(EnergyAsia, July 18) — Caltex Australia said it has resumed partial fuel production following the restart of some production units that were shut down at its Kurnell refinery near Sydney last week. The shutdown was caused by the interruption of power supply from Energy Australia last Tuesday night.   Caltex last week said it expected Energy...

  (EnergyAsia, July 18) — Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry has announced plans to create a national oil storage project to hold at least 35 days of stockpile for emergency use. A draft of the plan is to be submitted to the government in September.   The ministry has proposed that the facility store both refined...

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — Hong Kong-listed Titan Petrochemicals Group Limited said it and its joint venture partners will accelerate the implementation of phases II and III of a major oil and petrochemicals storage facility at Nansha in southern China’s Pearl River Delta “in response to favourable market conditions.”   Titan holds a 45% stake in...

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — Maxwell Drummond International, a UK search and selection consultants to the oil and gas industry, has grown from an Aberdeen-based firm to a truly global player in recent years. The firm’s latest clutch of contract wins involves filling senior technical and managerial positions for a range of operators and multi-national contractors...

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — US major Exxon Mobil Corporation has announced a new “community investment initiative”, entitled “Educating Women and Girls”, citing it as an extension of the company’s longstanding support for education. The company said this multi-year initiative will fund numerous education projects for women and girls in the developing world.   ExxonMobil said...

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — US major Chevron Corporation has launched a new global advertising campaign to raise awareness and encourage discussion about important issues facing the energy industry, including supply and demand, the role of alternative and renewable energy sources and the promise of technology. “Energy — how we find it, produce it and use...

    (EnergyAsia, July 15) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has lowered its forecast for world oil demand by 200,000 b/d to 1.58 million b/d, citing a weaker outlook for China and the US. The Paris-based watchdog for oil consuming countries in the developed world expects world oil demand to rise by 1.75 million next...

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — MayBan Securities has placed a ‘hold’ recommendation on the stock of Malaysian listed pipeline and corrosion services specialist Wah Seong Corp. The research house has rated Wah Seong’s fair value price at RM1.90. (US$1=RM3.8).             Wah Seong recently proposed to fully acquire a group of companies including Gas Services International Ltd...

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — Republican Congressman Roscoe Bartlett met with President George W. Bush at the White House last month for an extensive discussion about peak oil–the end of cheap oil. Congressman Bartlett declined to discuss or characterise any of his private conversation with the President, but said that he was very happy about the meeting....

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — The building of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has been slow in China, the world’s third largest oil importer after the US and Japan, said US-based consultants ESAI.   However, ESAI noted that the first storage base in Ningbo (Zhenhai) with a capacity of 29 million barrels of crude oil will...

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — Operations at the Caltex refinery in Kurnell near Sydney city in Australia was knocked out by a power failure on Tuesday July 12. Caltex said the failure was caused by damage to an Energy Australia power line supplying the Kurnell peninsula that occurred while work was being carried out by Energy...

(EnergyAsia, July 15) — Australian upstream company Santos Limited has expanded its oil and gas exploration acreage in the Sorrell Basin off Tasmania island.             The company has been awarded a permit by the Commonwealth and Tasmanian governments to explore for oil and gas in Block T/40P, located 100 km off Tasmania’s northwestern coast.         The...

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd has named Hoe Eng Hock as the executive director of subsidiary Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd from July 1 following the retirement of Goh Boon Kiat.             The company has also appointed Yick Ping Wong, 55, as the executive director (Caspian) to oversee the growth and...

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — CS Mutiara Petroleum Sdn Bhd, an equal joint venture company of Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and Shell Exploration and Production Malaysia BV, has made another gas discovery in Block PM301 off the northeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Petronas Carigali is the upstream subsidiary of Malaysia’s state oil and gas company Petronas....

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — China has been placed ahead of Japan and India in priority to receive Russian crude oil, according to the Russian Journal.   Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference at last week’s G8 summit in Scotland that he has rejected Japanese proposals while ignoring Indian proposals completely.   As the...

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — MOC Exploration (UK) Limited, a 50% Nippon Oil subsidiary, said both the UK and Norwegian governments have approved the development of the offshore Blane oil field, which straddles waters in the two countries.    President and CEO Teruo Omori said MOEX, with a 14% stake, will join operator Paladin and other...

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — Malaysia’s state oil and gas company Petronas plans to start up its retail fuel operations in Indonesia in December with the launch of five stations in Greater Jakarta.   Kamarulzaman Hashim, president of the firm’s local unit PT Petronas Niaga Indonesia, told Jakarta Post:   “We have secured a licence for...

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — Dubai-based tanker operator Gulf Energy Maritime (GEM) has taken delivery of the second of four vessels it has on order from Korean shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries. GEM is a joint venture between Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC, 35%), International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC, 30%) and Oman Oil Company (30%), and Thales...

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — French engineering firm Technip said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with The Kuwait Olefins Company (TKOC), a joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company, Petrochemical Industries Company, Kuwait (PIC) and Kuwaiti Private Companies, for the construction of an ethylene plant at their new olefins-2 petrochemical complex in Shuaiba, Kuwait....

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — CalPERS, the powerful California, US pension fund, is taking a greater interest in climate change issues, and wants the G8 developed countries to address the challenge posed by these issues.   Winston H. Hickox, CalPERS Special Advisor for Environmental Investment Initiatives, recently issued a statement calling for the G8 leaders to...

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — US-based Alliant Energy Corporation said its board has recently approved moves to sell off its investments in China following an “evaluation of strategic alternatives for this portfolio of generating assets.” Alliant Energy expects to complete its sale of stakes in 10 coal-fired power plants in China by June 2006 and expects...

(EnergyAsia, July 14) — Rising oil prices have been blamed for driving India’s trade deficit to a record high and for turning its current account surplus into a deficit in the last financial year.             India’s trade deficit rose to US$38.1 billion for the financial year to March 31 2005, compared with US$15.1 billion the...

(EnergyAsia, July 13) — Contact Energy Limited and its joint venture partner, International Power Australia and Mitsui & Co. Limited (IPM), will offer the Valley Power peaking station for sale, said Contact Energy’s CEO, Steve Barrett.  “Our partners in the project, International Power Australia and Mitsui & Co. (IPM), intend to divest their 60% interest...

(EnergyAsia, July 13) — Africa is on the verge of an unprecedented oil boom as exploration and production (E&P) opportunities are becoming scarce globally. Outside OPEC, production in Europe, North America and Asia is declining. Increasingly, oil companies are waking up to Africa’s potential as one of the few areas in the world with significant...

(EnergyAsia, July 13) — India and the US are pushing to expedite bilateral energy cooperation, including nuclear power, ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington on July 18 to 20. According to the Hindustan Times, India’s Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia recently agreed with US Energy Secretary Samuel W Bodman...