(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — Switzerland’s Zurich Financial Services group has opened a new office in Singapore partly to tap insurance opportunities in Asia’s growing oil, gas, petrochemical, power and energy industries. The company, one of the world’s largest property and casualty insurers, will provide full services to corporate and commercial customers in South-east...
SINGAPORE: Keppel to build Scorpion’s first semisubmersible for use in Brazil
(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Keppel FELS Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited (Keppel O&M), said it has been contracted to build its proprietary DSS 38 deepwater semisubmersible rig for Scorpion Offshore Ltd. The US$405 million contract excludes owner-supplied drilling and subsea equipment. Upon its completion in the fourth...
MARKETS: IEA sees world oil demand rising 1.1% to 87.7 million b/d in 2009
(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — World oil demand is expected to grow by 1.1% or 860,000 b/d to 87.7 million b/d in 2009, said the International Energy Agency. This would be slightly slower than this year’s demand growth by about 890,000 b/d growth. The Paris-based agency said high oil prices will lead to a contraction...
SAUDI ARABIA: SABIC to market polyolefin products by Aramco’s Chinese joint venture
(EnergyAsia, July 23, Wednesday) — SABIC Shenzhen Trading Company Ltd, a SABIC subsidiary in China, said it has agreed to market Saudi Aramco Sino Company Ltd’s 25% share of polyolefin products produced by the Fujian Refining and Petrochemicals Company of China. Saudi Aramco Sino Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco. Khalid G. (more…)
THAILAND: ‘Crop Science 2008: Food Security’ in Bangkok from September 3 to 4
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — The ‘Crop Science 2008: Food Security’ conference will be held at the Plaza Athenee Bangkok hotel in Thailand from September 3 to 4. Food security, global inflation and the world food crisis are issues of escalating importance. Since the green revolution, the human population has continued to grow while farm (more…)
INDIA: Essar Oil still in the running for stake in Kenyan oil refinery
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — The Kenyan government is still considering Essar Oil’s bid to buy up a 50% stake in Kenya Petroleum Refineries (KPRL). The government is also weighing a competing offer by Libyan oil firm Tamoil. The four-million-tonne per year KPRL plant at Mombasa is the only refinery in Eastern Africa. Earlier this...
CHINA: Vopak to invest $1 billion in landmark JV crude storage project
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — Dutch oil logistics firm Vopak and China’s State Development & Investment Communication Corp (SDIC) plan to build two 300,000-tonne crude oil terminals on China’s southernmost Hainan island. The Chinese firm said the complex, which will also include two 100,000-tonne berths for crude and oil products, will cost an estimated US$1...
AUSTRALIA: AGL, Torrens Energy in geothermal alliance
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — Australia’s AGL Energy Limited said it has signed a geothermal alliance agreement with Torrens Energy Limited to commercialise base load geothermal projects for the national electricity market. AGL said it would also be acquiring a 9.99% stake in Torrens Energy by way of a share placement at $0.40 per share...
AUSTRALIA: BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi alliance to acquire New Saraji coal project
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — An equal alliance between Australia’s BHP Billiton and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp has agreed to fully acquire the New Saraji coal project from New Hope Corporation Limited for a total of US$2.4 billion (half in cash and the other half in BHP Billiton share). New Saraji is an undeveloped metallurgical coal...
INDIA: Oil and gas supplies to be stretched through 2012
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — India will likely face a tight oil and gas market through 2012 amid soaring demand and greater competition for supplies on the international markets. Demand for the main oil products is set to rise to feed the energy demand of its fast-growing economy. Consumption is also being encouraged by the...
INDIA: Hindustan Petroleum shares plunge amid soaring oil price
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — The shares of Indian downstream oil firm Hindustan Petroleum Corporation hit a 52-week low of Rs165.60 in early July as crude oil soared to over US$144 per barrel. (US$1 = Rs42.60). This is a sharp decline from the Rs405.90 high the stock traded at the start of the year. Hindustan...
AUSTRALIA: ExxonMobil threatens Altona oil refinery shutdown over proposed emission trading costs
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — ExxonMobil is threatening to shut down its Altona oil refinery near Melbourne in Victoria state if the Federal government insists on implementing a costly greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme. The company said the 130,000 b/d refinery, Australia’s largest, could become commercially unviable if it has to take on the cost...
AUSTRALIA: Origin Energy welcomes government’s Green Paper on climate change
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — Australia’s Origin Energy has welcomed the release of the Federal government’s Green Paper on climate change. “Climate change poses particular risks for Australia. We strongly endorse the Government’s view that it is in our national interest to help forge an effective global response to climate change and to begin in...
KUWAIT: Refinery project hits snag
(EnergyAsia, July 22, Tuesday) — Plans for a fourth refinery in Kuwait have become the subject of a bitter quarrel among the country’s political factions. Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) had earlier awarded more than half the contracts for the US$15 billion project to one Japanese and four Korean companies. Some Members of Parliament are...
MALAYSIA: POWER-GEN Asia to feature over 75 industry presentations
(EnergyAsia, July 21, Monday) — ‘POWER-GEN Asia’, a conference and exhibition for the power generation and transmission and distribution industries organised by Pennwell, will be held at the KLCC convention centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from October 21 to 23. POWER-GEN Asia will feature over 75 presentations and will include two plenary sessions on ‘Regional (more…)
CLIMATE CHANGE: High oil price more effective than G8 in tackling global warming
(EnergyAsia, July 21, Monday) — The G8 Summit early this month ended with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia and the US promising to tackle a host of issues pertaining to the climate food and energy crises. Despite the pledges in a long statement, the summit is unlikely to accomplish much (more…)
AUSTRALIA: AGL-Arrow joint venture sells North Queensland Gas Pipeline for A$205 million
sell off their equally owned North Queensland Gas Pipeline (NQGP) to Victorian Funds Management Corporation (VFMC) for a total of A$205 million. (US$1=A$1.02). AGL and Arrow said they will retain ownership of the gas processing and compression facility located at Moranbah, which will be integrated into their Moranbah gas project joint venture. They will continue...
ABU DHABI: Adnoc, ConocoPhillips to jointly develop Shah Gas Field
has agreed with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to develop the Shah Gas Field in the Middle Eastern country. ADNOC will be holding a 60% interest in the project while ConocoPhillips will hold the remaining 40%. The two companies will share the ongoing cost of front-end engineering and design (FEED) and project mobilisation for...
IRAQ: India’s BGR Energy wins contract to build 70 oil storage tanks
said it has won a $9.3 million contract to design and manufacture 70 oil product storage tanks for Iraq’s State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP). The tanks will be installed in the Aumara region where a large oil products depot is being built. The project, BGR’s fourth for SCOP, will be completed by mid-2009. The...
CHINA: Spain’s Gamesa starts up 4th factory, sells another 405 wind turbine generators
fourth manufacturing plant in China and also made another sale of 400 wind turbine generators to the Longyuan Electric Power Group Corporation, a leading Chinese renewable energy company. With the start-up of the new Tianjin city plant, Gamesa said it is now equipped with an integrated production and assembly centre for wind turbine generators capable...
BRUNEI: Swiber completes offshore installation mission for Shell
offshore industry, said it has successfully executed and completed the Mampak platform installation work for Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd using its heavy derrick barge, the Dalihao which has a 2,500-MT lifting capacity. The project is part of Swiber’s landmark US$146.6 million contract with Brunei Shell announced in February 2007 which includes offshore work...
AUSTRALIA: Regulators approve Petronas’ stake in Santos’ Gladstone LNG project
approved Petronas’ purchase of a 40% of its Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project first announced on May 29. Petronas, Malaysia’s state oil and gas company, will pay US$2.008 billion to become Santos’ partner in the development, operation and marketing of the project. Petronas will pay another US$500 million when the partners proceed to build a second...
AUSTRALIA: Consultant wants government to start preparation before oil runs out
will need to think seriously about what it does with its limited oil resources, according to independent analyst Peter Strachan. “As the oil price escalates, the global free market in oil trade will dissipate as those countries with oil become more selective in how they sell,” he said. “Oil could become unavailable at any price...
ASIA: Lighting giants agree to set standards for energy saving fluorescent lamps
General Electric, have signed a pact to establish standards for compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) in an effort to rid the Asian market of shoddy energy-saving lights. Under the new agreement, lighting suppliers in Asia will develop performance levels to rate CFL quality, a system for product marking, and a regional database so consumers can identify...
SINGAPORE: ‘Workplace Safety and Occupational Health’ to be held from August 21 to 22
(EnergyAsia, July 18, Friday) — ‘Workplace Safety and Occupational Health’ will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Singapore from August 21 to 22. The conference will discuss safety leadership and culture, improving safety performance with behaviour-based safety, work injury compensation and claims under the Work Injury and Compensation Act, key challenges and buy-in techniques (more…)