(EnergyAsia, October 6) — Canada will invest US$1.8 million a year over the next four years to develop coalbed methane (CBM) projects in China’s Guizhou province, Chinese news media reported. The projects are undertaken by China United Coal-bed Methane Co Ltd (CUCBM), the country’s only coalbed methane firm. Established in 1996, CUCBM has...
(EnergyAsia, October 6) — Beijing is planning to permanently close all coal mines in the southern province of Guangdong for safety and environmental reasons. The decision follows a spate of recent mining accidents in the province that has killed thousands of miners, China Daily reported. So far, Beijing has already shut down 112...
(EnergyAsia, October 6) — Japan’s steel industry is facing a 100 billion yen cost hike due to sustained high oil prices, The Japan Times reported (US$1=Yen113). Steel makers see high oil prices driving up their costs across the board – from maritime transport to raw materials and electricity bill, Akio Mimura, chairman of the...
(EnergyAsia, October 6) — China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp Ltd (CAO) said that its wholly-owned subsidiary, China Aviation Oil Trading Pte Ltd (CAOT), has closed its latest physical jet fuel tender for deliveries in September to December 2005. CAO said: “CAOT’s latest tender was very successful and received strong response from 17 physical jet...
(EnergyAsia, October 6) — Gasoline consumption in Sri Lanka has risen sharply despite two price increases this year, said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). According to CPC data, average gasoline consumption per day, is now around 1,200 MT, compared to 950 MT per day in the first eight months of the year. The country’s...
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — Singapore-based upstream company PEARL Energy Limited said that two of its wholly owned subsidiaries have agreed to farm out stakes in two of its Indonesian production sharing contracts (PSC) to Fuel-X Sebuku Limited. PEARLOIL (Sebuku) Limited will transfer half of its interest in the Sebuku PSC off the coast of...
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — Scorpion Offshore Ltd reports that its wholly owned subsidiary, Scorpion Drilling Ltd (Scorpion), has exercised its option to order two additional LeTourneau Super 116 jackups to be built at Keppel AmFELS in Brownsville, Texas in the US. The contract price for the two rigs, excluding Owner Furnished Equipment, is approximately US$180...
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — The UAE has confidently forecast that it will raise crude production by around 8% to 2.7 million barrels/day by the first quarter of 2006. At an energy conference in Abu Dhabi last week, Energy Minister Mohammed bin Dha’en Al Hamili said the UAE would raise output by 100,000 b/d this quarter...
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — The Economic Development Board (EDB) has announced its vision for the future of manufacturing in Singapore, with the following goals to be achieved by 2018: Double total manufacturing output to S$300 billion. (US$1=S$1.7). Double total manufacturing value-added (VA) to S$80 billion. Raise skill profile of manufacturing workers from 32% to 50%....
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — Weighed down by high oil prices, South Korea’s domestic oil consumption growth fell for the third consecutive month in August, according to report issued by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. Demand for the main oil products such as naphtha, kerosene and diesel edged by just 0.2% last month...
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — German chemicals giant BASF said it aims to achieve 10% of its global sales and earnings in the chemical business in China by 2010. The importance of the company’s activities in China was stressed at a press conference in Nanjing just before the recent opening ceremony of the company’s first Verbund...
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — Australians are reacting with mixed feelings to a government plan to add ethanol into the gasoline supply without their knowledge as Canberra steps up its campaign to promote biofuels. The push to secretly have ethanol form 5% of gasoline sold at the pumps would be extended to all types of...
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — Malaysia has announced plans to build three 60,000 tons/year plants by next year to produce biodiesel from palm oil. “Palm biodiesel is set to become a viable alternative to petroleum diesel,” said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui at a recent international palm oil congress in Kuala Lumpur....
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — Energy-hungry Shanghai city in China is the location for the commissioning of Ingersoll-Rand Energy Systems’ first 50 Hz microturbine. The 250-kilowatt unit was installed at the US company’s facility in Shanghai. Staggering economic growth and a weak energy infrastructure are driving China’s global search for ways to improve energy efficiency...
(EnergyAsia, October 5) — Greenpeace says its newly launched ‘Energy Revolution Scenario’, shows that Europe can phase out nuclear power and, at the same time, reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30% by 2020 to avoid catastrophic climate change. The electricity sector in the 25 European Union nations is still dominated by large centralised...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) recently announced that it has completed renewable energy policy roundtable meetings in 12 cities across the nation, seeking to define the next phase of national policy for renewable energy in the US. “The renewable energy provisions in the 2005 energy bill are helpful...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — S-Oil Corp, a leading Korean oil refiner, said it will hold a board meeting on October 28 to select a CEO. The top job has been vacant since the death of former its Saudi CEO and chairman A.K. Al-Arnaout on August 27. Saudi Arabia’s Aramco is S.-Oil’s largest shareholder with a...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — India’s main upstream company, ONGC, said it has established two pilots for underground coal gasification (UCG). The company said it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with state-owned Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited (NLC) to develop a lignite pilot project. Four sites have been short-listed for the first pilot Ð three...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — Dubai’s Gulf Energy Maritime (GEM) said it has taken delivery of the third of four vessels that it has ordered built by Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries. Gulf Stream, the new high-specification panamax double-hulled tanker, has been completed approximately three months ahead of schedule. It will immediately go into service with...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — Singapore’s Aqua-Terra Supply Co. Limited, an integrated service provider and procurement specialist serving the oil, gas and marine industries, has entered into a conditional subscription agreement to issue 15 million new ordinary shares of S$0.04 each at S$0.62 per ordinary share. (US$1=S$1.7). The announcement was on its behalf by parent...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — The Global Village Energy Partnership (GVEP) has announced the establishment of its Action Programs Fund – the GAPfund. The announcement was made at a meeting in Hyderabad hosted by Ms. Gayathri Ramachandran, director-general of the Environmental Protection Training and Research Insititue (EPTRI) and a member of the GVEP Board. GVEP –...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — A unit of Kuwait‘s Abdullah Port oil refinery’s, with an output capacity of 90,000 barrels a day (b/d) and a 35,000 b/d desulphurisation facility, has resumed after a one-day shutdown for regular maintenance, said a refinery official, Abdul-Mohsen Khaja. He told Kuwait News Agency that the other units in the...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — Qatar’s Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited, (RL), Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (II), RL (II), along with the Qatargas Operating Company Limited (Qatargas) and Air Liquide recently marked the production of the first container load of helium gas from the Ras Laffan complex. The load was approximately...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — Exxon Mobil Corporation said that its subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas Limited, has started production from the multiphase Sakhalin-1 Project off the coast of eastern Russia. The initial phase of the project will produce 50,000 barrels (6,300 metric tons) a day by year-end 2005 and 250,000 barrels (33,000 metric tons) a day of...
(EnergyAsia, October 4) — The Thai government has approved a proposal for the Energy Fund Administration Institute (EFAI) to obtain loans to cover losses from the country’s Oil Fund. The move gives the institute, which manages the Oil Fund, an option for managing the fund’s debts in addition to issuing bonds, according to The Nation...