(EnergyAsia, August 21, Thursday) — Canada’s Red Hill Energy said it is undertaking a five-tonne bulk sampling and open pit expansion program at its Ulaan Ovoo coal project in northern Mongolia.  As part of the program, carried out under the supervision of Australia’s Minarco-MineConsult Ltd (MMC), a five-tonne working section representative sample will be removed...

(EnergyAsia, August 21, Thursday) — Canada’s increasingly stringent requirements to bury carbon dioxide (CO2) set free during oil sands extraction could add another US$13 a barrel to the cost of producing oil from Alberta province’s heavy crude deposits. Already, the industry is faced with rising cost from scarce labour and materials which have pushed production...

(EnergyAsia, August 21, Thursday) — Tougher environmental regulations being proposed could hamper the development of oil sands projects in Canada’s Alberta province, French oil giant Total has warned. Often lauded as the “next Saudi Arabia” with proven oil reserves of 177 billion, Alberta may not live up to its promise if proposed tight environmental regulations...

(EnergyAsia, August 21, Thursday) — North America is probably home to much larger natural gas reserves than previously thought due to increasing discoveries and production of gas in shale rock or tight formation. This could potentially reverse the region’s decline in gas production. Firms such as EnCana, Apache and EOG Resources have all put out...

(EnergyAsia, August 21, Thursday) — Lanka Marine Services (LMS), the bunker fuel subsidiary of John Keells Holdings (JKH), said it has been given till September 10 to vacate the land and oil storage tanks in Sri Lanka’s Colombo port. The extension from the original deadline of August 21 was granted by the Supreme Court which...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — Shipping traffic through Singapore surpassed one billion tons on August 15, far earlier than previous years, showing the growth of the country’s maritime sector. The Maritime and Port Authority said the vessel which set the one-billion-ton mark was APL Australia, a 50,243-gross ton (GT) container ship which arrived at the...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — Several prominent US city mayors have voiced strong opposition against Canada’s oil sand industry, accusing it of contributing to global warming. At a recent conference in Miami, the mayors have called for US cities to stop using oil and energy sources that leave a large environmental footprint, in particular heavy...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — Oil and gas prices may have roughly doubled from last year’s levels but the mood in Canada’s oil patch remains sober and cautious. Despite numerous forecasts for oil to reach US$200 or more, the industry and its backers are worried if the high prices will be sustainable over the long...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — Oil firms are rushing to buy up land in the northeastern part of Canada’s British Columbia province for oil and gas exploration. In recent auctions, the provincial goverment launched bidding on 99 licences and lease parcels covering 61,500 hectares of prospective land. The hotspots are the Montney area near Fort...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — The Haida Nation, a native group in Canada’s British Columbia province, said it is opposed to any attempts by government or private companies to open the offshore waters for oil and gas development. The Haida fear that exploration and production activities would permanently destroy the natural environment. British Columbia’s Queen...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — US presidential contender Senator Barack Obama has pledged to cure his country of its addiction to “dirty” and expensive imported oil, with potentially adverse impacts for Alberta’s growing oil sands industry. Mr Obama said he might exclude the oil sands as a part of the US energy mix if elected...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — The development of Alberta’s oil sands projects is being held back by labour and materials shortages and rising costs. Projects are running over budget as many firms began expansion work all at the same time to capitalise on soaring oil prices, thus triggering expansive bidding wars for labour and materials....

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — Royal Dutch Shell plc said it and Canadian biotechnology firm Iogen Corporation will extend their commercial alliance to accelerate the development and deployment of cellulosic ethanol. The terms of the agreement include a significant investment by Shell in technology development with Iogen Energy Corporation, a jointly owned development company dedicated...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — Origin Energy (Kenya) Ltd said it has been  granted a six-month extension on its production sharing contracts (PSCs) for Blocks L8 and L9 located in the Lamu Basin off Kenya. Kenya’s Ministry of Energy extended the contracts to Origin Energy Kenya, a subsidiary of Australia’s Origin Energy, as operator. The...

(EnergyAsia, August 20, Wednesday) — French major Total said it has found natural gas in the offshore Mimia-1 exploration well in its 40%-owned WA-344P permit in Australia. Total E&P Australia and operator Inpex of Japan acquired the WA-344P exploration acreage last November and completed the Mimia-1 well in July. A 72-metre gas column was found...

(EnergyAsia, August 19, Tuesday) — Courage Marine Group Limited, a Singapore-listed dry bulk shipper focused on infrastructure and energy commodities, said its second quarter net profit rose 67% year-on-year to US$17.8 million. Firm demand for raw materials to meet the energy and infrastructure needs in Asia lifted group revenue 56% to US$28.5 million. This increase...

(EnergyAsia, August 19, Tuesday) — Canada’s oil and gas reserves in the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia could help relieve the global supply crunch, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). The country would have to continue expanding Alberta’s oil sands production and start developing British Columbia’s offshore oil and gas deposits, said IEA...

(EnergyAsia, August 19, Tuesday) — Labour shortages, regulatory hurdles, a lack of clarity over government climate change policies as well as soaring materials and engineering costs are slowing down investment into developing oil sands deposits in Canada’s Alberta province. The industry is complaining that the growing list of negatives is preventing them from increasing their...

(EnergyAsia, August 19, Tuesday) — The recent initial public offer (IPO) of Sohar Power Company (SPC) on Oman’s stock exchange in Muscat was oversubscribed 21 times. The company sold 9,730,000 shares, representing 35% of its equity, for Omani Rial 1.350 (US$3.51) to raise US$35 million. The shares, which were offered primarily to individual investors in...

(EnergyAsia, August 19, Tuesday) — Shell’s C$5.9 billion takeover of Canada’s Duvernay Oil could trigger more mergers and acauisitions in the country’s oil sector. (US$1=C$1.06). Duvernay produces some 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOEs)/ day, about 90% of it as natural gas. It plans to boost output to 70,000 BOE/ day by 2012. The company,...

(EnergyAsia, August 19, Tuesday) — Canada’s oil-rich provinces Alberta and Saskatchewan have rejected proposals for a nationwide cap-and-trade carbon market to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The two fear that the scheme would redistribute their oil wealth to other provinces, coming on top of an equalisation mechanism that already redistributes income between the country’s 13 provinces...

(EnergyAsia, August 19, Tuesday) — Oil companies drooling over the estimated 10 billion barrels of oil reserves off Canada’s British Columbia coast will have to climb a wall of opposition from environmentalists and native groups as well as the natural barrier posed by high costs. Analysts believe the deposits could help to alleviate the world’s...

(EnergyAsia, August 19, Tuesday) — The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast world oil demand to rise by more than one million b/d in the second half of the year compared with only 500,000 b/d in the first half, due largely to a recovery in US demand. It said that a 1.3-million b/d rise...