THAILAND: PTTEP acquires 20% stake in Australian petroleum block from Finder Exploration Pty Ltd

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Thai upstream company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) has acquired a 20% stake in Block AC/P36 in Australia from Finder Exploration Pty Ltd. Covering an area of 4,000 sq km in the Browse Basin, the block is located off the coast of northwestern Australia. The area is...

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PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Oil Search suspends plans for second LNG project

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Australia’s Oil Search has halted its plans for a second liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea (PNG) because of its inability to secure gas supplies. But it has said it might resume work on the project, jointly developed with UK’s BG Group, if gas supply in Papua...

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INDONESIA: Subprime financial crisis, oil could hit economy

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Indonesia fears the US financial crisis, triggered by credit and subprime problems, and rising oil prices could hurt its economy next year. The losses faced by big US banks could impact liquidity in Indonesia’s financial markets, said central bank deputy governor Miranda Goeltom. The Indonesian economy grew 6.1% in the...

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MALAYSIA: MLNG signs 15-year supply deal with Japan’s Osaka Gas

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd (MLNG), a subsidiary of state energy company Petronas, recently signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Japan’s Osaka Gas Co Ltd to supply up to 920,000 metric tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 15 years beginning April 2009. The agreement was signed...

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AUSTRALIA: Biodiesel could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, says CSIRO

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Australia’s science agency CSIRO has released a report that says using pure biodiesel or blending biodiesel with standard fuel could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. Biodiesel can be manufactured from any product containing fatty acids, such as vegetable oil or animal fats. The report, The greenhouse and...

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SRI LANKA: Iran to lend $1.5 billion for infrastructure, oil refinery works

  (EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Iran has agreed to lend Sri Lanka $1.5 billion to help fund housing, power and irrigation projects and an expansion of the island’s only oil refinery. The agreement covering eight Memoranda of Understanding was signed in Tehran this week by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Iranian counterpart,...

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MARKETS: World LNG supplies are becoming tight

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are becoming tight around the world, said Australia’s upstream company Woodside. The company, a big LNG producer, predicts that LNG price would reach parity with oil prices in the long term. The supply situation would become worse after 2015, its president of marketing Reinhardt...

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MALAYSIA: Petronas, US and Japanese agencies to set up renewable energy laboratory

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Malaysia’s state energy agency Petronas has signed an agreement with Battelle Memorial Institute of the US, Battelle-Japan Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation to set of a renewable energy laboratory at Petronas Research Sdn Bhd’s premises in Bangi, Selangor. The agreement firms up earlier undertakings by the parties to facilitate renewable energy...

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CANADA: Higher oil revenues to boost allocations for Heritage Fund, capital expenses

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — The Alberta government is committing a significant portion of this year’s higher forecast surplus to the Heritage Fund and capital expenses, said Finance Minister Lyle Oberg.   The Heritage Fund is expected to grow by more than C$1 billion this year after another deposit from the province’s unanticipated surplus now...

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ASIA: Japan and UK set up $3.6 million climate change fund

(EnergyAsia, November 30, Friday) — Japan and the UK are providing a $3.6 million assistance package to strengthen the Asia Pacific region’s ability to respond to the adverse effects of climate change. The Technical Assistance for Promoting Climate Change Adaptation in Asia and the Pacific will receive a grant of $800,000 from the Japan Special...

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INDIA: IndianOil Corp signs MoU with the Chattisgarh state government to produce biodiesel

the state government of Chattisgarh to produce and promote biodiesel. Chattisgarh has declared its goal to become a biodiesel hub of India. The MoU was signed by K. Govindarajan, IOC’s executive director, Vivek Dhand, Principal Secretary (Energy) for the government of Chattisgarh, and S.K. Shukla, director of the Chhattisgarh State Renewable Energy Development Authority (CREDA),...

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INDONESIA: $100 oil could hurt economic growth

target of 6.8% next year and will suffer a bigger budget deficit if crude oil prices hit $100 a barrel.  Mulyani Indrawati said $100 oil would widen Indonesia’s budget deficit to 75.9 trillion rupiah or 1.8% of GDP from an earlier estimate of 73.3 trillion or 1.3% of GDP. ($1=9,400 rupiah). As a result of...

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MARKETS: Consultant CERA comments on $100 oil, an unchartered territory

The oil price over the past several weeks has taken on the trappings of a sporting record that once seemed untouchable. It has been broken with such regularity that what has historically been viewed as a distant prospect—$100 per barrel oil—is in sight. The world has never experienced a triple-digit oil price. The all-time inflation-adjusted...

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MARKETS: Oil down sharply as Saudi Arabia arrests more than 200 for plotting attacks on oil installa

previous day’s sharp losses as traders took profit and shifted their concerns to possible lower oil demand in the West as the US economy threatens to slip into recession. Oil has lost more than $8 a barrel since hitting a record high of $99.29 on November 21. Traders largely ignored news out of Saudi Arabia that...

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CHINA: Sinopec halts work on LNG terminal

because it has been unable to secure sufficient gas supply. The project was to have been jointly developed with the listed Huaneng power group. A recent deal with Iran to supply the three-million tonne terminal starting this year has fallen through and it is now unlikely that the terminal will even come onstream in 2010....

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CHINA: World’s biggest energy consumer after 2010

according to a forecast by the International Energy Agency. It also expects China to overtake Japan to become the world’s second biggest oil importer around the same time. By 2030, it would import as much as the entire European Union, said the Paris-based agency. World energy demand will likely rise by more than 50% through...

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CHINA: Yangpu port eyes key role in Asia oil, chemical trade

regional transhipment point for oil, chemicals and general merchandise. Beijing recently gave approval for Yangpu to invest US$6.6 billion to develop its bonded port area over the next five years. Yangpu will be China’s fourth bonded port after Shanghai’s Yantian, Ningbo-Zhoushan and Xiamen. Yangpu is the closest deepwater port to support upstream activities in the...

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MALAYSIA: Economy will withstand high oil price, minister says

over the years, said Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop. “We have a reasonable degree of resilience, so at this point of time there is nothing much to worry,” he told reporters recently. While Malaysia is a net crude oil exporter, its state budget is coming under stress from paying subsidies to keep gasoline and...

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SINGAPORE: Agency to launch R&D initiatives to help develop sustainable energy solutions

sustainable energy solutions. Speaking at the inaugural UK-Singapore workshop in Energy Technology this week, Lee Yi Shyan, the Minister of State for Trade and Industry, said A*STAR, the state agency leading energy R&D efforts, will launch the Singapore Initiatives in New Energy Technologies (SINERGY) and the Intelligent Energy Distribution Systems. The SINERGY Centre is a...

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INDIA: Chemical engineers set to benefit from new agreement

(EnergyAsia, November 29, Thursday) — The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineering (IIChE) have agreed to help chemical engineers in India attain chartered chemical engineer status. A Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the presidents of both organisations in Mumbai last week, is intended to promote and extend professional, social...

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ASIA: ADB says climate change presents opportunities to renew development strategies

presents an opportunity for East Asian countries to renew development strategies for making their economies energy efficient, diversifying their energy portfolio and planning to lessen the impacts of natural disasters, Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda said. “Climate challenge is daunting. However, it is also an opportunity for our region to adapt to new...

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AUSTRALIA: Santos welcomes government’s A$10 million commitment for Moomba carbon storage

government’s announcement to commit A$10 million to fast track development of the Moomba Carbon Storage (MCS) concept. The project has the potential to become the world’s largest CO2 storage facility. Santos said it and its joint venture partners would match the federal funding commitment by also contributing A$10 million to advance what is known as...

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China: AREVA lands 7-billion-euro contract, largest ever in nuclear power industry

French nuclear energy Areva has signed a massive contract in Beijing worth more than seven billion euro to supply nuclear reactors, parts and services to China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC). Witnessed by Mr Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao, the world record deal was signed by CGNPC chairman Qian Zhimin and Areva CEO Anne...

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CHINA: CNPC plans oil refinery project in Costa Rica

oil refinery in Costa Rica that would supply the domestic and nearby markets in Central America. The plant, announced by President Oscar Arias during his recent trip to China, will use Venezuelan heavy oil as feedstock. CNPC is a joint venture partner with Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, to develop a block in the...

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CHINA: High oil price not the main consideration in stockpiling plan

planners as they continue to build up the country’s strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) in the face of crude hovering above US$90 a barrel. An official at China’s energy agency said the high cost of oil would not force China to revise its stockpiling plans. Beijing began filling the first storage tanks last year and has...

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