(EnergyAsia, July 18 2011, Monday) — Two Asian companies have declared their intentions to invest in oil storage projects overseas for different reasons. With an eye to bolstering Taiwan’s energy supply security, state-owned refiner CPC Corp said it is looking to invest at least NT$60 billion in building oil depots in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam....

(EnergyAsia, July 18 2011, Monday) — Wary of further dependence on imported energy, China is stepping up plans to tap its own vast reserves of shale and coalbed methane (CBM) gas to sharply raise the domestic production of natural gas. The world’s largest energy user is aiming to raise its CBM production from 8.6 billion...

(EnergyAsia, July 18 2011, Monday) — To meet its fast-rising demand for clean energy, China is looking to raise its natural gas import from 14 billion cubic metres (cbm) this year to 90 bcm by 2015, said consultant Bernstein Research. At 40 bcm, liquefied natural gas (LNG) will account for nearly half the import while...

(EnergyAsia, July 15 2011, Friday) — Oil and gas-rich countries may have a harder time squeezing new concessions following recent reports that China may itself be sitting on vast reserves of shale and unconventional gas that could significantly reduce its dependence on energy imports. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), China may have...

(EnergyAsia, July 15 2011, Friday) — Indonesia is about to discard their contract obligations as they demand that contract producers as well as long-term customers pay more for liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies. Citing the need to increase revenue, the Energy Ministry’s oil and gas director general Evita Legowo said the government wants to review...

(EnergyAsia, July 14 2011, Thursday) — A large number of active coal ash disposal sites in 19 US states may be violating a federal ban on open dumping, according to a major analysis released by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). The report was released a day after a House Subcommittee voted last month to prohibit...

(EnergyAsia, July 14 2011, Thursday) — Oiltanking Partners LP, a subsidiary of Oiltanking Holding Americas Inc, is targeting to raise more than US$200 million through an initial public offering of 10 million shares to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “OILT”. The company is expected to offer the shares at...

(EnergyAsia, July 14 2011, Thursday) — Seamwell International, a British company specialising in new clean coal technology, has started work with its Chinese partner to jointly develop a US$1.5 billion commercial underground coal gasification plant in China’s Inner Mongolia. With the UK Prime Minister and the Chinese Premier as their witness last month, Seamwell officially...

(EnergyAsia, July 14 2011, Thursday) — The growing demand for natural gas against limited domestic supply has driven and will continue to drive the growth of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade in the Asia-Pacific region. Over the last decade, the region has seen an increase in both its regasification capacity and LNG imports. With...

(EnergyAsia, July 13 2011, Wednesday) — Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co said it has agreed to pay Cockatoo Coal Ltd A$37.25 million for a 49% stake in its Woori coal project in Australia’s Queensland state. (US$1=A$0.94). The project, located in the Woori section of 4,000 sq-km-wide Surat Basin, holds around 40 million tons of...

(EnergyAsia, July 13 2011, Wednesday) – Expect India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to jump, possibly by as much as five times over the next decade, as its domestic output fails to keep pace and its various plans for pipeline to tap gas supplies from the Middle East falter, analysts and industry players say. The...

(EnergyAsia, July 13 2011, Wednesday) — The Janamanjung coal-fired power plant in Malaysia’s Johor state can be expanded by 2,000 megawatts to 4,100MW, according to researchers at Kenanga Research. Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), the plant’s owner and operator, is Malaysia’s leading power utility. The company developed Janamanjung’s existing plant on reclaimed land, and is under...

(EnergyAsia, July 13 2011, Wednesday) — Two leading Philippine companies, Ayala Corp and Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp, have agreed to jointly develop and operate a 135-megawatt circulating fluidised bed thermal coal power plant in Calaca in Batangas on Luzon Island. Ayala Corp said its subsidiary, AC Energy Corp, and Trans-Asia Oil will establish...

(EnergyAsia, July 13 2011, Wednesday) — Singapore is rapidly developing into a regional hub for coal trading and distribution in response to rising demand in Asia. The Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) is planning to launch new futures contracts in iron ore and coal later in the year as more traders and brokers start up or...

(EnergyAsia, July 13 2011, Wednesday) — Vietnam’s domestic coal supply shortages are set to worsen after state-owned PetroVietnam awarded separate contracts to build two large coal-fired power plants to start up from 2015. PetroVietnam awarded two contracts totaling US$1.2 billion to subsidiaries Petrovietnam Construction Corp (PVC) and Petrovietnam Investment Consultancy and Engineering Corp (PVE) to...

(EnergyAsia,  July 13 2011, Wednesday) — US Peabody Energy and Luxembourg steel maker ArcelorMittal SA said they have jointly proposed to the board of Australia’s Macarthur Coal Ltd (MCC) to acquire all its shares for a total of A$4.7 billion. (US$1=A$0.94). A newly-formed company, owned 60% by Peabody and 40% by ArcelorMittal, has proposed to...

(EnergyAsia, July 12 2011, Tuesday) — Geopolitics as much as economics appeared to have been a key consideration in the Mongolian government’s decision to award the mining rights to the giant Tavan Tolgoi coal deposit to companies from China, Russia and the US. After over a year of planning and evaluation, the Mongolia government announced...

(EnergyAsia, July 12 2011, Tuesday) — After last week’s collapse, the Brent-WTI price spread has more than recovered to reach a record of more than US$22 a barrel this week. While Brent is the global benchmark for crude, WTI remains hostage to storage constraints in Cushing, Oklahoma and the weak US economy. That gap could...

(EnergyAsia, July 12 2011, Tuesday) — PetroChina Company Limited and UK’s INEOS Group said they have completed the deal for their subsidiaries PetroChina International (London) Company Limited, and INEOS Investments (Jersey) Limited to form trading and refining joint ventures. The joint ventures include trading and refining activities at the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland and the...

(EnergyAsia, July 12 2011, Tuesday) — Australia’s new carbon policy will hurt the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry and disadvantage its exports against competitors in other countries, said one of its leading upstream companies, Santos. While stating its support for action on climate change and the government’s newly announced carbon policy, Santos said it...