(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — South Korea has gained a foothold in Africa’s coal industry after the Korea Resources Corp. (Kores) bought Australia-based Continental Coal’s stake in a bituminous coal mine in South Africa. The Vlakplaats plant is located east of Johannesburg and forms part of Witbank, the country’s largest coalfield. The US$13.8 million...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — World coal prices will likely be supported by Indonesia’s decision to reduce exports in the next few years in favour of meeting the needs of its domestic consumers. Under pressure from state utility PLN, the Indonesian government has ordered coal miners to sell part of their production at below-market...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — Investors swamped the initial public offering of Bumi Resources Minerals (BRM), a unit of Indonesia’s coal mining giant Bumi Resources, which closed last week. The IPO, launched November 30, was oversubscribed by nearly 30 times as investors sought exposure to Indonesia’s booming economy and its non-coal mining sector. At...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — Mechel OAO, a leading Russian mining and steel company, said its US-based subsidiary, Mechel Bluestone, has started up a new plant for washing coal produced from a Keystone mine in West Virginia. The US$12 million K2 plant will process more than one million tonnes of coal a year in...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — New Zealand’s underground coal mining industry faces the possibility of closure after 29 miners were killed in one of the country’s most deadly industrial accidents last month. The fourth and latest explosion that hit the Pike River pit on November 28 could endanger an industry that has grown rapidly...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — China is looking to expand the coverage of the resource tax to include coal. The tax on coal is expected to be set at 3%-5% of sales value, replacing the 1% sales tax currently imposed on the commodity. In August, the government launched a pilot resources tax on crude...

(EnergyAsia, December 15 2010, Wednesday) — US Walter Energy Inc will acquire Western Coal Corp for US$3.24 billion as it positions to meet rising Asian demand for coal. The enlarged entity would have 385 million tons in coal reserves, with metallurgical coal comprising 75% of Western Coal’s production. Walter Energy plans to purchase 20% of...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Canada’s SouthGobi Resources Ltd said it has signed separate agreements for 2011 to supply 450,000 tonnes of coal to North Asia Energy Group Limited (NAEG) and another for 500,000 tonnes to an unidentified “large international company”. NAEG is a joint venture between Hong Kong-listed North Asia Resources Holdings Limited...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Mongolia Energy Corp Ltd said it aims to produce between two million and 2.5 million tons of raw coal in 2011 following the start-up of a colliery in western Mongolia in October. CEO James Schaeffer said the Khushuut coking coal mine will help boost the company’s monthly output by...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Singapore rig builders are likely to see their order books for rigs and floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels double to S$4.5 billion to S$5 billion over the next two years, according to a research note from Citigroup. There has been a strong pickup in rig demand, reflecting...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Thursday) — Singapore power-generating companies YTL-owned PowerSeraya and China Huaneng-owned Tuas Power are exploring ways to reduce their dependence on piped natural gas from Indonesia and Malaysia. PowerSeraya will import Malaysian electricity while Tuas Power plans to produce electricity via coal gasification. The Singapore government earlier said that it’s open to...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — China’s coal import is set to rise to a new high next year on record demand from power, steel and cement producers, Citigroup said. The bank has forecast Chinese coal imports to increase 63% to more than 200 million tons to support a projected 7.3% rise in domestic demand...

      (EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Puda Coal Inc, a US-listed supplier of high grade metallurgical coking coal for steel manufacturing in China, said it has priced a public offering of 7.85 million shares of its common stock at US$12 per share. Puda, which is consolidating coal mines in China’s Shanxi Province, said...

(EnergyAsia, December 14 2010, Tuesday) — Australia’s Riversdale Mining, which is developing coal mines in Africa, said it is holding talks for a possible A$3.5 billion takeover by UK’s Rio Tinto. (US$1=A$1.02). Riversdale, which is 24.16% owned by India’s Tata, made the announcement last week after its talks with Rio Tinto was reported by the...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — New Zealand Oil and Gas said it will continue to provide short-term funding to its 30% subsidiary Pike River Coal, which has stopped operation after 29 workers died in two major explosions at its mine last month. NZOG said it would provide the remaining NZ$13 million from a NZ$25...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — Thiess India said it has won a “landmark” contract to develop and operate the Pakri Barwadih coal project in Jharkhand in northeastern India. The contract, with an unspecified value, was one of the largest awarded by NTPC Limited, India’s biggest power generating company with an installed generation capacity of...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — Singapore is hiring a consultant to advise on boosting the competitiveness of its marine and offshore industry amid a forecast long-term boom in the oil and gas industry. The sector last year accounted for around 10% of Singapore’s manufacturing output. The research, being commissioned by the Economic Development Board...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — Russia is on course to produce 500 million tons of crude oil this year after reporting that it had raised its production by 2% from January to October. The country’s crude oil output rose 2% from year-ago levels to 420.16 million tons, according to the Energy Ministry. However, oil...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — Aiming to deepen their economic cooperation, China and Oman have agreed to expand two-way investment and human resources training. The oil-rich Sultanate’s largest trading partner, is seeking China’s help Oman to reduce its 70% dependence on oil and gas earnings. Oman is developing its non-oil sectors including infrastructure, finance...

(EnergyAsia, December 13 2010, Monday) — Queensland state raised A$4.63 billion from the initial public offering of 60% of its stake in Australia’s largest rail freight company QR National last month. (US$1=A$1.03). QR National, which operates and manages the 2,300km Central Queensland coal network that links mines to coal ports at Bowen, Mackay and Gladstone,...

(EnergyAsia, December 10 2010, Friday) — Singapore Exchange recently added the Korean-Norwegian STX Offshore and Specialised Vessels (STX OSV) Holdings Limited to its mainboard listing, boosting its maritime and offshore sector. STX OSV is a leading global designer and builder of offshore and specialised vessels used in oil and gas exploration and production, and oil...

(EnergyAsia, December 10 2010, Friday) — The A$3 billion Wandoan Coal Project, involving a open-cut thermal coal mine in Australia’s Surat Basin was given conditional approval by the independent Coordinator-General (CG), according to Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Stirling Hinchliffe. (US$1.00=A$1.03) The project’s proponent and developer is the Wandoan Joint Venture (WJV) comprising operator Xstrata...

(EnergyAsia, December 10 2010, Friday) — Japan-Russia ties remain fragile following the November 1 visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to an island hotly claimed by both countries. Japan sent a strong protest note and summoned home its ambassador to Moscow a day after the controversial visit to the Kunashiri Island located north of Japan...