(EnergyAsia, November 26 2010, Friday) — Russia is strengthening its political and economic ties with China as it seeks to strike a balance in its relations with the East and the West. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has pursued radical reforms to align its political and economic system with its former Cold...

(EnergyAsia, November 26 2010, Friday) — Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the US could emerge as a surprise threat against Russia’s grip on the European energy market. Faced with surplus gas supplies from shale, the US is working to divert some of its imported LNG cargoes to countries where gas prices are higher. The...

(EnergyAsia, November 26 2010, Friday) — In a long awaited move to curb US economic power, China and Russia said they will start using their own currencies to conduct bilateral trade in place of the dollar. Meeting in St. Petersburg this week, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced the decision that...

(EnergyAsia, November 25 2010, Thursday) — In Singapore, Exxon Mobil Corp will be investing in a new export-oriented diesel refinery unit while rival Singapore Refining Company (SRC) will be deferring its decision to build a long-awaited gasoline plant. ExxonMobil said it will build a diesel hydrotreater to boost the production of ultra low-sulphur diesel by...

(EnergyAsia, November 25 2010, Thursday) — Russia’s third largest oil producer, TNK-BP Ltd, said it plans to double exports of its new east Siberian crude oil to Asia in 2011 through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline. Designed to export Russia’s new medium-sweet crude oil to US refiners, ESPO’s Pacific coast terminal is setting...

(EnergyAsia, November 25 2010, Thursday) — Ezra Holdings Limited, a Singapore Exchange-listed integrated support and marine services provider in the offshore oil and gas sector, said it has acquired a 650,000 square-foot fabrication facility located in Houston in the US state of Texas. It did not disclose the purchase price. The new facility will enable...

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2010, Tuesday) — Ezra Holdings Ltd, a Singapore Exchange-listed offshore support and marine services specialist, announced it will be investing around US$130 million for four high-end multi-purpose platform supply vessels (PSVs) over the next two years. At up to 5,200 deadweight tonnes (dwt), the vessels will meet the latest code of safety...

(EnergyAsia, November 25 2010, Thursday) — Adding his authoritative voice to the peak oil debate, a former senior executive of Saudi Aramco has disputed a US government report that projects a sharp growth in oil production from the Middle East and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Conventional oil reserves worldwide are being depleted...

(EnergyAsia, November 25 2010, Thursday) — Rotterdam-based Royal Vopak, the world’s largest independent tank storage service provider, last week announced it had raised S$225 million through a private placement with Asian investors. (US$1.00=S$1.3). In its second successful senior unsecured notes issuance in the region, the company said seven Asian institutional investors subscribed to the notes...

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2010, Wednesday) — Chimbusco, one of China’s largest bunker fuel traders, plans to venture into the Singapore market through a new joint venture. The proposed move by Chimbusco, itself a joint venture between PetroChina and China Ocean Shipping (Group), to seek a bunker licence from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore...

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2010, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Prime Minister has dismissed fears that the world may be confronting peak oil, stating that the pessimists have been wrong many times before and are likely to be proved wrong again. Citing new energy supplies from deepwater sources and shale gas among others, he told delegates at the...

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2010, Wednesday) — The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) is investing up to S$200 million into the newly launched Singapore Maritime Institute over the next 10 years. Working with the Singapore Maritime Institute, A*STAR and the Economic Development Board, the virtual institute will focus on developing maritime education, training and...

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2010, Wednesday) — New joint ventures between Mongolia and Russia have been moving at snail’s pace, say officials from both sides. Railway JVs, for instance, are hampered by financial concerns, particularly against the backdrop of Mongolia’s still unpaid debt owed to Russia. This crucial issue will have to be settled out so...

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2010, Wednesday) — World conventional oil production reached its peak in 2006, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said, warning that governments and consumers must be prepared to pay higher oil prices. The age of cheap oil is now over, the Paris-based agency repeated in its latest recently-released World Energy Outlook 2010 report....

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2010, Wednesday) — The stage is being set for oil prices to breach the record high of US$147 a barrel in July 2008, according to a study by the 10-member Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). The study, published in October, said the industry is not investing sufficiently to boost oil...

(EnergyAsia, November 24 2010, Wednesday) — Companies investing in liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Australia face a slew of challenges that will raise development costs in the long term, say industry executives and analysts. While the sector will continue to grow in the medium-term, thanks to strong demand in Asia, it will increasingly run...

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2010, Tuesday) — International energy experts have declared that Singapore is at the forefront of the smart energy economy, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The ministry said the panel of energy experts which meet in Singapore twice a year has endorsed Singapore’s strategy of diversifying its energy portfolio, including...

  (EnergyAsia, November 23 2010, Tuesday) — Russia’s Sakhalin Energy has exported its first cargo of Vityaz crude oil from the Sakhilin-2 project from the Sea of Okhotsk to Thailand. The tanker Zaliv Aniva of the Primorsky Sea Shipping Company delivered the 764,000-barrel cargo to buyer Petro Diamond of Japan. Since starting year-round oil shipments...

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2010, Tuesday) — Russia’s Gazprom has reduced its natural gas production forecast for this year by nearly one percent on account of weakness in its main markets in Europe. The company, which accounts for a quarter of Europe’s gas supply, said falling demand at home and abroad will force it to lower...

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2010, Tuesday) — Scientists have alleged that the US government is still blocked them from disclosing the worst-case scenario and extent of the damage arising from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to a report by the national panel investigating the spill which began in April with the...

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2010, Tuesday) — As it continues to rebuild after decades of civil war, Sri Lanka is seeking investors to build a bitumen packaging plant, said Petroleum Minister Susil Premajayantha. State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp needs to pack and distribute the bitumen tar that it produces and imports to contractors who are building and...

(EnergyAsia, November 23 2010, Tuesday) — Saudi Arabia is expected to sell 50 million metric tons of crude to China this year, up more than 16% from last year, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Citing the Chinese ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Yang Honglin, China, which recently overtook the US as the biggest buyer of...

  (EnergyAsia, November 23 2010, Tuesday) — Russia is expected to remain the world’s largest crude oil producer this year after overtaking Saudi Arabia in 2009 for the first time since 1991. Last year, Russia produced an averaged 10 million b/d to eclipse Saudi Arabia which reduced production by more than 10% to 9.7 million...