(EnergyAsia, November 10) — The Sri Lankan government has abruptly called off plans for the construction of a new oil refinery in Sapugaskanda just a week after it had given the greenlight for the US$800 million project. The proposed plant, to be completely funded by US company Global Energy and Industrial Operations Inc, would...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — India has ordered its state-owned oil companies to step up liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports at a premium price to counter a growing shortage of the product in the country. The Economic Times said the reasons for the shortage are the recent shutdown by Reliance Industries (RIL) of its Jamnagar...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — Russian crude oil output rose to a new post Soviet high of 9.53 million barrels per day in September, up 1.2% from year ago levels, according to the Energy Ministry. For the first nine months of 2005, Russian oil output averaged 9.38 million b/d, up 2.7% over the same period...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — France’s Total SA plans to step up natural gas investments by 66% to US$1.5 billion next year in order to maintain its production level and meet commitments. The company will focus its development on the Sisi and Nubi fields in offshore Kalimantan, Ananda Idris, a spokesman for Total’s Indonesian unit,...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — South Korea’s oil consumption showed uneven growth across the barrel in the first nine months of the year, said the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. Consumption of naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas rose 2% in the January-to-September period. For September, naphtha consumption climbed 3.4% while jet fuel use surged...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — Malaysian palm oil companies are expected to invest heftily in energy and composting projects utilising biomass, a solid waste generated by crude palm oil, according to Bernama news agency. Studies carried out in the early 1990s concluded that the palm oil industry generated a huge amount of biomass as waste that should...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — China’s export of ethanol rose significantly in the first nine months of 2005 as a result of rising oil prices on the international market. In the northern port of Tianjin, ethanol exports was up twofold to 31.23 million litres, earning US$12 million, according to Tianjin Customs. The bulk of...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — Singapore Power Limited, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, SP (Belgium) Holdings SA, is proposing to sell off its shares in its Australian unit, SP AusNet, for A$1.6 billion. (US$1=A$1.35). Singapore Power plans to sell 49% of its SP AusNet unit at between A$1.29 and A$1.57 a share. It plans to use...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — Trade between Russia and China are expected to double to US$40 billion by 2010, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov just before Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in Beijing last week. He told Interfax news agency that at the end of 2004, bilateral trade...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — Thailand’s main state oil and gas company, PTT Public Company Limited, has issued a strong denial that it was involved in ‘suspicious’ trading of Iraqi crude oil under the discredited UN food-for-oil programme. An independent investigation led by US official Paul Volcker has named more than 2,000 companies as having...
(EnergyAsia, November 9) — The Huaneng Group has signed an agreement with the US-based FutureGen Industrial Alliance Inc, making it the first Chinese company to participate in the ‘FutureGen’ project. Initiated by US President George W. Bush in 2003, FutureGen aims to design, build, and operate the first-ever zero-emission coal-fired commercial power plant in 10...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — Hong Kong-listed Huaneng Power International Inc said it has begun operating its 600MW coal-fired generating unit (Unit 3) at the Shantou Power Plant Phase II. The unit recently completed 168 hours of full-load trial run. The company has also built desulphurisation facilities at the unit. With the plant’s completion, Huaneng said...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — Petrochina and Tianjin North Oil Company will jointly invest 800 million yuan in a new 600,000-cubic-meter oil storage facility in Tianjin Port. According to Xinhua news agency, the project’s first phase of 300,000-cubic metres will start operations next year. The second 300,000-cubic-meter phase will come onstream in 2007. Petrochina also...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — China’s state CNOOC and PetroVietnam have signed an agreement that will pave the way for joint upstream activities in the Beibu Gulf between Hainan Province and Vietnam. The agreement’s details were, however, not available, according to China Radio International. The report said the agreement was one of more than 10...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — Indonesia’s oil reserves will be completely depleted in 18 years at current rate of production, warned President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in calling for the country to step up efforts to make new finds. He said Indonesia also needed to step up energy conservation and diversification efforts as it struggles to...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — Australia’s oil and minerals rich Northern Territory state has re-organised its Department of Business Industry and Resource Development (DBIRD) into the Department of Primary Industries, Fisheries and Mines (DPIFM) and the Department of Business, Environment and Regional Development (DBERD). The Minerals and Energy Group operates within DPIFM. John Carroll, formerly general...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — Indonesian state audit agency BPK said that at least 12.5% of last year’s $7.99 billion fuel subsidies was wasted on oil products smuggled out of the country, The Jakarta Post reported. BPK charged that the abuse is the result of the government’s failure to estimate and plan the country’s oil...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — The state governments of India’s Tamil Nadu and Western Australia are looking at jointly developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, Infraline news service reported. The terminal will supply gas for electricity generation and industrial use in Tamil Nadu. The two parties are also planning to cooperate in the management...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) plans to boost its revenues to $60 billion a year by fiscal 2011-2012, up from $35 billion now, Indian media reported. IOC said it will focus on the globalisation of marketing operations, the export of refined products, natural gas marketing, integration of its exploration and production...
(EnergyAsia, November 8) — India’s Essar Oil plans to commission the first phase of its 10.5 million tonne/year refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat state by next June, Infraline news service reported. The unit will initially come online without a fluidised catalytic cracker (FCCU) and process sweet crude. Initial capacity throughput will be in the...
(EnergyAsia, November 7) —Russian President Vladimir Putin has informed Shell that his government will not approve the company’s US$10 billion cost overun on the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, Russian business daily Kommersant reported. This could mean that Shell will not be able to revise the project’s budget to recover any cost overrun from the...
(EnergyAsia, November 7) — Japan’s Environment Ministry is proposing not to impose a carbon tax on gasoline, light oil and jet fuel for now as a result of high oil prices, reported the Japan Times. An earlier plan to impose the carbon tax proved unpopular and was met with stiff from the business community and...
(EnergyAsia, November 7) — Gulf Energy, a global consortium of leading energy consultants and major investors from the Gulf, US, Europe and Southeast Asia, has unveiled phase one of a master plan for the proposed multi-billion dollar Energy City in Qatar. It has also announced the appointment of the Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, Gulf Finance...
(EnergyAsia, November 7) — Ford Motor Company has begun selling its first ethanol-compatible sedan in Thailand. The move is in line with the Thai government’s policy of promoting the use of ethanol as an alternative to gasoline and diesel. According to Sapa-DPA news service, Ford Motor chairman and CEO Bill Ford said: “In keeping...
(EnergyAsia, November 7) — Eleven European Union (EU) member states have embarked on a biofuels research project aimed at replacing the region’s fossil fuels use for transportation by 5.75% by 2010. The so-called New Improvement for Lignocellulosic Ethanol (NILE) project will have a budget of Û12.8 million, Û7.7 million of which will be contributed by...