(EnergyAsia, May 24) — Australian upstream company Hardman Resources Limited said subsidiary Ð Hardman Oil and Gas Pty Ltd has signed Heads of Agreement with Suriname’s state oil company, Staatsolie Maatschappij Surinam NV and its affiliate, Paradise Oil NV, to acquire a 40% working interest in the onshore Uitkijk and Coronie concessions in the South...
(EnergyAsia, May 24) — Saudi Aramco and France’s Total have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to build a 400,000 barrels per day oil refinery in Saudi Arabia’s Jubail city by 2011. The partners will each have a 35% stake in the project with the rest to be sold to the Saudi public. The plant...
(EnergyAsia, May 24) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the governments of oil-rich Middle East and Central Asia must adjust to the new environment of high oil prices and set policies that assume these prices are not temporary. In releasing the IMF’s May 2006 Middle East and Central Asia Regional Economic Outlook (REO), Mohsin...
(EnergyAsia, May 24) — The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) industry is in the midst of rapid growth in Pakistan in keeping with the country’s economic expansion, said speakers at last week’s Pakistan Oil, Gas and Energy Exhibition and Conference (POGEE Conference 2006). The event carried the theme “Global Energy Requirements: Innovating for Regional Development.” ...
(EnergyAsia, May 24) — New approaches are needed to satisfy Asia’s rapidly growing need for mobility while preserving the quality of life and protecting the environment, a senior ADB environmental official told a workshop in Manila, the Philippines this week. Asia’s vehicle fleet could mushroom by up to 10 times in size over the...
(EnergyAsia, May 24) — Singapore-listed SP Chemicals said it has obtained the approval from China’s National Environmental Protection Bureau (NEPB) to build a 60 MW co-generation plant, subject to certain terms and conditions. The bureau has instructed the Jiangsu Province Environmental Protection Bureau (JPEPB) to review the project’s terms and conditions, and to ensure...
(EnergyAsia May 23) — A 10,000-kilolitre oil storage tank near Kochi or Cochin port in India’s south-western state of Kerala collapsed after failing a water pressure test. It was the second time that an oil tank in Vathurthy town belonging to private company BR Petrochem had collapsed while undergoing pressure test ahead of commissioning. ...
(EnergyAsia, May 24) — After years of debates and project changes, Russia’s Transneft recently started building a 1.6 million b/d pipeline to deliver oil from East Siberia to Russia’s Pacific coast, with a possible branch to the Chinese border. US consultant ESAI said it discussed the market implications of this pipeline in the latest edition...
(EnergyAsia, May 24) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a generally positive statement on Indonesia’s economic policies and management while spelling out the challenges faced by its government in trying to raise economic growth. The statement was issued by Stephen Schwartz, the IMF’s senior resident representative in Jakarta, following last week’s visit to...
(EnergyAsia, May 24) Ж The Philippines province of Biliran has set up a task force comprising several national government agencies to protect consumers from unsafe and illegal practices plaguing the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) industry. Philippine officials estimate that there are three million unsafe and substandard LPG cylinders in use in the local market....
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) said it is bidding to operate Pakistan’s new Gwadar Port, which is due for commissioning in June. The port, strategically located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf outside the Strait of Hormuz, is currently the focus of great interest from China seeking to store oil and...
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — The Ceyhan Marine Terminal is expected to be ready to load its first oil tanker by mid-year, while work on the 1,070-km long Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline is progressing according to schedule. Azerbaijan’s state news agency reported that the completion of the two projects would facilitate the...
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — Australia will have to build a national strategic petroleum stockpile as it faces declining self-sufficiency as a result of growing oil demand and depleting reserves. The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) said Australia can no longer take for granted its energy security as it is moving towards import status, making...
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — Malaysian fire authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire that damaged an oil storage facility in Pasir Gudang port in southern Johor state. The tanks, owned by state oil retailer Petronas Dagangan, exploded after one of them was struck by lightning in late April. Petronas said that three...
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry is lobbying the government to grant its members a 10-year tax holiday for oil and gas pipeline laying projects. It wants companies undertaking the pipeline projects to be granted the same tax holiday under Section 80IA of the Income Tax Act currently...
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — Malaysia’s Shell Refining Company Berhad, a unit of the Anglo-Dutch major, said its first quarter after-tax net income fell 77% to RM46 million as a result of lower refining margins, a higher effective tax rate and reduced stockholding gains. (US$1=RM3.56). The company said refining margins are expected to remain under...
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — A research analyst said he would recommend buying the stock of Malaysian engineering Dialog group only if it is confirmed to have landed new contracts including the building of a US$75 million oil storage project in Singapore. OSK Investment Research senior manager Chris Eng said he is neutral on the...
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — Fearing further increases in the price of oil, the Korean government has ordered a build-up of its strategic crude oil stockpile by nearly 50% over the next two years. Oil accounted for a quarter of Korea’s total import bill of nearly US$200 billion last year when oil hovered between US$50 and...
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — Turkmenistan has begun building new oil storage tanks in the town of Zerger in Lebap region on the eastern border near Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. According to Turkmen TV, the tanks, to be sited at an existing oil storage depot, will have the capacity to store 5,000 tonnes of oil products....
(EnergyAsia, May 23) — China is stepping up its strategic oil stockpile programme in response to the record oil prices on the world markets. Where previously it would hold back as oil became more costly, Beijing is now pushing to buy more as it believes that the value of the commodity will rise further. ...
(EnergyAsia, May 22) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) wants greater urgency from the New Zealand government to implement its strategic oil stockpile plans announced in March last year. On a recent visit, IEA chief Claude Mandil has expressed concern that Wellington has allowed its oil stockpile to fall to just 61 days of...
(EnergyAsia, May 22) — The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, has announced its intention to invest in China’s Yunnan Zhongda Yanjin Power Generation Co. Ltd. IFC said it is working with DEG, Proparco and FE Global/Asia Clean Energy to promote construction and operation of three run-of-the-river power stations...
(EnergyAsia, May 22) — Hong Kong-based Enric Energy Equipment Holdings Limited, a leading integrated business solutions provider and specialised gas equipment manufacturer in China, said its first quarter net profit surged 42.9% to RMB15.4 million on revenue of RMB128.3 million. It had basic earnings per share of RMB0.035 and diluted earnings of RMB0.034. (US$1=RMB8). ` ...
(EnergyAsia, May 22) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Bangladesh economy has performed well in the face of recent challenges, but it would need to raise fuel prices as it cannot afford to continue with its generous subsidy programme. The IMF made these comments following the April 30-May 10 visit to Bangladesh by...
(EnergyAsia, May 22) — The PetroVietnam Trading Company (Petechim) has begun building an oil storage facility at the Chan May Port in central Thua Thien-Hue province. The company is a subsidiary of state PetroVietnam. Construction of the VND 65 billion facility began in early April, according to the Vietnam News Agency. (US$1=16,000 Dong). Chan...