(EnergyAsia, September 30 2014, Tuesday) — Dutch oil and chemical logistics giant Royal Vopak said it has completed the acquisition of a 30% stake in a 890,000 cubic metre (cbm) petrochemicals storage terminal in Gulei in China’s Fujian province. Commissioned last year, the renamed Vopak Terminal Haiteng was launched after the Dutch firm said it...
CANADA: Singapore’s Woodfibre secures first LNG export contract to Asia while Malaysia’s Petronas threatens pull out
(EnergyAsia, September 29 2014, Monday) — The breakthrough announcement that Canada had secured its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales memorandum to Asia last week was completely overshadowed by the somewhat expected threat by the CEO of Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas to call off its proposed C$9-to-$11 billion export terminal in British Columbia (BC)…
SINGAPORE: Pavilion Energy to help develop Asian LNG trading hub, signs long-term purchase deals
(EnergyAsia, September 25 2014, Thursday) — Pavilion Energy said it has signed another two long-term agreements to purchase liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US as it plans to work with other companies to help develop Singapore into Asia’s trading and pricing hub for the fuel. The subsidiary of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings...
MARKETS: Major upstream projects threatened if crude oil prices fall below US$85 a barrel, says consultant
(EnergyAsia, September 24 2014, Wednesday) — Investment decisions on many major upstream projects will be delayed if crude oil prices fall below US$85 a barrel at the same time that companies are struggling to contain rising business costs, said consulting firm Douglas Westwood (DW). Oil prices have been falling in recent months on account of...
ASIA: Region gains from “Oil Shock Of 2014” as Brent remains below US$100 a barrel
(EnergyAsia, September 23 2014, Tuesday) — The statement at the end of a hurriedly concluded energy summit of the world’s biggest economic bloc on September 2 was conspicuous by what was not mentioned: the growing threats to global oil supplies from the expanding conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Nigeria, the emergence of the...
SINGAPORE: ExxonMobil to build new grease plant in Jurong
(EnergyAsia, September 22 2014, Monday) — ExxonMobil said it has begun construction of a new plant at its Jurong facility in Singapore to meet Asia’s growing demand for grease. Located next to an existing lubricants plant, the new unit is expected to be completed and ready in 2016 to add to the US major’s network...
MARKETS: BoA says Saudi Arabia could be pushing for sustained weak crude oil prices
(EnergyAsia, September 19 2014, Friday) — Saudi Arabia could be pushing for crude prices to fall to US$85 a barrel for years in a desperate attempt to stop the oil-fuelled rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group by undermining its finances, said the Bank of America Merrill Lynch. But the strategy would also inflict...
PHILIPPINES: Phoenix Petroleum to build Cebu jet fuel depot to serve budget airline
(EnergyAsia, September 18 2014, Thursday) — Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc has announced that it will build a jet fuel storage depot in Cebu province to serve Cebu Pacific Air, the country’s largest domestic airline. In its statement, the company did not provide details like the project’s estimated cost and storage capacity, and when it expects...
UPSTREAM: Grim outlook for large oil and gas projects as cost overruns now exceed 40% of US$1.2 trillion budget
(EnergyAsia, September 16 2014, Tuesday) — Nearly two-thirds of the world’s 365 large oil and gas projects being implemented have exceeded their original combined budget of US$1.2 trillion by more than 40%, according to a new report by EY. Adding to this grim news, Axel Preiss, EY’s Global Oil & Gas Advisory Leader, said rising...
TAJIKISTAN: President Rahmon and Chinese counterpart launched power plant and pipeline projects
(EnergyAsia, September 15 2014, Monday) — Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon and his visiting Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping were in Dushanbe city last Saturday to jointly launch two major energy projects to further integrate Central Asia with the world’s second largest economy. The leaders officially marked the start of construction of the Tajikistan section of Line...
MARKETS: Oil prices continue to slide as US declares new war in Syria and Iraq
(EnergyAsia, September 12 2014, Friday) — Brent crude prices hit a new 15-month low of US$96.72 a barrel hours after US President Barack Obama ordered the start of a new protracted war campaign in the Middle East with air strikes in Syria and Iraq to try stop the advance of the Islamic State (ISIS) military....
AUSTRALIA: Domestic consumers may force LNG industry to limit export capacity, says Oxford Institute for Energy Studies study
(EnergyAsia, September 11 2014, Thursday) — Fearing rising energy prices, Australian consumers could force the country’s booming liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry to limit its export plans, according to a new study by the UK-based Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. This will add to the growing list of challenges including rising business cost, labour shortages...
INDIA: Adani Group to soon start work on Australia’s largest coal mining project
(EnergyAsia, September 10 2014, Wednesday) — India’s Adani Group is expected to soon begin work on Australia’s largest coal project which the UN, environmentalists and marine scientists say poses a long-term threat to the health of the Great Barrier Reef and its marine life. Speaking to India’s leading business executives in New Delhi last week,...
AUSTRALIA: PetroDiamond to invite contractors to bid for construction of A$110 million diesel tank farm
(EnergyAsia, September 9 2014, Tuesday) — The developer of a diesel fuel tank farm in South Australia’s Port Bonython said it will soon invite companies to bid for contracts for its construction. Petro Diamond Australia, a remote subsidiary of Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp, made the announcement after providing an update on the schedule for...
US: At 3.7 million b/d, oil product exports still rising on record refinery throughput, says EIA
(EnergyAsia, September 8 2014, Monday) — With its refineries operating at record levels, the US has become a major exporter of oil products with first-half sales hitting a new high of 3.7 million b/d, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Boosted by cheap domestic crude feedstock, the expansion of refining capacity together with pipeline...
MARKETS: ESAI predicts launch of new refineries to lead to more plant shutdowns in Europe in 2015
(EnergyAsia, September 5 2014, Friday) — The refining industry will launch a total of two million b/d of new distillation capacity in 2015 that will lead to the “inevitable” shutdown of uncompetitive plants in Europe, said US consultant ESAI Energy. “Global refiners will add nearly two million b/d of distillation capacity in the coming 12...
CHINA: Shale scaleback means greater role for oil and gas imports to meet energy demand
(EnergyAsia, September 5 2014, Friday) — With the drastic cutback in its ambitious shale production plans, China will have to revert to relying on oil and gas imports to meet its growing energy demand. In 2013, China produced just 200 million cubic metres of its vast shale reserves, which the US Energy Information Administration (EIA)...
SINGAPORE: Southeast Asia’s first underground oil storage terminal launched
(EnergyAsia, September 4 2014, Thursday) — Singapore has launched the first phase of an underground oil storage terminal comprising five caverns with the capacity to hold a total of 1.47 million cubic metres of crude and condensate, and nine km of tunnels. State industrial landlord JTC Corp invested a total of S$1.7 billion to develop...
RUSSIA: Construction of world’s largest ‘Power of Siberia” gas pipeline launched
(EnergyAsia, September 3 2014, Wednesday) — Russia has started construction of the world’s largest natural gas pipeline to deliver an estimated US$400 billion worth of the fuel to China over 30 years from early 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli jointly launched the construction of the 3,978-km pipeline on Russian...
INDIA: ONGC subsidiary starts up cracking unit at Mangalore refinery
(EnergyAsia, September 2 2014, Tuesday) — A subsidiary of India’s state-owned integrated oil and gas firm ONGC has started up the petrochemicals fluidised catalytic cracking (FCC) unit as part of the planned upgrade and 50% expansion of its 200,000-b/d refinery in Mangalore. Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) said the new unit is designed to...
MARKETS: IEA lowers forecast for global oil demand for 2015, keeps it almost unchanged for 2014
(EnergyAsia, September 1 2014, Monday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has scaled back its forecast for next year’s global oil demand to 94 million b/d while keeping it little changed at 92.68 million b/d for 2014. The agency detected a slowdown in oil demand growth in the second quarter on account of a weaker...