(EnergyAsia, June 18, Thursday) — Indian officials have expressed their concern with China’s role in the Sri Lankan government’s recent military defeat of the 26-year-old Tamil separatist rebellion. India is worried that China’s decisive support for Colombo is part of a long-term strategy to extend its political and military influence in the Indian Ocean. Sri...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Thursday) — World crude oil prices continued to advance last week, marching past the psychologically significant $70 per barrel level, a more than doubling in value in just four months, said oil media Platts. Benchmark crude oil prices WTI and Brent peaked last Thursday at $72.68 per barrel and $71.79 per barrel....

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Thursday) — China National Aviation Fuel Group Corp said it will be building new oil products tanks in Shanghai city, adding 140,000 cubic metres of capacity by 2010, and 300,000 cubic metres two years later. The company has had to relocate its fuel storage terminal operations from Longhua in southwest Shanghai for...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Thursday) — Silver Spring Networks, a leading smart grid network solutions company, said it has been selected by electrical distributors CitiPower and Powercor Australia to provide the network to support the rollout of a government-mandated advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) programme. Silver Spring Networks will provide network infrastructure, devices, software and a variety...

(EnergyAsia, June 18, Thursday) — BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, said it will reduce its annual metallurgical coking coal prices for 2009 by 58% in response to falling demand from steelmaking customers. The Melbourne, Australia-based firm said it has concluded contracts with key global customers, which include Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Holdings...

(EnergyAsia, June 17, Wednesday) — The World Bank has downgraded its forecast for the global economy this year, predicting it will contract by 3% as opposed to the previous -1.7% estimate, and poor countries will take the brunt of “multiple waves of economic stress”. Painting an increasingly bleak picture, World Bank Group President Robert B....

(EnergyAsia, June 17, Wednesday) — Countries seeking to increase the use of renewable energy sources for generating electricity will have to overcome the same costly challenge now faced by the UK. The country must upgrade its ageing national electricity grid to cope with the large quantity of electricity generated by wind, wave and solar energy....

(EnergyAsia, June 17, Wednesday) — Chinese wind turbine manufacturer, Xinjiang Goldwind, has won a contract to supply a 750 kilowatt (KW) wind turbine to the Dabancheng wind power project. Xinjiang Wind Energy Liability Co Ltd, the largest shareholder of the project, awarded the contract for the RMB147 million project. (U$1 = RMB6.82). In related news,...

(EnergyAsia, June 17, Wednesday) — Indonesia’s state power utility, PT PLN expects its coal consumption to rise more than 30% to 30 million tonnes next year as it starts up several large power plants. PLN President Director Fahmi Mochtar told the recent Coaltrans Asia conference in Bali that it will hasten the construction of 10,000MW...

(EnergyAsia, June 17, Wednesday) — Keppel Shipyard, a unit of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited, said it will build a safety training complex dedicated to further equip its entire 14,000 workforce with safety knowledge and competencies. The plan, probably long overdue, was unveiled at the launch of Keppel Group’s “Safety Starts with Me –...

(EnergyAsia, June 17, Wednesday) — Papua New Guinea’s Petromin has enlisted China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to help with the financing and development of a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Petromin, Papua New Guinea’s national oil and mining firm, holds a stake in the Liquid Nuigini gas field and associated LNG project. The...

(EnergyAsia, June 17, Wednesday) — Yantai Raffles Shipyard Limited (YRS), the largest builder of semi-submersible drilling rigs in China, said its net profit fell by 25.1% to S$26.9 million last year. (US$1=S$1.45). It attributed the decline to provision for losses of S$10.8million sale investments, net foreign exchange losses of S$11 million and S$30.9 million of...

(EnergyAsia, June 17, Wednesday) — The developer of the first eco-business park in China’s Tianjin city said it expects to create over 15,000 white-collar jobs and attract RMB2 billion worth of investments when the project is fully developed by 2015. (US$1=RMB6.82). Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co Ltd (SSTEC) said several Singapore companies have...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Tuesday) — Speaking at last week’s prestigious St Petersburg International Economic Forum in the presence of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, oil media Argus said a new Russian crude price benchmark based on Asia-Pacific spot sales could soon emerge. Argus said the completion of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline will enable exports of...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Tuesday) — Seeking to expand its international operations and production, Thai coal producer Banpu is on the prowl for coal mines in Indonesia. The acquisitions will be executed by Banpu’s Indonesian subsidiary, PT Indo Tambangraya Megah, which is combing the Kalimantan region for opportunities. Banpu, the largest coal producer and distributor in...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Tuesday) — International energy services company John Wood Group PLC said a subsidiary has agreed to purchase 51% of Regional and Northern Maintenance Service (RANms), a Darwin, Australia-based provider of operations support services to the oil and gas industry. Wood Group said it will also hold options to acquire the remaining 49%...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Tuesday) — Platts, a leading global energy and metals information provider and a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, said it has launched a series of new oil price benchmarks for the Indian oil markets on June 1. The Mean of Platts West India Netbacks, or MOPWIN, will help meet a critical need...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Tuesday) — The worst has passed for Singapore’s recessed economy, according to UOB Kay Hian’s latest research, which will be boosted by the start-up of the island’s first multi-billion-dollar integrated resort (IR) in the second half of the year. The economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 10.1% in the first quarter on the...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Tuesday) — Malaysian power utility Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) expects to benefit from relatively low coal prices this year, officials said. Coal prices have been harbouring around US$60 per tonne in recent months. Each US$1 per tonne change in coal prices translates into a RM29-million profit impact on TNB’s balance sheet. (US$1=RM...

(EnergyAsia, June 16, Tuesday) — US coal miner Peabody Energy is looking to expand its production and trading capacity of thermal coal in Asia, with Indonesia a primary target. At the recent Coaltrans conference in Bali, Indonesia, Peabody President Richard Navarre said he expected thermal coal demand to grow significantly in the region. Peabody and...

(EnergyAsia, June 15, Monday) — A subsidiary of state-owned oil and gas firm PetroVietnam will lead an international consortium to start building a $60 million bio-ethanol plant in Tam Nong district in northern Phu Tho province later this month. PetroVietnam Biofuel Joint Stock Co (PVB) has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the...

(EnergyAsia, June 15, Monday) — Singapore’s marine and offshore industry has reported an 18% rise in its 2008 output to a record S$15.4 billion from S$13.05 billion in 2007. (US$1=S$1.45). The growth came largely from the offshore rig building sector, with the offshore sector surpassing the ship repair and conversion sector for the first time....

(EnergyAsia, June 15, Monday) — The spot price for Australian thermal coal for Asian buyers reached US$64 per tonne in May, up from a six-month low of US$58 per tonne in February. The key driver was resurgent demand from buyers in China and India. China’s coal imports rose to 9.16 million tonnes in April, up...

(EnergyAsia, June 15, Monday) — Indian coal buyers are increasingly switching to suppliers from South Africa at the expense of those from Indonesia. South African coal costs an average of US$4 per tonne lower than Indonesian coal. India expects to increase its purchase of coal from South Africa to continue growing after reaching 10 million...