(EnergyAsia, June 20 2014, Friday) — Driven by China, Asia’s energy demand will grow at five times the rate of North America’s by five times between 2014 and 2030, predicts UK-based consultant Wood Mackenzie. This is equal to adding a new Brazil to global energy demand every year over that 16-year period, but global supply...
(EnergyAsia, June 19 2014, Thursday) — BP said it has signed an agreement for the annual supply of up to 1.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) over 20 years starting 2019. In London this week, BP’s executive vice president, Dev Sanyal, and CNOOC chairman, Wang Yilin,...
(EnergyAsia, June 18 2014, Tuesday) — A day after cutting off natural gas supplies to Ukraine, Russia’s Gazprom celebrated the listing of its shares on the Singapore stock exchange. The listing underlines Gazprom’s pivot towards the world’s fast-growing economies, giving it access to capital from the region’s cash-flush investors barely a month after it had...
(EnergyAsia, June 16 2014, Monday) — Following the boom in North America, the natural gas industry will experience a “golden age” of demand and supply growth in China over the next five years to 2019, predicts the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its latest Medium-Term Gas Market Report, the Paris-based agency said Chinese natural gas...
(EnergyAsia, June 13 2014, Friday) — Russia’s Minister for Development of the Far East, Alexander Galushka, recently visited the facilities of mining firm Mechel in the region as part of his work tour to monitor the country’s ports and infrastructure projects serving the Pacific markets. The company said its chairman, Igor Zyuzin, accompanied Mr Galushka,...
(EnergyAsia, June 12 2014, Thursday) — The world will face the twin threats of rising oil prices and production cost in its quest to develop hydrocarbon reserves to meet growing energy demand, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). It estimates that over the next two decades to 2035, the world will have to invest a...
(EnergyAsia, June 11 2014, Wednesday) — Finland’s Wartsila said its dual-fuel engines will power the world’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fired icebreaker now being built by the Arctech Helsinki Shipyard for the Finnish Transport Agency. Wartsila said it will fit the vessel with a 8-cylinder 20DF, two 9-cylinder 34DF and two 12-cylinder 34DF engines, enabling...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2014, Tuesday) — Central Asia is increasing efforts to export natural gas to China, with four fully operating pipelines expected to nearly triple delivery to 80 billion cubic metres per year by 2020. Two pipelines, A and B, are currently delivering a total of 30 bcm/year from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, while line...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2014, Monday) — Aggreko, a UK-based leading provider of temporary power and temperature control services, has expanded its Southeast Asian operations by opening a new depot in Songkhla in Thailand and adding to the electricity generation capacity on Indonesia’s Bali Island. Aggreko said the Songkhla depot will help raise service standards for...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2014, Monday) — Singapore’s Pavilion Gas has signed a new 10-year agreement to increase the annual purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to 700,000 tonnes from France’s Total starting 2018, the two companies have announced. Replacing last year’s agreement for the annual purchase of 500,000 tonnes, the subsidiary of Pavilion Energy, a...
(EnergyAsia, June 6 2014, Friday) — Australia’s Origin Energy has agreed to pay up to US$800 million for a 40% stake in two major gas reserves in the Browse Basin located off the coast of Western Australia state. Origin said it will acquire Karoon Gas Ltd’s WA-315-P and WA-398-P exploration permits in the Poseidon area...
(EnergyAsia, June 6 2014, Friday) — The oil refining industry in Thailand is joining its counterparts in Australia, Singapore and Japan in beating a retreat as it feels the competitive pressure from much larger and more sophisticated plants in the Middle East, China and India. State-owned PTT is planning to sell off its holdings in...
(EnergyAsia, June 5 2014, Thursday) — Asia must better plan and prepare for potential oil shocks and supply disruptions as its rapid energy demand growth shows no signs of slowing down, said two recent studies. US ratings agency S&P said Asia’s energy deficit will continue to rise with its energy imports reaching a record 40%...
(EnergyAsia, June 4 2014, Wednesday) — PacificLight Power Pte Ltd, a company jointly owned by Filipino and Malaysian interests, has started up the first power plant in Singapore to be fired entirely by liquefied natural gas (LNG). PacificLight Power, which is 70% owned by Manila-based FPM Power Holdings Ltd, invested S$1.2 billion in the state-of-the-art...
(EnergyAsia, June 3 2014, Tuesday) — The decline of Singapore’s once-mighty oil refining industry looks set to continue despite hitting a new low with Shell recently writing off the US$2.3 billion value of its 500,000 b/d plant. At its peak in the 1990s, the giant Bukom Island refinery was described as the crown jewel of...
(EnergyAsia, June 2 2014, Monday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has kept unchanged its May forecast for this year’s global oil demand and economic growth from the previous month. The cartel retained its previous forecast for global oil consumption at 91.15 million b/d in 2014 and world economic growth at 3.4%. “Global...
(EnergyAsia, June 2 2014, Monday) — Citing the impact of Ukraine’s political crisis on Central Asia, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has lowered its May forecasts for global oil demand growth from its previous April call. The world will consume 91.56 million this year and b/d 92.80 million b/d in 2015, said the US agency’s...
(EnergyAsia, May 30 2014, Friday) — Australia has started channelling its inner Hamlet as it prepares to become the next global king of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. The thrill over its rapid ascension to hydrocarbon wealth and power is increasingly giving way to doubts and guilt over the uncertain long-term impacts of LNG exports...
(EnergyAsia, May 29 2014, Thursday) — Australia’s largest independent fuel operator has started up a new A$70 million storage and distribution terminal in Mackay in Queensland state, adding to its global network of more than 62 bulk fuel terminals. (US$1=A$1.05). Singapore-based Puma Energy said the facility, Australia’s first greenfield fuel terminal, comprises six tanks with...
(EnergyAsia, May 29 2014, Thursday) — The collapse of US-led economic sanctions against Iran is all but complete with China increasing its oil trade and investment with the Middle Eastern powerhouse. Following on last week’s landmark US$400-billion deal to import natural gas from Russia, China is said to be planning to invest more than US$2...
(EnergyAsia, May 28 2014, Wednesday) — In a move to reduce trade dependence on the US dollar, Russia and China have agreed to use their currencies to settle payment for their breakthrough US$400 billion natural gas deal signed last week. At the same time that Gazprom signed the 30-year deal to supply China National Petroleum...
(EnergyAsia, May 28 2014, Wednesday) — The International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its latest forecast for 2014’s global oil demand to 92.8 million b/d, up significantly from the previous month’s prediction of 92.68 million b/d. This implies a rise of more than 1.5% over last year’s consumption of 91.4 million b/d, putting pressure on...
(EnergyAsia, May 27 2014, Tuesday) — An ExxonMobil-led consortium has exported the first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its newly launched 6.9 million tonnes/year project in Papua New Guinea. The US$19 billion PNG LNG project started up several months ahead of schedule to ship out the cargo to Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc...
(EnergyAsia, May 27 2014, Tuesday) — Russian gas giant Gazprom has agreed to help market liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region to India and other parts of Asia through its soon-to-be-listed Singapore subsidiary. Novatek, Russia’s largest independent gas producer, last week signed an agreement to supply Gazprom Marketing & Trading Singapore up...
(EnergyAsia, May 26 2014, Monday) — Singapore’s Pavilion Energy and commodities shipper BW Group said they will form a joint venture to manage, acquire and charter liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping assets. BW Pavilion LNG Pte Ltd will start by operating one existing and two new LNG carriers. Pavilion Energy, a unit of Temasek Holdings...