(EnergyAsia, March 21 2014, Friday) — With its growing thirst for water, the energy sector looks set to raise its 15% share of global consumption of the resource in the coming years, said the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlighting its growing concern to mark World Water day on March 22. In 2012, the IEA included...
(EnergyAsia, March 21 2014, Friday) — Indonesia is fast losing its share in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market on account of rising domestic demand and growing supplies from other producers, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). From a commanding position supplying more than a third of the world’s LNG in the 1990s,...
(EnergyAsia, March 20 2014, Thursday) — Greenpeace has welcomed the European Parliament’s resolution calling for the establishment of a protected area around the North Pole that could ban oil companies and industrial fishing fleets from the region. The environmental long group said the move represents a clear break from the positions of Arctic Council members...
(EnergyAsia, March 20 2014, Thursday) — International engineering contractors are preparing to start work on US$12 billion worth of upgrades and expansion of two major refineries in Kuwait. Japan’s JGC and its consortium partners were recently awarded a 1.36-billion-dinar tender to upgrade the 460,000-b/d Mina Ahmadi refinery while UK’s Petrofac and its partners secured a...
(EnergyAsia, March 19 2014, Wednesday) — Australia’s oil and gas sectors experienced contrasting fortunes last year, with oil production plunging to a 43-year low while natural gas output surged to an all-time high. According to consultant EnergyQuest, the country’s oil production for 2013 plunged 18.6% to 71.9 million barrels or less than 197,000 b/d. This...
(EnergyAsia, March 19 2014, Tuesday) — Underlining its desperate search for energy diversity, Japan is expected to continue support for the development of coal-fired power plants in the face of growing opposition from environmentalists, development banks and the US government. The Obama administration has been quietly pressing the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and...
(EnergyAsia, March 18 2014, Tuesday) —- Consultant Douglas-Westwood (DW) doesn’t think the booming US shale sector will threaten deepwater exploration and production efforts by flooding the markets with surplus oil. While many investment banks and government agencies have cast surging shale oil production as a threat to companies focusing on deepwater reserves, the UK firm...
(EnergyAsia, March 18 2014, Tuesday) — Thanks to the shale revolution, US crude oil production reached a 25-year high of 7.5 million b/d last year after surging 14.8% from 6.53 million b/d in 2012, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency expects the gains to continue over the next two years, raising production to...
(EnergyAsia, March 17 2014, Monday) — Hong Kong-listed Wison Engineering Services Co, a major services provider for China’s state-owned oil and gas companies, said Chinese police have arrested its founder and chairman Hua Bangsong on bribery allegations. In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Shanghai-based firm said an unidentified relative of Mr...
(EnergyAsia, March 17 2014, Monday) — With Japan’s nuclear power capacity still idle, coal’s share will soon rise to account for more than 25% of its primary energy mix for the first time in about half a century, said the country’s leading energy think tank. In a recent report, the Institute of Energy Economics Japan...
(EnergyAsia, March 14 2014, Friday) — US refined oil product exports surged 11% to reach an average 3.5 million b/d last year, said the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). It hit a record 4.3 million b/d last December, the first time that US exports of oil products have exceeded the four-million-b/d ceiling in a single...
(EnergyAsia, March 14 2014, Friday) — Japan will look to coal to generate more of its electricity as three large industrial groups plan to build large plants using the fuel by the end of the decade. Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) and the Mitsubishi group have begun work on jointly developing and building a new...
(EnergyAsia, March 12 2014, Thursday) — Dutch oil and chemical logistics giant Royal Vopak said it has agreed to acquire a 30% stake in Zhangzhou Gulei Haiteng Jetty Investment Management Company Limited which owns a 890,000-cubic metre petrochemicals storage terminal in China’s Fujian province. http://energycontents.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=301 Vopak said it will acquire the 30% stake in Haiteng...
(EnergyAsia, March 13 2014, Thursday) — US oil products are set to rise further to break last year’s record high level, predicts research firm GlobalData. Despite the decline in domestic product demand, the country’s refining utilisation levels have increased significantly in the last few years as foreign demand for US products have surged 70% since...
(EnergyAsia, March 12 2014, Wednesday) — Futures trading and solar energy will debut on the Singapore electricity markets later this year as part of a plan to increase price and supply competition. Following a six-month trial starting April, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) will aim to launch its electricity futures contract that will allow consumers to...
(EnergyAsia, March 12 2014, Wednesday) — Coinciding with its 150th anniversary, DNV GL is increasing its presence in Singapore through a new regional head office, an expanded marine and offshore laboratory, and an agreement to undertake R&D with the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA). Reflecting its position as the world’s leading ship classification society and...
(EnergyAsia, March 11 2014, Tuesday) — Australia-listed Oil Search Limited has agreed to pay US$900 million for a 22.835% stake in the Elk-Antelope fields which hold the largest undeveloped gas resource in Papua New Guinea. The seller of the PRL 15 stake is Pacific LNG Group, an affiliate of Clarion Finanz AG, a private company...
(EnergyAsia, March 11 2014, Tuesday) — In 2013, North Sea Brent crude oil, the most important global benchmark for waterborne light sweet crude, traded in the narrowest price range since 2006 and exhibited the lowest magnitude of daily price movements in more than 10 years, said the US Energy Information Analysis (EIA). According to EIA...
(EnergyAsia, March 10 2014, Monday) — Confirming earlier media reports, state-owned Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOC) has agreed to acquire a 10% stake in a Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) project led by Malaysia’s state energy firm Petronas through its two subsidiaries, Progress Energy and Pacific NorthWest LNG (PNW LNG). IOC has also committed to...
(EnergyAsia, March 10 2014, Monday) — Japan will continue to enjoy a current account surplus in 2014, but it will shrink as a result of rising energy import cost, according to a Bank of America (BoA) analysis. Last year, the country’s current account surplus, which reflects the balance of payment, fell by 1.5 trillion yen...
(EnergyAsia, March 7 2014, Friday) — Swiss engineering giant Foster Wheeler AG said a subsidiary has secured a contract to provide pre-front-end engineering design and the front-end engineering design for a new onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) import and regasification terminal to be built in Kuwait. Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) awarded the contract for...
(EnergyAsia, March 7 2014, Friday) — Four vessel collisions within 45 days leading to oil spills and an under-reported first transfer of flammable liquefied natural gas (LNG) are raising questions of “systemic issues” in Singapore’s increasingly busy shipping lanes which handled record traffic and cargo tonnage last year. Three of the most recent collisions took...
(EnergyAsia, March 6 2014, Thursday) — Singapore’s upstream oil and gas industry is continuing its hot streak of dealing making and sales into the first quarter of 2014. Its two leading upstream contractors recently secured contracts worth a total more than US$1.5 billion to build drillships and rigs while explorer Loyz Energy said it buying...
(EnergyAsia, March 6 2014, Thursday) — One expert believes the Ukraine crisis will have no impact on the world oil markets while another says it could cause prices to spike as Russia’s retaliation against Western actions could disrupt energy supplies to its highly dependent customers in Europe. In a memo, US consulting firm, ESAI Energy,...
(EnergyAsia, March 6 2014, Wednesday) — Helped by a weaker currency and the full-year contribution of its Canadian subsidiary, Malaysian state energy firm Petronas reported increases in its net profit, revenue, oil production and asset base in 2013 to reverse a decline from previous years. The company, which accounts for 40% to 45% of the...