UAE: Vopak to add 478,000 cbm of crude oil storage capacity to Fujairah terminal

(EnergyAsia, December 31 2013, Tuesday) — Royal Vopak said it will launch the seventh phase of expansion of its Fujairah, UAE storage terminal after securing a long-term contract from a customer to support its plans to build 478,000 cubic metres (cbm) of new capacity to store and handle crude oil. As part of the expansion...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

MARKETS: IEA continues to push up global oil demand forecast in final report for 2013

(EnergyAsia, December 31 2013, Tuesday) —  In its final month report for 2013, the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its forecast for global oil demand to 91.17 million b/d for this year, and to 92.37 million b/d for 2014. Both represent new all-time highs, beating the agency’s previous record forecasts last month for 2013 demand...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

SINGAPORE: Keppel FELS delivered record 21 rigs for 2013

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2013, Monday) — In delivering its 21st oil rig for 2013 last Friday, Singapore’s Keppel FELS set a world record in completing the most number of rigs in a single year. The subsidiary of mainboard-listed Keppel Corp delivered the US$210 million rig to Arabian Drilling Company (ADC) five days ahead of schedule...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

INDONESIA: 2013 oil and gas production below target, oil at 42-year low

(EnergyAsia, December 30 2013, Monday) — Not for the first time, Indonesia’s oil and gas industry will likely miss the government’s annual production targets amid charges of corruption, mismanagement and failure to attract foreign investments to make up for the decline of old fields. Southeast Asia’s largest oil and gas producer has seen both decline...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

US: EIA projects further increases in domestic oil and natural gas production

(EnergyAsia, December 27 2013, Friday) — Due to the industry’s use of “advanced technologies”, the US will continue to boost domestic crude oil production through 2020 while natural gas output will rise through 2040, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its latest forecast, the EIA expects US oil production to rise by 800,000 b/d...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

IRAN: IEA plays down prospects of resumption of oil exports

(EnergyAsia, December 27 2013, Friday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) is dousing any hope for Iran to soon resume oil exports following the Islamic regime’s landmark preliminary agreement last month with six world powers to try resolve long-running disputes over its controversial nuclear energy programme. On November 24, the P5+1 group comprising the five...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

RUSSIA: Rosneft to acquire Morgan Stanley’s global oil trading business

(EnergyAsia, December 26 2013, Thursday) — Russia’s state energy giant Ronseft is hoping to boost its downstream operations by acquiring the global physical oil trading business of Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley for an undisclosed sum. The proposed deal caps a busy year for Rosneft which has emerged as a important upstream player with access...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

MARKETS: Brent prices back at US$112 as South Sudan, Iraq, Nigeria and Libya conflicts reawaken supply disruption fears

(EnergyAsia, December 26 2013, Thursday) — Geopolitical fears have returned to haunt the oil markets with Brent reclaiming their old lofty levels above US$110 and US WTI creep back up towards US$100 on outbreak of fighting in South Sudan and continued troubles in Libya, Iraq and Nigeria. Oil has now snapped out of the brief...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

CHINA: Technip and COOEC form joint venture to meet demands of booming deepwater market

(EnergyAsia, December 24 2013, Tuesday) — France’s Technip said it and China Offshore Oil Engineering Co Ltd (COOEC) have signed a five-year agreement to meet the Asian country’s growing demand for engineering, procurement, construction and installation services to serve its deepwater exploration and production sector. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 The agreement combines the partners’ know-how, technical resources, complementary...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

JAPAN: INPEX starts up 1.5-million tonne/year LNG receiving terminal

(EnergyAsia, December 24 2013, Tuesday) — After more than four years of construction, Japan’s INPEX Corp recently announced the start-up of its new liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in Joetsu city in Niigata Prefecture. The terminal at Naoetsu comprises two aboveground tanks with a combined capacity to hold 180,000 kilolitres of fuel, a berth...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

VIETNAM: Foster Wheeler awarded contract for hydrogen reformers at Nghi Son refinery

(EnergyAsia, December 23 2013, Monday) — Foster Wheeler AG said a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract to design and supply hydrogen reformers for a US$9 billion refinery being built in the Nghi Son economic zone in Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa Province. The Zug, Switzerland-based engineering giant said the...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

RUSSIA: Arctic waters yield first oil as state Gazprom starts production at offshore Prirazlomnoye field

(EnergyAsia, December 23 2013, Monday) — Having brushed aside Greenpeace’s protests, Russia has begun producing oil in the Arctic waters for the first time to open up the vast mineral riches buried in one of the world’s last major frontiers to full-scale exploitation. State-owned Gazprom said last week it has started oil production at the...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

OMAN: BP in shale venture, Total to explore large ultra deep offshore area

(EnergyAsia, December 20 2013, Friday) — Oman has awarded separate contracts to UK’s BP to develop onshore unconventional gas reserves and France’s Total to explore for hydrocarbons in a deepwater offshore area, the two companies have announced. BP said it will invest US$16 billion to drill 300 wells over 15 years as part of its...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

ASIA: Energy-rich ex-CIS states gain from superpower rivalry

(EnergyAsia, December 20 2013, Friday) — While superpower rivalry has undermined the political stability of much of the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, the wily dictators of Central Asia’s energy-rich states have thrived on it to stay in power and successfully grow their nations’ economies. Since breaking away from the former Soviet Union in...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

SINGAPORE: Keppel FELS delivers second harsh environment jackup rig to Hercules Offshore Inc

(EnergyAsia, December 19 2013, Thursday) — Singapore-based Keppel FELS Limited, the world’s top offshore-drilling rig maker, said it has delivered to US-based Hercules Offshore Inc a second KFELS Super A Class jackup rig for use in the harsh conditions of the North Sea. Singapore Energy Series: http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=270 The Hercules Resilience was officially delivered on November...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

UPSTREAM: Mexico reforms to shake up crude investment and marketing, says consultant ESAI Energy

(EnergyAsia, December 19 2013, Thursday) — After a lengthy debate, Mexican energy reform will revive the world’s ninth-largest crude oil industry by opening it up to direct foreign investment, said US consultant ESAI Energy. Foreign participation will take many forms that will eventually reverse a steady decline in Mexico’s crude output, enabling it to compete...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

AZERBAIJAN: BP-led consortium approves Shah Deniz project, paving way for proposed Southern Corridor to supply gas to Europe

(EnergyAsia, December 18, 2013, Wednesday) — A BP-led consortium has given the final investment decision (FID) for the US$28 billion second-phase development of the Shah Deniz gas field in offshore Azerbaijan that will support plans to expand, build and connect major pipeline networks to export natural gas to Europe. The decision triggers plans to expand...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

AUSTRALIA: BG Group starts gas delivery from coal seam fields to Curtis Island terminal

(EnergyAsia, December 18 2013, Wednesday) — A BG Group-led consortium building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Australia’s Queensland state said it has made its first delivery of natural gas from the Surat Basin coal seam fields to Curtis Island. BG Group said the delivery will enable commissioning work to begin in the first...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

MARKETS: Smaller companies gaining share of global lubricants market, says consultant Kline

(EnergyAsia, December 17 2013, Tuesday) — The world consumed 38.7 million metric tons of lubricants last year, little changed from 2011, said US-based consulting and research firm Kline & Company. North America and Western Europe stagnated below pre-recession levels while Asian demand slipped after picking up in 2011, with the most significant change being a...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

KYRGYZSTAN: Russia’s Gazprom approved to take over indebted Kyrgyzgaz for US$1

(EnergyAsia, December 17 2013, Tuesday) — In exchange for fuel supply security, Kyrgyzstan has given final approval to a deal by Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom to acquire and operate its loss-making indebted gas monopoly Kyrgyzgaz for US$1. Last week, 78 deputies of Kyrgyzstan’s 120-member Parliament voted in favour of the government’s earlier decision to...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

ASIA: Caucasus and Central Asia economies to grow by 6.1% in 2014, up from 5.8% in 2013 and 2012

(EnergyAsia, December 16 2013, Monday) — Buoyed by an improving outlook in the global economy, the economies of the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) region are expected to grow by a collective 6.1% next year, up from an annual average of 5.8% in 2012 and 2013, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The fund said...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

ASIA: ADB’s energy outlook for Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

(EnergyAsia, December 16 2013, Monday) — The following is an edited version of the Asia Development Bank’s recent report on the energy outlook for selected countries in Central Asia from 2010 to 2035. Kazakhstan: The country’s rapid economic growth over the past decade has been underpinned by the exports of its oil, coal and natural...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

RUSSIA: En+ and China Shenhua to jointly develop major coal deposit in Transbaikal

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2013, Friday) — Russia’s En+ Group said it and China’s largest coal producer, Shenhua Group, have secured the rights to jointly explore for and develop a major deposit of high-quality coal in Transbaikal Territory near their countries’ common border. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 Razrez Ugol LLC, an equal joint venture between En+ subsidiary Vostsbiugol and...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

KAZAKHSTAN: IMF expects non-oil sector to continue growing faster than oil through 2018

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2013, Friday) — Government spending, industrialisation, agriculture, construction and services will collectively continue to outperform the oil sector in driving Kazakhstan’s economic growth over the next five years, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a recent survey, the fund projected Central Asia’s largest economy to grow by an annual average 5.6%...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register

JAPAN: Japex to invest 60 billion yen in new LNG terminal in Fukushima

(EnergyAsia, December 12 2013, Thursday) — Japan Petroleum Exploration Co (Japex) has announced plans to invest 60-billion yen in a new terminal to import and store liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Soma Port in Fukushima Prefecture still struggling to recover from the earthquake-tsunami devastation of March 2011. (US$1=102 yen). Japex said it has made a...

This article is for Subscriber members only.
Log In Register