(EnergyAsia, May 26 2014, Monday) — The builder of Canada’s largest proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has told the country’s regulators to avoid repeating Australia’s mistakes in making policies that have led to cost over-runs and start-up delays. Malaysia’s state-owned energy firm Petronas is drawing on its costly experience as a minority partner in...
(EnergyAsia, May 23 2014, Friday) — Western Australia state must embrace the economic and employment opportunities provided by the floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) industry to build international competitiveness and attract the next wave of resource investment, said a senior official of the country’s petroleum association. The fast developing FLNG sector and its technology have (more…)
(EnergyAsia, May 22 2014, Thursday) — After a decade of negotiations, Russia’s Gazprom and state-owned China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) have signed a 30-year agreement for the annual supply of 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas to China worth a record total of US$400 billion for both companies. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and CNPC...
(EnergyAsia, May 21 2014, Wednesday) — Research and consulting firm GlobalData has identified two large Asian countries as the next hotspots for the development of unconventional oil and gas resources, with Australia having the edge over China. According to the UK firm, China has approximately 643 billion barrels of prospective shale oil and 4,746 trillion...
(EnergyAsia, May 20 2014, Tuesday) — US major Chevron has affirmed that it is on course to start up its massive Gorgon gas development and liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the coast of West Australia state by mid-2015. In a conference call, CFO Pat Yarrington assured investors that the US$54 billion project, which had...
(EnergyAsia, May 19 2014, Monday) — While many refiners in Europe and Asia are struggling to stay afloat, their North American counterparts are profiting from sustained high margins brought on by an unexpected prolonged period of low domestic crude feedstock cost, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency said 2013 was the third...
(EnergyAsia, May 19 2014, Monday)— US WTI benchmark crude could plunge by half to US$50 a barrel within the next 12 to 24 months as rising global supplies outweigh geopolitical risks and demand growth, said BofA Merrill Lynch. “We forecast average WTI crude oil prices of US$94 per barrel in 2014 and US$91 in 2015,...
(EnergyAsia, May 16 2014, Friday) — Liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices across the Asia-Pacific region will come under pressure in the near term on rising production in the region and likely exports from the US, said consultant GlobalData. Its analyst James Hand cites the impending start-up of the ExxonMobil-led US$19 billion project in Papua New...
(EnergyAsia, May 16 2014, Friday) — Australia’s Queensland state government has rejected the concerns of environmental groups and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in affirming its support for two liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects worth a total of US$40 billion that are due to start up near Gladstone in 2014 and 2015....
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2014, Thursday) — Finland’s Wartsila is focusing on building small-to-mid scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving and re-gasification terminals that can be integrated with power-generation plants. An integrated gas terminal-power plant complex is “especially suitable for feeding natural gas to local industries and, in some cases, to a single consumer such as...
(EnergyAsia, May 15 2014, Thursday) — Russia’s economic growth will slow sharply to a miserly 0.2% this year from last year’s 1.3% as rising political tensions with the West accelerate capital flight, reduce in-bound investment flows and stoke inflation, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Already hobbled by what the IMF has described as “pre-existing...
(EnergyAsia, May 14 2014, Wednesday) — Analysts said US should brace for self-inflicted damages if it proceeds with a plan to release crude oil from its 700-million barrel strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) to punish Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Media reports have suggested the Obama administration plans to sell anything from five million barrels of...
(EnergyAsia, May 13 2014, Tuesday) — Amid continued uncertainties over energy demand-supply outlook, Asian governments are still evolving their policies toward liquefied natural gas (LNG) while China will remain addicted to coal, said UK consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. In recent separate comments, the company said uncertainty over Asian governments’ energy policies is limiting the development...
(EnergyAsia, May 12 2014, Monday) — Australia’s export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will more than triple from 24 million tonnes in financial year 2012 to 79 million tonnes six years later, said the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE). With several major projects due to start up over the next few years in...
(EnergyAsia, May 9 2014, Friday) — South Korea and Japan are positioning to become northern Asia’s hub to serve the region’s growing oil traffic by expanding their storage facilities and adopting trade-friendly policies and regulations, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its April market report, the IEA said South Korea has made it a...
(EnergyAsia, May 9 2014, Friday) — Building on a decade of rapid growth, Asia’s annual natural gas consumption will rise to 790 billion cubic metres (bcm) next year, making it the world’s second largest after the US, an analyst from Germany’s Centre for European Security Strategies has predicted. Asia’s surging appetite for natural gas has...
(EnergyAsia, May 8 2014, Thursday) — Europe’s inability to intervene in Ukraine’s crisis has been laid bare with the G7 industrial nations admitting this week that the continent will remain dependent on Russia for natural gas supplies “for years”. Meeting in Rome, the energy ministers of the seven industrialised nations could only state that they...
(EnergyAsia, May 8 2014, Thursday) — Led by China, Asia is investing heavily to modernise its power grid while deploying smart grid technology and improving the efficiency of power distribution systems across the region, according to a new report by consultant GlobalData. The region’s economies have bounced back strongly from the global recession of 2007-08,...
(EnergyAsia, May 6 2014, Tuesday) — British Columbia Premier Christy Clark’s first visit to Singapore and Malaysia this week has come with the belated realisation that perhaps these two countries, and not the coveted giant markets of China, Japan, India and South Korea, hold the key to the Canadian province’s C$1-trillion dream to develop and...
(EnergyAsia, May 5 2014, Monday) — Like OPEC, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has raised its latest forecast for 2014’s global oil demand from the previous month. In its April report, the Paris-based agency said it expects the world to consume 92.69 million b/d, slightly higher from its March forecast of 92.68 million b/d. But...
(EnergyAsia, May 5 2014, Monday) — The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has slightly raised its April forecast for this year’s global oil demand from the previous month despite lowering its expectations for world economic growth. The cartel expects the world to consume 91.15 million b/d of oil in 2014, up by 1.27% from...
(EnergyAsia, May 2 2014, Friday) — Caltex said it has raised South Australia state’s fuel storage capacity by 50% with the start-up of an 85-million-litre terminal at Pelican Point in Adelaide. There are plans to add 135 million litres of new capacity at a later date. The A$100 million terminal is designed to accommodate ships...
(EnergyAsia, May 2 2014, Friday) — China’s year-on-year oil demand growth fell by 0.6% in the first quarter, says energy media Platts, but Deutsche Bank estimates it surged by 5.2%. The contrasting view underlines the market’s difficulty with reading the current state of China’s energy sector amid conflicting signals over the government’s plans to clean...
(EnergyAsia, April 30 2014, Wednesday) — Breaking ranks with an industry notorious for start-up delays, Exxon Mobil Corp said it will begin production at its US$19 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Papua New Guinea ahead of schedule. The plant’s first train is expected to begin production in “the coming weeks” with the first cargo...
(EnergyAsia, April 30 2014, Wednesday) — Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas has taken a major step forward in building a US$35 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in western Canada with the sale of a 15% stake to China’s state-owned China Petrochemical Corp or Sinopec. The Chinese firm has also agreed to purchase a total of 4.8...