(EnergyAsia, June 28 2010, Monday) — A deputy manager at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd died after falling into the company’s oil storage tank at Chembur, a suburban neighbourhood in India’s Mumbai city. Police said that the oil storage tanks were in poor shape and the company had put up notices warning employees against climbing on...

(EnergyAsia, June 28 2010, Monday) — The Chinese government has imposed a 5% tax on oil and gas production in the largely Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang in an effort to placate rising public anger over the vast profits being made by state-owned energy companies. After a trial, the 5% tax will likely be applied...

(EnergyAsia, June 28, 2010, Monday) — Boosted by rapid economic growth, China’s crude oil import levels surged 29% to 95.7 million metric ton in the first five months of this year, according to preliminary data released by the General Administration of Customs. Imports of refined products by the world’s second-biggest energy consumer reached 3.18 million...

(EnergyAsia, June 28 2010, Monday) — China’s apparent oil demand continued its 2010 climb at a steady clip from a year ago to reach 36.48 million metric tons (mt) or about 8.6 million barrels per day (b/d) in May, said McGraw Hill’s energy media group Platts. Its analysis of official data just released showed that...

(EnergyAsia, June 28 2010, Monday) — Canada’s Encana Corporation said it and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) have signed a Heads of Agreement outlining a framework for the two companies to negotiate a potential joint-venture investment to develop Encana’s natural gas assets in Horn River, Greater Sierra and Cutbank Ridge in northeast British Columbia province....

(EnergyAsia, June 25 2010, Friday) — HMS Bergbau AG, a Germany-based international coal supplier with operating know-how of coal mining, transport and trade, said it has acquired a coal harbour in Indonesia for an undisclosed sum. It said the acquisition of Port Kintap in South Kalimantan will provide a reliable stream of income as it...

(EnergyAsia, June 25 2010, Friday) — The BP-operated deepwater Thunder Horse oil field in the Gulf of Mexico that generated so much excitement early in the decade is producing far short of expectations with an output of just 180,000 b/d. When the field was discovered in 1999 in Mississippi Canyon blocks 788 and 822, partners...

(EnergyAsia, June 25 2010, Friday) — China has been boosting its military naval power in response to its growing interest in securing energy and other natural resources around the world, posing a potential challenge to the dominant US presence in the Pacific. China’s military has said it plans to extend its naval power beyond its...

(EnergyAsia, June 25 2010, Friday) — In just under a decade, Chinese oil companies have emerged as major players on the world stage. Its three state-owned oil companies, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNPC), have shown themselves to be savvy buyers and traders of oil...

(EnergyAsia, June 25 2010, Friday) — China invested a total of US$25 billion last year acquiring international companies that will yield a net output of more than one million b/d of crude oil this year, said Edinburgh, Scotland-based consultants Wood Mackenzie. State firms CNPC/PetroChina, Sinopec Group and CNOOC Ltd are expected to continue their rapid...

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2010, Thursday) — C20 Holdings, a marine firm listed on the Singapore Exchange’s second board, said it expects remain focused on the Middle East market after completing a proposed merger with mainboard-listed marine service provider Swissco International. C20 chief executive Kang Hwee Meng said the company is trying to secure a major...

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2010, Thursday) — China’s oil refining capacity may rise by close to 50% over the next five years to 15 million b/d, assuming all planned projects are brought onstream, according to a state-owned industry publication. Sinopec Group’s China Petrochemical News said the country’s refining capacity will rise 6.4% to 10.15 million b/d...

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2010, Thursday) — China’s National Energy Administration has chosen eight private companies to help expand the country’s strategic petroleum reserves, said Zhao Youshan, head of the China Fuel Distribution Association. The companies will take part in a government pilot involving hundreds of private companies who own and control about 27 million tonnes...

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2010, Thursday) — The Bangladeshi government plans to invite the private sector for the first time to build oil depots to store the country’s rising fuel imports. State oil firm Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) will seek expressions of interest for the construction of several depots nationwide, an official from the company said....

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2010, Thursday) — Florida, US-based SinoCoking Coal and Coke Chemical Industries Inc said it has received approvals from the Baofeng County government and the municipality of Pingdingshan in China to act as a county-wide coal mine consolidator. The company said the award makes it one of seven private enterprises qualified to bid...

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2010, Thursday) — Hong Kong-listed China Oil And Gas said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Sino Advance to acquire its entire issued share capital of COG Holdings, which holds a 70% equity interest in a coal mining company. Shandong Shuanghe Mining, which explores and develops coal mines, has...

(EnergyAsia, June 24 2010, Thursday) — The energy ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group have issued a joint statement at the end of their ninth meeting in Fukui city in Japan this week. Entitled, “Low Carbon Paths to Energy Security: Cooperative Energy Solutions for a Sustainable APEC”, the meeting sought to identify solutions...

  (EnergyAsia, June 23 2010, Wednesday) — Halcyon Offshore’s young owners serving the offshore oil and gas industry have a unique way of looking at their business: they liken the work of equipping and modifying vessels to a real estate project. Set up by a group of friends in 2007, the multi-disciplinary engineering and construction...

(EnergyAsia, June 23 2010, Wednesday) — Singapore is determined to develop a floating terminal to store oil and petrochemicals on the island of Pulau Sebarok near the city-state’s oil refining and trading hub on Jurong Island. State agency JTC Corporation, which is in charge of developing industrial land and infrastructure, has engaged a consultant to...

(EnergyAsia, June 23 2010, Wednesday) — Tuas Power, Singapore’s third-largest generating company with a licensed capacity of 2,670MW, said it has increased its share of the country’s electricity market to 24.5% in the first quarter of this year from 22.4% in the same period last year. In 2009, Tuas Power, which was acquired by China...

(EnergyAsia, June 23 2010, Wednesday) — The UAE is expected to increase its oil storage capacity by an average of 9.3% every year for the next 3 years, according to a recent report published by Global Data.    Construction of new oil storage facilities in Fujairah state are expected to boost the Gulf nation’s oil...

(EnergyAsia, June 23 2010, Wednesday) — Halcyon Offshore Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based multi-disciplinary engineering and construction contractor for the offshore oil and gas industry, said it has agreed to acquire Cables International Pte Ltd and its subsidiaries (CI) from Singapore Exchange-listed King Wan Corporation and CI’s management for S$30 million. (US$1=S$1.38) Halcyon Offshore, which started...

(EnergyAsia, June 23 2010, Wednesday) — Indonesia’s oil production is headed for further decline as the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination for foreign energy companies continues to decline.   Ari Soemarno, a former president director of state oil company Pertamina, said the government’s production target of 965,000 b/d this year will probably not be...