(EnergyAsia, August 11 2014, Monday) — Canada-listed Oando Energy Resources has completed the US$1.5 billion purchase of a collection of oil and gas assets in Nigeria from US upstream firm ConocoPhillips which is leaving the troubled African nation to focus on shale opportunities back home. After over a year of negotiations, Lagos-based Oando said it...
(EnergyAsia, August 11 2014, Monday) — Fast-spreading deadly Ebola could outrank terrorism and political unrest as the biggest threat to Africa’s fast growing economies this year. Projected to grow by 7.2% this year, oil-powered West Africa, the centre of the epidemic, was slated to lead the continent’s emergence as the world’s fastest-growing to outpace Asia...
(EnergyAsia, August 8 2014, Friday) — BP said it has cleared a “significant milestone” to expand its Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) project after the Indonesian government issued an environmental permit in approving the environmental and social impact assessment for the US$12 billion investment. The permit, issued by the environment ministry, also outlines the role...
(EnergyAsia, August 8 2014, Friday) — Any hope for Libya’s oil industry to make a slow recovery after last month’s truce between government and rebel forces over two oil-exporting terminals has been extinguished by the latest round of fighting between rival militia groups that has sent thousands of foreign workers and diplomats fleeing. More than...
(EnergyAsia, August 7 2014, Thursday) — Trailing in second place to China, the US is targeting to raise its trade and economic ties with Africa with President Barack Obama announcing US$33 billion in new commitments from the Federal government and private companies at this week’s US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington D.C. Obama’s Power Africa initiative...
(EnergyAsia, August 6 2014, Wednesday) — Western trade sanctions against Russia in their dispute over Ukraine are unlikely to have a significant impact on world oil prices given the combined influence of other major geopolitical events already in play now, said UK based consulting firm GlobalData. Along with rising tensions between Russia and the West,...
(EnergyAsia, August 5 2014, Tuesday) — For the first time in recent years, the world’s demand for gasoline will grow faster than diesel in 2014 while at the same time, refiners will start up new capacity to produce more diesel and kerosene than gasoline, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). These two trends are...
(EnergyAsia, August 4 2014, Monday) — Forget geopolitics, crude oil prices fell through July as the world experienced one of its worst months of escalating conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza to add to the spreading religious, separatist, ethnic and resource wars in hydrocarbon-rich Iraq, Syria, Libya and Nigeria. North Sea Brent fell below US$105 a...
(EnergyAsia, August 1 2014, Friday) — Regulatory uncertainty leads a host of factors standing in the way of Africa developing its estimated reserves of 130.3 billion barrels of crude oil and 501.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, said consultant PwC. In its latest annual survey of the continent’s hydrocarbon potential, PwC also mentioned...
(EnergyAsia, July 31 2014, Thursday) — Amid signs that the global economy could be slowing again, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has scaled back its forecasts for global oil demand growth for 2014 and 2015 in its July report. The agency now expects the world to consume 91.62 million this year and 93.08 million...
(EnergyAsia, July 31 2014, Thursday) — Global oil demand will reach a new record high of 94.08 million b/d in 2015, rising more than 1.5% from this year’s projected 92.67 million b/d, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its first crystal ball gaze into next year’s markets, the agency said developing Asia led by...
(EnergyAsia, July 30 2014, Wednesday) — Angola officials believe their country could soon overtake Nigeria to become Africa’s leading oil producer although analysts expect both to experience declines over the next few years. Angola’s petroleum ministry and state energy firm Sonangol have variously been stating that the country’s oil production could exceed two million b/d...
(EnergyAsia, July 29 2013, Tuesday) — The export revenues of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), excluding Iran, will continue to fall in 2014 and 2015 to follow through on last year’s 15.9% plunge, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). As a result of lower production and weak oil prices, the 12-member...
(EnergyAsia, July 29 2014, Tuesday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has valued the combined 30 years of oil stockpiles of its 29 member countries at more than US$3.5 trillion due mainly to their ability to limit the impact of supply disruptions on the world economy. Up to end-March 2014, the IEA said its members...
(EnergyAsia, July 25 2014, Friday) — The election of Joko Widodo as Indonesia’s new president and Jusuf Kalla as vice president is potentially good news for Southeast Asia’s largest economy, particularly its energy and mining sectors, says UK consultant Wood Mackenzie. As a more progressive and pragmatic choice than his opponent, Prawbowo Subianto, Widodo’s victory...
(EnergyAsia, July 25 2014, Friday) — Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp said it is investing A$110 million in a new terminal in South Australia state to import, store and distribute diesel to serve the local markets hit by the closure of several refineries in Australia. (US$1=A$1.05). Mitsubishi Corp said it will launch the final design (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 24 2014, Thursday) — Nigeria’s state oil and gas firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) has affirmed its targets to boost the nation’s crude oil reserves to 40 billion barrels and production to rise to four million b/d. But group managing director Andrew Yakubu did not mention a deadline to achieve those goals...
(EnergyAsia, July 23 2014, Wednesday) — China has become the biggest buyer of Iranian crude oil with imports for the first half of this year surging 48% to a record 628,000 b/d compared with 425,000 b/d over the same period last year. According to Chinese Customs data, China’s intake of Iranian crude oil reached their...
(EnergyAsia, July 22 2014, Tuesday) — A group comprising an Alaska firm and four major companies have filed an application with the US Department of Energy to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a proposed project from a greenfield site in Nikiski near the port of Achorage. The application seeks authorisation for the annual export...
(EnergyAsia, July 22 2014, Tuesday) — Thanks to its expanding non-oil sector, Saudi Arabia’s economic growth will accelerate to 4.6% in 2014 to build on last year’s 4% increase, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Saudi Arabia’s economic growth, % 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 (projected) Real GDP 7.4 8.6 5.8 ...
(EnergyAsia, July 21 2014, Monday) — As its resources-dependent economy began to take off at the start of the decade, Mongolia was repeatedly warned to guard against the “resource curse” associated with corruption, waste, internal power struggle, runaway inflation and political instability that has befallen many developing economies. But, Mongolian leaders paid little heed as...
(EnergyAsia, July 18 2014, Friday) — Citing Iraq’s worsening violence, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it has slashed its forecast for the country’s crude oil production by 600,000 b/d to between 3.1 million b/d and 3.2 million b/d from now through end-2015. The escalation of violence in northern Iraq that started in June...
(EnergyAsia, July 17 2014, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has approved a US$300 million dual-tranche loan to help Sri Lanka scale up its use of clean energy and cut its reliance on costly fuel oil for electricity generation by 2020. The bank’s first US$150 million tranche will help pay for a...
(EnergyAsia, July 16 2014, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Ezra Holdings Limited said it is aiming to create one of Asia’s largest offshore services providers by merging an offshore division with an associated firm to own and operate a vessel fleet worth more than US$1 billion. The enlarged EOC Group will comprise EMAS Marine, Ezra’s offshore support...
(EnergyAsia, July 15 2014, Tuesday) — Iraq is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue as warring factions led by ethnic Kurds and Sunni revolutionaries cash in on sales of crude and oil products seized from producing fields and refineries previously controlled by Baghdad. Last week, Kurdish troops took over two oilfields in northern...