(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 13 2011, Wednesday) — Japan’s Marubeni Corporation has agreed to pay US$224 million for a 42.86% stake in YTL Jawa Power Holdings BV which owns a 35% equity interest in Indonesia’s PT Jawa Power. Malaysia’s YTL Power International Berhad, which sold the stake to Marubeni’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Aster Power Holding BV, said Jawa (more…)
(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...
(EnergyAsia, July 12 2011, Tuesday) — Hong Kong-listed King Stone Energy Group Limited said it has agreed to fully acquire Inner Mongolia Liaoyuan Coal Mining Company Limited from Shanghai Quintana Investment Management Centre for an undisclosed sum. In its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Shanghai Quintana, King Stone said it will pay for the shares (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 12 2011, Tuesday) — The Australian government said its “Strong Growth, Low Pollution” research has found that the economy will continue to grow strongly at the same time as it reduces carbon pollution by targeting the country’s worst polluters. The report modelled the impact on the economy by putting a price on carbon (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 12 2011, Tuesday) — Australia’s new carbon policy will reduce the competitiveness of the country’s natural gas exporters against liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers in Qatar, Malaysia, and Indonesia, said the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA). On Sunday, the government unveiled its much awaited carbon policy to take effect from next (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2011, Monday) — Maersk Drilling, a subsidiary of Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk group, said it is exercising an option to build two new ultra deepwater drillships at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea for delivery in the second and third quarters of 2014 respectively. The US$1.3 billion project includes a turnkey contract with (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2011, Monday) — Predictably, the Australian Coal Association (ACA) has slammed the government’s proposed carbon pricing scheme as a tax that will hurt the economy, cost jobs, and reduce the competitiveness of the coal industry and giving an advantage to miners in other countries. Ralph Hillman, the association’s executive director, said the (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2011, Monday) — The Australian government said its new carbon tax to start from next July will reduce carbon pollution by 159 million tonnes a year through 2020, the equivalent of taking over 45 million cars off the road. The tax will be imposed on 500 of the country’s biggest polluters under (more…)
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2011, Monday) — Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance is looking to raise the tax on coal exports from 15% now to 20% in a desperate attempt to keep the commodity for domestic consumption and slow down the depletion of the country’s ageing mines. Vietnam is fighting a losing battle to ensure sufficient supply...
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2011, Monday) — US coal miner Peabody Energy said it has been selected to be part of an international consortium to develop and mine Mongolia’s Tavan Tolgoi coking coal reserve, one of the world’s largest. Peabody said it is now working to reach agreement on definitive terms and conditions for consideration and...
(EnergyAsia, Julu 11 2011, Monday) — Australia’s Hunnu Coal has doubled its official estimate of thermal coal reserves at its Unst Khudag mine in Mongolia to 676 million tonnes at 150-metre depth. The company said the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC)-recognised estimate could be further upgraded in the second half of 2011 with additional drilling...
(EnergyAsia, July 11 2011, Monday) — Global investments in liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects will exceed US$93 billion over the five-year period to 2015, said energy consultant Douglas-Westwood. The World LNG Market Report 2011-2015 predicts the Pacific basin will be the main contributor to a ten-year global investment high of US$26 billion per year by...
(EnergyAsia, July 8 2011, Friday) –- Japan is waking up to the grim long-term reality of power shortages and rising energy costs as a consequence of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that has led to two-thirds of its nuclear power capacity being permanently shut down or idled for inspection. With the Tokyo and Tohoku...
(EnergyAsia, July 8 2011, Friday) — Energy consultant Douglas-Westwood (DW) said global investment in the booming liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, driven by demand in Asia, will reach a 10-year peak of US$26 billion a year by 2015. In a special report, the firm also predicted that global LNG investments will total US$93 billion for...