(EnergyAsia, May 23 2012, Wednesday) — Asia Pacific countries have reached a crossroad where they must strike a balance between rising prosperity and focusing on cleaner, sustainable and more equitable growth, said the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The region’s response to these issues and its success or failure at dealing with the new challenges will (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 23 2012, Wednesday) — US-based GreatPoint Energy and China Wanxiang Holdings said they have officially concluded a partnership agreement and joint investment in a large project in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang to convert coal into natural gas for consumption in the eastern provinces. GreatPoint Energy, which sold an unstated “large” equity (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 22 2012, Tuesday) — Finland’s Neste Oil said it is using fish waste fat from Southeast Asian farms to produce its ‘NExBTL’ brand of renewable diesel fuel at its controversial biofuel refinery in Singapore. The company, which started out using palm oil and crop waste, said the fat comes from the processed waste (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 22 2012, Tuesday) — ABB, the Switzerland-based power and automation technology group, said it is working engineers in India to develop, design and manufacture a 1,200 kilovolt ( kV ) circuit breaker, the highest AC voltage level in the world. The innovative circuit breaker will be deployed at a national test station being (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 22 2012, Tuesday) — Angloa’s economy will rebound to grow by 8% this year after expanding by 4% last year while its rate of inflation is declining, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “The pace of economic activity is expected to pick up in 2012, as oil production rebounds. Growth is projected to (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 21 2012, Monday) — Japanese trading house Itochu Corp and Thai state-owned PTT Global Chemical Public Company have agreed to invest in petrochemical projects in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor. In a statement, Malaysian state energy company Petronas said it has signed Heads of Agreement (HOAs) with the two companies to form separate (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 21 2012, Monday) — Apart from growing at a projected slower rate of 7% this and next year, the Indian economy will face rising risks from its slow reform efforts, high oil prices, volatile inflation and the global economic crisis, said the business community and the International Monetary Fund. In its report on (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 18 2012, Friday) — The oil and gas industry is taking a cautious attitude towards mergers and acquisitions despite higher oil prices, improving access to capital, increasing economic optimism and a generally more favourable deal environment, said consultant Ernst & Young. In its sixth Global Capital Confidence Barometer survey, Ernst & Young said (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 18 2012, Friday) — Battered by Europe’s economic crisis and US threats to release strategic stockpiles, crude oil prices have fallen to their lowest levels in more than six months, with US WTI slipping below US$100 a barrel and North Sea Brent hovering just above US$110 this week. Trading in the US$90s since (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 18 2012, Friday) — Australia’s largest downstream oil company has just declared that it is still too early for the ailing refining industry to die. After over a year of making funeral arrangements for its two unprofitable ageing refineries, Caltex Australia Limited surprised shareholders last week with CEO Jerry Segal announcing that it (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 18 2012, Friday) — German engineering giant Siemens said it has started work on a building a 220,000-sq m plant in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam city to manufacture gas turbines and compressors for the kingdom’s fast-growing energy markets. Siemens and local partner E.A.Juffali & Brothers expect the facility to also create job opportunities for (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — Supported by the UN and several developed countries, 20 small island developing nations have declared their intention to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, develop the use of renewable energy and develop the economy at the same time. The Barbados Declaration, named after the venue of last week’s conference organised (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — Thai state-owned energy company PTT has reshuffled the CEOs of four subsidiaries. It has appointed Tevin Vongvanich, PTT’s former CFO, as CEO of upstream company PTTEP, replacing Anon Sirisaengtaksin, who became CEO of PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC). PTTGC’s chief Veerasak Kositpaisal took over at Thaioil Plc whose CEO Surong (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 17 2012, Thursday) — Drawing on its natural gas reserves of 392 trillion cubic feet (tcf) sufficient to support 184 years of production, Australia could be ready to challenge Qatar’s position as the world’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter later this decade, said Energy and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson. Citing GeoScience Australia’s (more…)

(EnergyAsia, May 16 2012, Wednesday) —Cheniere Energy Inc, which is building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export and trading business in the US, said it has secured a combined US$468 million in new investments from Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings and private equity firm RRJ Capital. Separately, the three companies have begun discussions to (more…)