(EnergyAsia, March 5 2014, Wednesday) — With its nuclear plants still largely idle, Japan’s consumption of coal and natural gas will surge to record high levels over the next two financial years, predicts the country’s main energy think tank. In a recent report, the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) said it expects domestic demand...
(EnergyAsia, March 4 2014, Tuesday) — Oil prices are quietly building a base for further gains in the coming months after a stuttering start to 2014. Prices are supported by four aces: prolonged cold weather in North America, the US-Russia faceoff over Ukraine, supply disruption fears in the Middle East and Africa, and growing global...
(EnergyAsia, March 4 2014, Tuesday) — The US Federal Reserves’s decision to reduce the pace of money creation will not restrain global oil demand growth, judging by the International Energy Agency’s latest forecast. While emerging economies and the world’s stock markets reacted negatively to the initial suggestions made as far back as last year, the...
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2014, Monday) — Malaysia’s state-owned energy firm Petronas is expected to soon reveal the identities of two new Asian partners in its proposed C$36-billion project to develop and export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada’s British Columbia province by the end of the decade. CEO and President Shamsul Azhar Abbas said at...
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2014, Monday) — The oil and gas industry will need to drill more than 670,000 oil and gas wells from 2014 through 2020 to keep up with rising global consumption, said UK consultant Douglas-Westwood (DW). In its ‘World Development Drilling & Production Forecast’ report, the firm said the industry drilled more than...
(EnergyAsia, March 3 2014, Monday) — The world will consume nearly 93 million b/d of oil for 2015, said the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its latest monthly forecast, making it the most bullish call among the world’s leading energy agencies. In its February report, the EIA also revised upward its forecast for this year’s...
(EnergyAsia, February 28 2014, Friday) — Caltex Australia said it has agreed to acquire retailer Scott’s fuel divisions including its businesses known as Scott’s Agencies and Sabadin Petroleum for a total outlay of approximately A$95 million. (US$1=A$1.1). Caltex will acquire Scott’s 28 retail sites and 18 depots as well as cover working capital and related...
(EnergyAsia, February 28 2014, Friday) — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has boosted its forecast for this year’s global oil demand to 90.98 million b/d in its February report, up from 90.91 million b/d in January, and 90.84 million b/d in December. The cartel also raised its estimate for last year’s oil demand...
(EnergyAsia, February 27 2014, Thursday) — The following are excerpts presented this week by Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister S. Iswaran on developments in the LNG markets. He spoke at the 9th edition of the LNG Supplies for Asian Markets (LNGA) Conference. “On the supply-side, a tight market is anticipated in the next two years...
(EnergyAsia, February 27 2014, Thursday) — Horizon Terminals Limited (HTL), the terminals business and wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), has officially launched its 240,000-cubic metre oil storage terminal in Fujairah port. At a ceremony on Tuesday, Fujairah ruler Sheikh Hamad Bin Mohammed Al Sharqi opened the US$100 million terminal that started...
(EnergyAsia, February 26 2014, Wednesday) — Two of Europe’s largest energy firms, Gazprom and Shell, have agreed to add a third train to their jointly owned liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Russia’s Sakhalin Island. Meeting at the Winter Olympics city of Sochi, Russia’s Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller and Anglo Dutch Shell CEO Ben van...
(EnergyAsia, February 26 2014, Wednesday) — Singapore is planning to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal on a new site while expanding the current one on Jurong Island as it prepares to become more dependent on the fuel as an energy source, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Planners are studying various sites...
(EnergyAsia, February 25 2014, Tuesday) — Indonesia’s state-owned Pertamina said it is investing more than US$150 million to expand the fuels storage capacity on two islands in the Riau region located to the south of Singapore. The company said it will invest US$95 million to nearly triple its storage capacity on Sambu Island from 210...
(EnergyAsia, February 25 2014, Tuesday) — A low-key 11-year-old Singapore firm has emerged as the surprise leader in a crowded field of established global giants racing to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada’s British Columbia province to Asia. While the likes of Chevron, Shell, BG, ExxonMobil, CNOOC, Sinopec, Inpex and Petronas dominate the headlines,...
(EnergyAsia, February 24 2014, Monday) — Work on expanding the Panama Canal is said to have resumed after a recent construction shutdown for two weeks while the European-led consortium building it and the Panama government try to resolve their differences over an estimated US$1.6 billion cost-overrun. The consortium led by Spain’s Sacyr and Italy’s Salini...
(EnergyAsia, February 21 2014, Friday) — Shell said it has sold its Australian downstream business including the Geelong refinery in Victoria state and 870 retail service stations to European trader Vitol for a total of A$2.9 billion. (US$1=A$1.11). The sale covers Shell’s bulk fuels, bitumen, chemicals and part of its lubricants businesses as well as...
(EnergyAsia, February 21 2014, Friday) — Malaysian state oil firm Petronas said it has awarded the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) portion for its second floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project to a consortium comprising Japan’s JGC Corporation and South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries. Petronas announced the award at the same time that...
(EnergyAsia, February 20 2014, Thursday) — Oil and gas companies are projected to boost their investment in floating production systems (FPS) to US$99 billion between 2014 and 2018, said UK consultant Douglas Westwood. This sum represents a 138% increase over the preceding five-year period, according to the consultant’s latest World Floating Production Market Report. “FPSOs...
(EnergyAsia, February 20 2014, Thursday) — Hong Kong-listed oil trader and storage operator Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Ltd has made its long awaited move into the upstream sector by agreeing to acquire the Chinese assets of US firm Anadarko Petroleum for US$1.075 billion. Brightoil, which has been struggling to reverse the fortunes of its downstream business,...
(EnergyAsia, February 19 2014, Wednesday) — Asia must increasingly consider and manage its scarce water, food and energy resources in a coordinated way to meet the growing needs of its population, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao. According to the bank, 36 of its 48 Asian member countries, led by China and India,...
(EnergyAsia, February 18 2014, Tuesday) — Qatargas Operating Company Limited, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas producing company, said a subsidiary has signed a new 15-year agreement to supply the fuel to Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power Company Incorporated from 2016. Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited 3 (Qatargas 3) will supply annual shipments of 60,000 and...
(EnergyAsia, February 18 2014, Tuesday) — Qatargas said one of its chartered Q-flex vessels transferred a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to another in an unknown part of the Singapore Straits last month after it was damaged in an unspecified incident. While there were no reported injuries or impact on the environment, Qatargas said the...
(EnergyAsia, February 17 2014, Monday) — In Malaysia, ExxonMobil has started up its new Damar gas field following on an earlier announcement by state-owned energy firm Petronas that it is producing oil from a cluster of offshore fields. The US major said subsidiary ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc and equal joint-venture partner, Petronas Carigali...
(EnergyAsia, February 17 2014, Monday) — Following three recent vessel collisions in Singapore’s busy waterways in under two weeks, the country’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said it is investigating the possibility of “systemic issues” while announcing that it is immediately implementing measures to minimise such incidents It, the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO),...
(EnergyAsia, February 14 2014, Friday) — Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) said subsidiary Keppel FELS Limited has secured contracts to build three high-specification KFELS B Class jackup rigs worth about US$650 million from new customer Fecon International Corp. Described by Keppel O&M as cost-effective and high-performance with the ability to operate in water...