storage tanks in Fujairah port with the capacity to hold up to one million cubic metres of oil products. PetroChina is prepared to undertake the project on its own or in partnership with other companies including Vopak...
(EnergyAsia, April 19 2011, Tuesday) — Indonesian state-owned Pertamina has assured customers of continued fuel supply after a massive fire followed by several explosions destroyed at least three of its 270 storage tanks at its refinery in Cilacap in Central Java on April 2. There was no report of casualties, but the authorities are investigating...
(EnergyAsia, April 19 2011, Tuesday) — Australia’s Origin Energy Limited said it has completed the syndication of an A$2.15 billion and US$350 million bank debt facility with a term of between three and five years. (US$1=A$0.97). Origin initially executed an underwritten A$2 billion facility last December, using A$1.1 billion to partly finance the acquisition of (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 19 2011, Tuesday) — Law firm Herbert Smith said it advised China’s CNOOC Limited on its recent acquisitions of UK Tullow’s hydrocarbon acreage in Uganda for US$1.467 billion. Herbert Smith said a joint energy team from its Hong Kong, London and Paris offices advised the Chinese firm on its all-cash purchase of Tullow’s one (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 18 2011, Monday) — Clough AMEC, an equal joint-venture (JV) engineering firm between Australia’s Clough Ltd and the UK’s AMEC Plc, said it has won a A$25 million cost-reimbursable contract to construct and provide services for rejuvenating Oil Search Ltd’s Kumul marine terminal. (US$1=A$0.97). Located 40 km off the southern coast of Papua (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 18 2011, Monday) — CNOOC Limited said its board has appointed Wang Yilin as its chairman and non-executive director of the company, replacing Fu Chengyu in both positions effective last Friday (April 15). From November 2005 to April 14 2011, Mr Wang served as a director of PetroChina Company Limited, a company listed (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 18 2011, Monday) — China Huaneng Group (CHG) has completed its previously announced acquisition of a 50% interest in US-based InterGen from India’s GMR Infrastructure Limited, said the Burlington, Massachusetts global power generation firm. Intergen’s other shareholder is Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan of Canada which has been a 50% owner since 2005. ) (more…)
(EnergyAsia, April 18 2011, Monday) — Having grown and progressed in meeting challenges over the past decade, the natural gas industry has a viable role in filling the world’s future energy needs, said a senior ExxonMobil International Limited executive. In the past decade, technological and commercial innovations expanded the flexibility of the LNG market, said...