(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — Reduced oil imports as a result of rising prices helped Sri Lanka shrink its first-quarter trade deficit by 15.9% from a year earlier to US$659.5 million. According to the country’s central bank, export earnings in March were up 17.7% from a year earlier to $637 million, while imports fell 2.4%...
(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — Saudi Arabian oil trader Bakri Trading is gearing up to expand its oil storage capacity and tanker fleet to serve the increased flow of oil in the Middle East and Asia. It plans to more than double its Middle East storage capacity and add 12 bunker barges to its current...
(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — Australia’s Queensland Gas Corp said its board has approved a A$260 million development budget aimed at doubling sales next year and doubling those sales again the following year. (US$1=A$1.2). The company expects to sell around 12PJ this financial year, 30PJ next financial year and over 60PJ the following year. The...
(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — Despite high prices, world energy consumption growth remained above average, continuing the trend of recent years, said BP. In its latest annual review, the company said energy use is also increasingly shifting away from OECD countries and becoming more carbon-intensive. It was a year when energy markets were once again...
(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — Austria’s OMV Aktiengesellschaft, said it has made natural gas discovery in its Tajjal 1 exploration well in the Gambat exploration block in Pakistan’s northern Sindh province. This is an area where OMV has discovered two major gas fields, Miano and Sawan, which were brought on stream in 2001 and 2003....
(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — India’s Mumbai and Pakistan’s Karachi are among 16 cities around the world that have been earmarked to receive special loans to upgrade their power infrastructure to save energy by between 20% and 50%. The project is part of an initiative led by former US President Bill Clinton to bring together...
(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — The Indian government has promised once again that it will not raise the retail prices of popular fuels despite the recent run-up in international oil prices. Petroleum minister Murli Deora said the government is ‘doing its level best’ not to raise prices of LPG, kerosene, diesel and gasoline, which are...
(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — The Nepalese government had to plead for emergency fuel supplies from India after the country was once again left on the brink of an oil crisis last month. The impoverished country north of India was down to two days of fuel inventories in late May. The crisis arose after the...
(EnergyAsia, June 22, Friday) — Panama and Qatar have signed an agreement to jointly build an oil refinery in the Panamanian town of Puerto Armuelles on the Costa Rican border. The plant will have a nameplate capacity of 350,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and is expected to cost some US$8 billion dollars. The...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) —- Ezra Holdings Limited, a leading integrated offshore support and marine services provider for the offshore oil and gas industry, has won a contract for its soon-to-be delivered deepwater vessel, Lewek Champion. The contract for its first heavy-lift, accommodation and pipe-lay vessel was awarded by integrated US energy major ConocoPhillips. The...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — Sinopec’s five main fields in eastern China may soon be depleted after flowing for five decades, according to reports by China Petrochemical News. The five fields, which account for over 86% of the company’s total oil output, produced 34.8 million tons of crude last year. They include Shengli, China’s second-largest...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — Bowing to political pressure from consumer groups, the South Korean government said it will cut tariffs on imported oil products from the second half of this year. Rising oil prices have begun to exert inflationary pressures on the economy. The Ministry of Finance and Economy said it would lower rates...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — French oil major Total SA plans to step up its gasoline trading activities in Singapore. The world’s fourth largest publicly traded integrated oil and gas company has established subsidiary Total Trading Asia Pte Ltd (TTA) to undertake oil products trading in Singapore. Total joins ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and about 100...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — NYSE-listed Cummins Inc said that Beijing Public Transport Holdings Ltd (BPT) has ordered 1,400 Cummins Euro IV diesel engines and 250 Cummins Westport Euro III compressed natural gas engines to power transit buses in China’s capital city. With this order, Cummins and Cummins Westport, a joint venture of Cummins and...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — Capitalising on its leadership position in China, NYSE-listed Willis Group Holdings, the global insurance broker, has been awarded a contract for the construction coverage of an offshore oil platform, valued at US$136 million, operated by CACT Operators Group on behalf of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Chevron and ENI....
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — Sharp, the world’s leading provider of solar cells, has provided solar modules for the largest commercial solar electricity system in the US to date, recently installed at Google’s corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California. In addition to roof-mounted arrays, the system also features a new structure that encompasses two carports...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — Chiyoda Corp, Japan’s leading engineering and construction firm, said it is licensing titania catalyst for ultra deep hydrodesulphurisation (HDS) of diesel oil to Axens, a French subsidiary of IFP. Chiyoda is aiming to supply the catalyst for diesel oil in order to meet sulfur content regulation which will be reinforced...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of France’s energy giant AREVA, and Kim Jong Shin, President of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), have signed a long-term contract worth over 1 billion euros for the supply of uranium enrichment services. (US$1=0.73 euro). KHNP is among the four largest nuclear power generation companies in...
(EnergyAsia, June 21, Thursday) — Singapore-listed energy engineering company AusGroup Limited (AGL) said it has agreed to enter into a joint venture with an unnamed European group to work on Shell’s petrochemicals complex project and ExxonMobil’s petrochemical expansion project. The partner is a major European engineering group with global operations established since 1895, and has...
(EnergyAsia, June 20, Wednesday) — The consortium of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd and France’s Technip Engenharia S/A is on track to deliver the P-52 floating production unit (FPU) to Brazil’s Petrobras Netherlands BV (PNBV) in the third quarter of 2007. When the P-52 FPU becomes operational, Keppel said its projects for Petrobras would...
(EnergyAsia, June 20, Wednesday) — A price dispute between India and Iran may delay the progress of a $22 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal that includes the building of a pipeline through Pakistan. In June 2005, India and Iran had agreed to a price of $3.215 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) for an...
(EnergyAsia, June 20, Wednesday) — India’s petroleum ministry has recommended that foreign direct investment (FDI) in government-owned refineries be raised from the current 26% ceiling to 49%. The restriction on foreign equity in joint venture refineries does not apply to private refineries where 100% FDI is allowed. The move came after UK-owned Mittal Investments was...
(EnergyAsia, June 20, Wednesday) — India has called for oil producing countries to help keep prices at “sustainable levels” as it embarks on building up strategic stockpiles to guard against oil supply disruptions. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said high oil prices would encourage consumers to look for alternative energy sources which would not be in...
(EnergyAsia, June 20, Wednesday) — Petroterminals Philippines Corporation, a wholly-owned unit of Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc (PPPI), said it is looking to set up more fuel depots to expand its distribution business, particularly in southern Luzon island. The company recently acquired a 3.5-hectare site within the Batangas Union Industrial Park in southern Luzon to serve...