(EnergyAsia, August 5) — Oil broking company Ginga Petroleum has hired former Prebon brokers Linda Tan, Andy Choo, Lawrence Tan, Jane Boh and Jamie Lebrun. With the addition Ginga now operates one of Singapore’s largest oil broking firms. The full version of this story is available in the August issue of EnergyAsia Report....
(EnergyAsia, August 5) — With oil at US$60 a barrel and rising, Indonesia’s economy should be booming like other major oil producing countries. Instead, Asia’s only OPEC member is edging towards collapse as incompetence and corruption on a massive scale is causing an unprecedented domestic fuel shortage and long angry queues at the pump in...
(EnergyAsia, August 5) — CNOOC’s forced withdrawal for its bid for Unocal will likely fuel tensions between the US and China at a time when friction on both the economic and security fronts is running high, said New York-based consultants, Eurasia Group. “Although the failed bid will not likely compel Beijing to take direct retaliatory...
(EnergyAsia, August 5) — China’s oil products demand grew by only 1.7% in the first five months of the year while its imports retreated sharply by 16.4%, adding weight to predictions that oil bulls might not have a “China card” to call upon in the second half of the year. The weak oil demand data...
(EnergyAsia, August 5) — Australian upstream company Santos Limited said it and its joint venture partners have found a new gas field in the offshore Otway Basin in Victoria state with the drilling of the Henry 1 wildcat exploration well. As operator of the VIC/P44 joint venture, Santos said: “Overnight analysis of gas samples acquired...
(EnergyAsia, August 5) — Singapore’s third party oil storage capacity will exceed six million cubic metres by 2008 from around 3.6 million cubic metres (22.7 million barrels) now with the expected completion of five major projects, three of them currently underway. The new tanks will strengthen Singapore’s position as Asia’s leading oil trading, distribution and...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — Singapore’s SembCorp Marine, a builder of rigs and vessels for the offshore industry, said its first half net profit jumped 21.6% to S$58.4 million compared with the same period last year. (US$1=S$1.67). Its net profit excluding the effect of tax write-back in 2004, rose 33.6% from S$43.7 million in the first...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited said it has been told by Awilco AS that it will exercise its option to build a second jackup rig worth US$134 million for delivery in the first quarter of 2008. Keppel FELS said this is Awilco’s second KFELS B Class rig with the Keppel FELS. The...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — Pakistan and Iran have agreed to start construction on the US$4.2 billion Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline by next April, Pakistani news agency PPI reported. The announcement came after recent high-level talks between Islamabad and Teheran, PPI said. It quoted Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh as saying that all preparations...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — New Zealand’s NZ Refining is considering a 20% expansion in capacity to meet rising oil demand growth amid predictions of continued high refining margins in the Asia-Pacific region. According to local news service Stuff, the new capacity could be on-stream in three years. NZ Refining CEO Thomas Zengerly told...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — The main committee of Indonesia’s House of Representative will probe the controversial sale last year of two tankers by Pertamina to Frontline, the world’s largest oil tanker group, according to Indonesian news media reports. Separately, Frontline and investment bank Goldman Sachs is bracing for a protracted legal battle over the...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — Indonesia has set its sights on growing the economy by an ambitious rate of 6.5% and a budget deficit of 0.7% of GDP next year under a draft budget produced by the House of Representatives’ Budget Commission. According to the Jakarta Post, the draft assumes an inflation rate of between...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — IndianOil Corp said it has promoted V.C.Agrawal, the former human resources executive director, to join the the company’s board as director for human resources. He takes over from P.K. Agarwal who has retired. It is not known if the two men are related. An electrical engineer, the new director began...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — China’s CNOOC Limited said it has decided to withdraw its all cash US$18.5 billion offer for US independent company Unocal, leaving the path clear for Chevron to complete the takeover. The Chinese company said: “We believe that the combination of CNOOC and Unocal would have created a strong and successful oil...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — Hong Kong-listed China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) said it is collaborating with Dalian New Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Company Limited (DNS), a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), to construct a second 400 feet jack-up rig. The two sides recently signed a cooperation framework agreement with DNS for the construction...
(EnergyAsia, August 4) — China’s oil products demand grew by only 1.7% in the first five months of the year while its imports retreated sharply by 16.4%, adding weight to predictions that oil bulls might not have a “China card” to call upon in the second half of the year. The weak oil demand data...
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Houston, Texas-based El Paso Corp said it has agreed to sell several of its Asian power assets to a subsidiary of Globeleq, Ltd. for approximately US$109 million. The assets include power plants in Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines. The sales are expected to close by the end of the fourth...
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Australian upstream company Santos Limited said record second quarter revenue pushed its first half revenue above A$1 billion for the first time. (US$1=A$1.25). Total sales revenue for the April-to-June period was a record A$553 million Ð a 19% increase on A$466 million in the first quarter and up 66% year-on-year....
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Gasoline additive producers are lobbying Thailand and other developing countries stop promoting ethanol for use in motor fuels, reported the Bangkok Post. Citing a Thai state official who is promoting ethanol-mixed fuel, the newspaper said producers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive, have asked him to stop...
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Greenpeace has dismissed the US’s climate change agreement with five Asian countries as ‘nothing more than a trade agreement in energy technologies’. The US, Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea – account for about a half of the world’s population, energy needs and emissions of the climate-changing greenhouse gases. Greenpeace...
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Tanjong plc, a Malaysia-listed gaming and power company, is in talks to buy two power plants in Egypt from French electricity giant Electricit de France (EDF), according to Malaysia’s Business Times. Controlled by tycoon Ananda Krishnan, the company said it was in exclusive negotiations with the French state-owned utility to...
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Petrochemical Company (SHARQ), has signed letters of intent awarding contracts to three engineering firms to construct various petrochemical plants. UK’s Stone & Webster Ltd will construct 1.3-million-tonne/year ethylene plant, while Korea’s Samsung Engineering Company Ltd will build a 700,000-tonne/year ethylene glycol plant (rising to two million t/y)....
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Indonesia is looking to Chinese oil and gas companies for more investments, Indonesian news media reported. That hope has certainly been enhanced by last month’s signing of numerous trade and energy agreements in Beijing between the Presidents of both countries. China is already an active player in Indonesia’s oil and...
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Corruption continues to deter much needed foreign direct investment (FDI) into Indonesia, almost a year after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono assumed office with a pledge to clean the country up, local news media reported. A recent report published by the Ministry of Transportation illustrates just how bad the situation has...
(EnergyAsia, August 3) — Hong Kong-listed Titan Petrochemicals Group Limited recently signed a memorandum of agreement for the purchase of a double-hulled very large crude carrier (VLCC). Titan will pay cash of US$89 million for the 1993 299,993 deadweight tonne (dwt) MT Folk Star, which is expected to be delivered next month. Chief executive...