(EnergyAsia, April 30 2013, Tuesday) — Horizon Terminals Limited (HTL), a subsidiary of Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), expects to start up its new US$142-million oil storage terminal at Jebel Ali that will include a 60-km pipeline link to supply jet fuel to Dubai’s new Al Maktoum International Airport. Supplied by both ENOC’s 120,000 (more…)
NEW ZEALAND: Terminals NZ expands storage capacity as Z Energy mulls over fuel tank project
(EnergyAsia, April 30 2013, Tuesday) — Terminals NZ has added a 10.4-million-litre fuel tank at Port Tauranga near North Island’s Auckland city while Z Energy is considering building two 10-million-litre tanks to support operations at Lyttelton Port near Christchurch city in the South. Faced with rising fuel demand in New Zealand, oil companies are under...
IRAN: Oil export volume, revenues down sharply due to sanctions, said US EIA
(EnergyAsia, April 30 2013, Tuesday) — Iran’s crude oil export revenues plunged 27% last year as sales fell to their lowest level since 1986, the result of tighter Western trade sanctions, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency estimated Iran took in US$69 billion in net oil export revenue last year, compared with (more…)
CHINA: Oil demand stays above 10 million b/d barrier after rising 3.5% in first quarter, says Platts
(EnergyAsia, April 30 2013, Tuesday) — China’s first-quarter oil demand rose 3.5% over the same period last year to 10.15 million b/d, continuing the previous quarter’s above 10-million b/d demand level, said US energy media Platts. However, the pace of demand growth has eased from the fourth quarter of 2012 when the year-over-year increase was...
SINGAPORE: KPMG launches Global Energy Institute, held inaugural Global Energy Conference for the Asia Pacific
(EnergyAsia, April 29 2013, Monday) — KPMG held its inaugural Global Energy Conference in Singapore last Friday to coincide with the launch of its Global Energy Institute for the Asia-Pacific region. The one-day conference brought together some 300 regional business leaders in the energy sector, along with members of government and academia to deliver insights (more…)
INDIA: Hinduja’s Gulf Oil opens new lubricants blending plants in Ras Al Khaimah and Argentina
(EnergyAsia, April 29 2013, Monday) — The Gulf Oil International Group, owned by India’s Hinduja Group, has started up two new lubricants blending plants in Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE and Argentina. Gulf RAK Oil, a joint venture of the Ras Al Khaimah government and Gulf Oil International, last month opened a lubrication manufacturing (more…)
SINGAPORE: Regulator and industry to meet again next month on guidelines for LNG imports
(EnergyAsia, April 29 2013, Monday) — Singapore’s energy regulator and natural gas companies will meet again next month to help shape guidelines on the import of additional volume of liquefied natural gas (LNG), said trade and industry minister S. Iswaran. The Energy Market Authority (EMA) initiated the first round of industry consultations last year after (more…)
CHINA: France’s GDF Suez to look into developing storage and floating LNG projects
(EnergyAsia, April 29 2013, Monday) — Europe’s largest utility, GDF Suez SA, said it has signed separate agreements with two state-owned Chinese firms to jointly develop six natural gas storage sites in China as well as moor a floating import terminal off the country’s northeastern city of Tianjin. The French firm said it signed a...
INDIA: Petronet signs 20-year deal to buy LNG from United LNG, may take stake in US export terminal
(EnergyAsia, April 26 2013, Friday) — India’s main gas importer Petronet LNG has signed an initial 20-year agreement with Houston, US-based United LNG to purchase four million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the two companies have announced. They are now discussing commercial terms including prices linked to Louisiana state’s Henry Hub that are expected (more…)
INDIA: ONGC aims to raise crude oil production by 9.5% to 28.6 million tonnes, eyes acquisitions in Africa, US
(EnergyAsia, April 26 2013, Friday) — India’s main upstream company ONGC is aiming to produce 28.6 million tonnes of crude in the current financial year ending March 2014, a 9.5% increase over last year’s 26.12 million tonnes. In an interview with a local TV station, chairman and managing director, Sudhir Vasudeva, said it will achieve...
SAUDI ARABIA: Jubail refinery output will weaken global diesel prices in 2014, says US consultant
(EnergyAsia, April 26 2013, Friday) — Global diesel prices will weaken when state-owned Saudi Aramco starts up its 400,000 b/d refinery in Jubail in Saudi Arabia next year, said US consultant ESAI Energy. The sophisticated plant will add to the supply of clean diesel in Saudi Arabia and Europe, markets currently supplied by India, said (more…)
INDIA: Oil product exports expected to rise this year, said petroleum minister
(EnergyAsia, April 26 2013, Friday) — India’s export of oil products is expected to continue growing this financial year ending March 2014, said Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Panabaaka Lakshmi. In a statement to Parliament, she said India exported 60.8 million metric tonnes of oil products worth a total of US$59.3 billion...
COMPANIES: China’s Wison and US engineering firm Black & Veatch to jointly pursue offshore LNG projects
(EnergyAsia, April 25 2013, Thursday) —- Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd, a subsidiary of China’s Wison Group, said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with US engineering firm Black & Veatch to jointly pursue barge-based natural gas liquefaction facility projects on an exclusive basis. Shanghai-based Wison said it will hold responsibility for barge design (more…)
INDIA: Oil imports from Iran down by 26.5% in FY2012
(EnergyAsia, April 25 2013, Thursday) — India said its crude oil imports from Iran fell by 26.5% in the last financial year ended March 31 on account of tougher Western trade and financial sanctions against the Islamic regime. Faced with restrictions to finance trade with Tehran and unable to secure tankers to take delivery of...
QATAR: QPI ventures into North America gas through separate deals with UK’s Centrica and ExxonMobil
(EnergyAsia, April 25 2013, Thursday) — Qatar Petroleum International and UK energy retailer Centrica plc have teamed up to buy gas fields from Canada’s Suncor Energy for US$1 billion. In separate statements, the companies said Suncor has agreed to sell the conventional portion of its natural gas business in Western Canada to a newly established (more…)
INDIA: Indian Oil Corp invites bids to build LNG terminal at Ennore
(EnergyAsia, April 25 2013, Thursday) — Indian Oil Corp, the country’s largest downstream oil company, is venturing into the liquefied natural gas (LNG) business with plans to build a five-million-tonne per year import terminal at Ennore in Tamil Nadu state. The state-owned oil refining and marketing firm is reviewing submissions to its invitation “seeking Expression...
MARKETS: OPEC holds forecast for 2013 oil demand at 89.66 million b/d
(EnergyAsia, April 24 2013, Wednesday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has slightly reduced its latest forecast for 2013 world oil demand to 89.66 million b/d, compared with its previous forecast of 89.67 million b/d in March and 89.68 million b/d in February. In its April report, the cartel expects this year’s global...
MARKETS: IEA continues to slash global oil demand growth forecast for 2013
(EnergyAsia, April 24 2013, Wednesday) — For the fourth consecutive month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has slashed its global oil demand growth forecast for 2013. In its April oil market report, the IEA also predicts that 2013 will be the third consecutive year of weak growth with global demand rising “only 795,000 b/d” down...
CHINA: ICBC to finance construction of large oil refinery in Western Canada
(EnergyAsia, April 24 2013, Wednesday) — The world’s largest bank said it will provide financing for the proposed construction of a large export-oriented oil refinery in the port of Kitimat on the west coast of Canada. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has agreed to provide financing for the project, estimated to cost (more…)
INDIA: Government vows to continue importing oil from Iran
(EnergyAsia, April 24 2013, Wednesday) — India has vowed to continue to importing oil from Iran in defiance of US threats to punish countries for not following Western trade sanctions against the Islamic regime. In denying reports that New Delhi was bowing to Western pressure to stop trade with Iran, India’s Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai...
INDIA: One year on, Mittal-HPCL refinery is dogged by protests, poor economics
(EnergyAsia, April 23 2013, Tuesday) — UK-based steel tycoon Lakshmi N. Mittal is finding out how tough it is to be an oil trader a year after venturing into the refining business through a jointly owned nine-million-ton per year plant in India’s Punjab state. Instead of thanking him for bringing prosperity, people living near the...
QATAR: Next wave of LNG exports could be from North America, says consultant
(EnergyAsia, April 23 2013, Tuesday) — Qatar will derive greater commercial and political value from its new liquefaction capacity in the US than from adding to domestic capacity, said consultant Wood Mackenzie. Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) and ExxonMobil, which jointly own the Golden Pass regasification terminal in the US Gulf Coast, are looking to re-develop...
SINGAPORE: SembCorp Industries secured separate power deals in India and the UK
(EnergyAsia, April 23 2013, Tuesday) — Singapore-listed energy and utilities company Sembcorp Industries said its subsidiaries have recently concluded two power deals in India and the UK. The company’s jointly owned Thermal Powertech Corp India has secured a 25-year agreement to supply a total of 500MW of electricity to four power companies owned by the (more…)
INDIA: Cairn’s Rajasthan fields could overtake Bombay High to become country’s largest producer
(EnergyAsia, April 23 2013, Tuesday) — Cairn India plans to invest 50 billion rupees to boost production at the country’s second largest oilfields in Rajasthan state from 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) today to 300,000 boed by 2016. (US$1=55 rupees). If Cairn succeeds, production from the 16 onshore fields in the northern...
INDIA: GAIL secures half of Cove Point’s new liquefaction capacity in US for 20 years
(EnergyAsia, April 22 2013, Monday) — India’s only state-owned gas importing company said it has signed a 20-year deal to secure 2.3 million tonnes of export capacity in the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project at Lusby in the US state of Maryland. GAIL (India) Ltd said subsidiary GAIL Global (USA) LNG secured...