(EnergyAsia, January 12) — Hong Kong-listed CNOOC Limited said it has signed an agreement with South Atlantic Petroleum Limited (SAPETRO) to acquire the latter’s 45% working interest in an offshore oil mining licence (OML 130) in Nigeria for US$2.268 billion cash. The purchase will be funded from CNOOC Ltd’s internal resources. SAPETRO is a privately...

(EnergyAsia, January 12) — South Korea has begun the first shipment of 60,000 tonnes of coal to North Korea at the request of the communist state.   “South Korea began the shipments in early December and planned to complete it at the end of this month,” an unnamed Seoul government official told the Korea Economic...

(EnergyAsia, January 11) — Singapore’s hopes of replicating its success as an oil trading and refining centre in the natural gas business is fast running into a wall of reality. Following several embarrassing power blackouts in 2003 and 2004 caused by disruption of natural gas supply from Indonesia, officials and the local media have been...

(Energy Asia, January 11) — Thailand and Myanmar have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly build hydroelectric dams on the Salween River in Myanmar, reported Xinhua newswire.   Five dams have been planned along the Salween River and could generate more than 10,000 MW of power, said Kraisi Kanasuta, president of Egat Plc.     ...

(EnergyAsia, January 11) — Malaysia and South Korea have signed an agreement to collaborate in research and development (R&D) ofoil palm-based biofuels, reported Bernama news agency.   The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and the Korean Institute of Energy Research (KIER) will explore projects that could lead to the use of palm oil-based biodiesel in...

(EnergyAsia, January 11) — China’s crude oil production rose 4.3% to 151.1 million tons in the first 10 months of 2005, thanks largely to a 37.3% rise in offshore output from new fields in the Bohai Bay. The increase more than compensated for declines in two of the country’s top two existing oilfields — Daqing,...

(EnergyAsia, January 11) — ASL Marine Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-based integrated marine company offering ship building, repairing and chartering services, said its wholly-owned subsidiary, ASL Shipyard Pte Ltd, has secured S$27.7 million worth of shipbuilding contracts in recent weeks. (US$1=S$1.65). The company owns and operates shipyards in Singapore and Batam in Indonesia.   These contracts...

(EnergyAsia, January 11) — Keppel Shipyard Limited, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, has signed a contract with Golar LNG Limited for the conversion of an existing LNG carrier into a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU).   The total contract value is approximately S$90 million. (US$1=S$1.65).  ...

(EnergyAsia, January 11) — One of Indonesia’s main coal producing provinces, Lampung, exported 2.036 million tons of coal in the first ten months of last year, up 4.14% from the same period in 2004.   The value of the exports surged 74.5% to US$107.4 million, thanks largely to the sharp rise in the price of...

(Energy Asia, January 11) — Eleven Australian consortia are on the shortlist to submit their business plans by April 28 to secure federal funding from the Australian Greenhouse Office’s A$75 million Solar Cities Programme. (US$1 = A$1.35).   One of the bidders, the Ergon Energy consortium comprising local councils and businesses, will undertake market research...

(Energy Asia, January 11) — Water and coal will provide at least half of Thailand’s electricity supply 15 years from now, reported the Bangkok Post.             The Thai government plans to step up cooperation with neighbouring Laos and Myanmar to develop hydropower dams, while state Egat Plc and private producers will import coal to generate...

(EnergyAsia, January 11) — China will help Pakistan in expanding its nuclear power capacity in the next 25 years, said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.   Speaking at the start of construction of a dam at the Chashma nuclear island, he said the government was planning 8,800MW of new nuclear power capacity over the next 25...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — The Indian government is interested to build Sri Lanka’s first coal-fired power plants, with the locations of two of the three plants now under consideration.   India’s National Thermal Power Corporation is looking into building a plant in Trincomalee and Hambantota. A Chinese company is due to start work on a...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — China Petrochemical International Company Ltd (Sinopec International) recently signed a licensing agreement to use GE Energy’s gasification technology at a Sinopec Qilu Company chemical plant in Shandong province.   The plant, scheduled to begin commercial operation in the first quarter of 2008, will produce approximately 2.4 million normal cubic meters per...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — Myanmar’s Shwe field holds between 2.88 and 3.56 trilion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas reserves according to an independent assessment done by Ryder Scott Company, a consulting firm based in Houston.             In a statement, Indian upstream company ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) said the consortium, in which it holds a...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — WTI crude prices closed 2005 above US$61 a barrel, boosted by announcements from the US, Europe and Japan that they had stopped releasing oil and gasoline from their strategic stockpiles. Sentiments were also helped by hawks within OPEC calling for output cuts in the coming year and the brief loss of...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — Exchange opeator Imarex said its one-month-old bunker fuel oil derivatives market is showing signs of “a very successful market launch.”   A total of 23 transactions was traded the past month, or more than one contract every day in the first month. The company said 260,000 metric tonnes were traded, with...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — Sakhalin Energy has named Igor V. Ignatiev to manage its new corporate affairs department, which combines the functions of the company’s government relations and external affairs.   Mr Ignatiev brings over 25 years of external affairs and management experience to Sakhalin Energy. His most recent appointments include vice president for public relations at...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — Hong Kong-listed China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) said it has signed a two-year contract to provide geothermal well cementing services to the Philippine National Oil Corporate (PNOC). A contract was signed last month in the presence of Paul A. Aquino, CEO and President of PNOC.   COSL said it won the...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — Sembawang Shipyard, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SembCorp Marine, has secured a S$88 million contract from Bergesen Worldwide Offshore to convert the ultra large crude carrier, BW Enterprise, to a Floating, Production, Storage & Offloading (FPSO). Bergesen Worldwide Offshore, a company within the Bergesen Worldwide Group, will own and operate the FPSO...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Singapore Petroleum Sampang Ltd, has signed an agreement with Australia’s Cue Sampang Pty Ltd and Indonesia’s Medco Strait Services Pte Ltd to share the costs and revenue in respect of output from the Jeruk field in Indonesia. Medco is a subsidiary of...

(EnergyAsia, January 9) — Singapore’s KS Energy Services Limited said it has established a joint venture company with Malaysia’s BR Energy Sdn Bhd to provide a workover pulling rig to support the offshore operations of state oil and gas company Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd. KS said it expects to earn an income of up to...

(EnergyAsia, January 6) — Creditors of China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp Ltd have chosen to be paid in shares instead of cash as the financially troubled company continues to recover from its near death experience in 2004.   The company, which lost more than US$550 million from oil derivatives trading, said its offer of US$22...

(EnergyAsia, January 6) — Singapore-listed Rotary Engineering Limited has been awarded a contract worth S$535 million for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of an oil terminal in Jurong Island by Universal Terminal (S) Pte Ltd. Universal is a subsidiary of Singapore-based oil trader Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd. (US$1=$1.65).   Chia Kim Piow, Rotary’s...

(Energy Asia, January 6) — Indonesia is unlikely to achieve its target crude oil production of 1.11 million barrels/day this year, according to an official of state oil and gas company Pertamina. It also failed to achieve its 1.075 million b/d production target last year.   Speaking to reporters recently, Kardaya Warnika, the head of...